Aggie baseball has seen a fiery start to the season and entered SEC competition this weekend with an 11-game win streak on the line.
After a rain out Friday night, Auburn and Texas A&M split two games of a double-header Saturday afternoon, with A&M taking the first bout 12-8 and Auburn earning the second win by a 9-7 count.
The first game set the tone for what was a see-saw battle all afternoon.
A&M struck first with an RBI single from Hunter Melton to take a 1-0 lead in the first. George Janca slapped an RBI single in the second to make it 2-0. Auburn would score on a wild pitch to make it 2-1 after three.
J.B. Moss continued his hot streak in the fourth. With the bases loaded, he slapped a bases clearing three-run double down the left field line to give A&M a 5-1 lead.
The Tigers responded in a big way the following half inning. In the bottom of the fourth, Aggie starter Jace Vines surrendered five hits. Auburn tallied three RBI singles and a two-run single to take a 6-5 lead after four frames.
In a game of answers, A&M found its in the sixth. RBI from Moss, Nick Choruby and Boomer White tagged three runs for the Aggies and they took an 8-6 lead with them to the home half of the sixth.
Auburn would find its answers in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings. A groundout RBI in the sixth and a sacrifice fly in the seventh would knot the game 8-8 as action entered the ninth inning.
That is when A&M answered for good.
In the top of the ninth, the Aggies took the game over. An error and wild pitch would allow two runs to come across to grant the Aggies a 10-8 lead. Behind that, Choruby and Janca punched in RBI singles to give the Aggies a 12-8 cushion. Choruby ended the day 4-for-5 with two RBI.
Mark Ecker earned the win after three innings of work, allowing only one base runner. All in all, the Aggies were 9-for-18 with runners in scoring position in the first game.
Game two saw the same themes as game one.
A&M struck quickly to open the contest. Melton and Nick Banks started the party with back-to-back RBI singles to make it 2-0. Then Barash smacked a two-run single to make it 4-0.
In the home half of the first, Auburn responded with four runs to tie it and rattle the confidence of freshman starting pitcher Tyler Ivey quickly. Two sacrifice flies, an RBI single and an RBI double knotted the game 4-4 after just one inning of play.
Ryne Birk showed off the power in his bat the next inning. With a man on, Birk smashed a no-doubt two-run homer to right to give the Aggies a 6-4 lead.
Once again, the Tigers tied the game up. In the third, Daniel Robert punched an RBI single, then another run came across thanks to an error to make it a 6-6 deadlock following three innings.
Auburn took the lead in the fifth with an RBI single from Kyler Deese.
White would respond for the Aggies with an RBI double of his own in the sixth inning to make it a 7-7 game.
The Tigers took the lead back in the bottom of the inning thanks to another Aggie miscue and it was an 8-7 game going to the seventh inning. Auburn would tag an insurance run in the eighth to take a 9-7 lead they would never relinquish.
In the second game, the Tigers tagged the Aggie pitching staff for nine runs on 17 hits, the most runs they have surrendered all season. The loss snapped A&M’s 12-game win streak as well.
The two will play a rubber match to decide the series Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. The game will air on SEC Network Plus.