Auburn (24-25, 5-21) beat Missouri (22-29, 8-18) 12-2 Saturday afternoon to even up the series with game three set for Sunday. Coming off scoring eleven runs in Friday night's loss, Auburn's offense stayed leading to the victory in game two.
"I thought we played great offense these first two day games of the series," Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. "I thought the first five innings before we had the big six spot and the seventh yesterday, we just played great offense and it looks like some guys are getting the bat through the zone a little better."
Auburn topped its total from Friday night scoring an impressive 12 runs on Saturday afternoon. Eight of Auburn's batters recorded at least one hit. Caden Green was the star of the day with four hits and four RBIs. Ike Irish had a big day with three hits including a home run and three RBIs in total.
The scoring started in the third inning for Auburn and the visiting Tigers scored at least one run in each of the remaining innings of the game. The biggest innings came in the sixth and the seventh. Auburn hit four singles in the sixth resulting in four runs. In the seventh, Auburn hit one single and two home runs off the bats of shortstop Cooper Weiss and second basemen Caden Green resulting in three Tigers crossing the plate in the frame.
"I think (Caden Green) was the player of the game today with four hits," Thompson said.
Auburn added two more runs in the eight-on-three singles extending the lead to ten runs allowing the visiting Tigers to mercy rule Missouri.
Unlike game one, Auburn's pitching showed strength in game two rewarding the offense for its impressive showing. Chase Allsup started Saturday's game, throwing five innings while allowing just one earned run and striking out nine. Allsup's outing was just what Auburn needed after game one's disaster.
"Chase was good," Thompson said. "I think nine strikeouts and only one walk and did a nice job to get to that 90 pitches or so, but he's been on a journey."
Along with Allsup, Carson Myers stepped up for Auburn. Myers threw three innings allowing one earned run with four strikeouts. Both have had their fair share of struggles this season but stepped up on Saturday for their team.
"Meyer is another guy that has some starts and now comes behind (Allsup) as a long reliever," Thompson said.
Auburn evened the series with the mercy-rule win on Saturday and now the visiting Tigers will have the chance to win their first SEC series of the season on Sunday. The season has been a struggle for Auburn, but finally winning an SEC series would be huge for Thompson's club.
"We got to pick a starter for tomorrow and figure out who's gonna get us started and come out here and try to win a series," Thompson said.
The first pitch of the rubber match is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. and will air on the SEC Network+ and the Auburn Sports Network.
