Box Score / Play by Play
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – No. 15 College of Charleston baseball walked off Auburn in an 11-inning thriller with a two-out, walkoff homer by sophomore Erven Roper in the bottom of the 11th inning on Friday afternoon at Dick Howser Stadium to advance in the winner's bracket of the NCAA Tallahassee Regional.
Second-seed Charleston (44-13) advances to face the winner of top-seed Florida State and fourth-seed Mercer (Friday, 6 p.m.) on Saturday at 6 p.m. Third-seed Auburn (35-25) falls to the losers' bracket and will face the loser of FSU/Mercer in an elimination game at noon on Saturday.
After the back-and-forth game forged on to the 11th inning, Roper homered to right on a 1-0 pitch with two outs in the bottom of the inning, marking CofC's fourth solo homerun of the game.
The Cougars were given the 11th-inning opportunity thanks in large part the relief performance of freshman Carter Love, who entered the game in the tenth and retired every hitter he faced in back-to-back three-up, three-down innings to earn the win (6-0).
Roper finished the game 2-for-5 with three RBIs, as he had driven a two-out, two-RBI single back up the middle back in the sixth which briefly put the Cougars on top.
Bradley Jones, Blake Butler, and Nick Pappas also homered for the Cougars, as each of Charleston's first three base hits left the yard against Auburn starter Cole Lipscomb, who had previously given up just four homers all year in 87.0 innings pitched.
“This was a very competitive ball game on both sides,” said head coach Monte Lee. “We hit four solo shots today in a back-and-forth ball game. We would score, and they would score. We didn't play particularly well defensively; there were a few plays I felt we should have made and we have to be a little better if we are going to continue to advance against good ball clubs.
“The thing that's great about this ball club is that we find ways to win games. Taylor Clarke, our ace, was not as his best today and Auburn did a nice job of capitalizing on some mistakes. Auburn really drove his pitch count up by fouling pitches off and forcing him into five- and six-pitch at-bats. Our bullpen did a nice job, and did enough to keep us in it. It came down to the big blow at the end, and Roper did a nice job in a left-on-left matchup against a lefty who really dealt against us. That's a very tough spot for a left-handed hitter, but he got a ball up in the zone and put a good swing on it. Roper had the two biggest at-bats of the day for us. It was a great effort on our part in a great college ballgame.”
The teams finished evenly split with eight hits apiece, as Ryan Brown and Carl Wise both added a hit and scored a run for the Cougars.
The Cougars were prolific with two outs, scoring all seven runs with two outs and batting .375 (6-for-16) to extend innings in two-out situations.
“All year, we have been a two-out hitting team,” said Butler, CAA Player and Defensive Player of the Year. “Since I've been here, we've believed two-out hits win championships. When we get two outs, we don't change our approach and you saw it today with guys up-and-down the lineup who can drive runs in.”
Auburn plays a small-ball brand of baseball and looks to manufacture runs with movement on the bases once they produce runners, highlighting the importance of Cougar pitchers to retire their leadoff hitters. Love, along with starter Taylor Clarke and middle-relievers Will Detwiler and Chase Henry, did so in eight of the 11 defensive innings.
Jones opened the scoring after Lipscomb sat down the first five Cougars to the plate by jumping on a 1-0, two-out pitch and lining his 11th homer of the year over the wall in left.
Auburn manufactured a response in the top of the third, leading off with a double down the left field line by Cody Nulph. A sacrifice bunt moved Nulph to third, and he scored on an RBI bounce out by Melvin Gray.
The game was still tied, 1-1, when Butler and Pappas homered back-to-back in the bottom of the third, lifting the Cougars to a 3-1 advantage.
The momentum ebbed in the fifth, when Auburn left fielder Jackson Burgreen brought a would-be homerun off the bat of Morgan Phillips back into the park with a leaping catch against the wall, revitalizing the Tigers.
Auburn utilized the momentum shift in the sixth, ultimately plating three runs on three hits to take a brief lead. Gray led off the inning with an infield single, and took second and third on a Cougar throwing error and groundout, respectively. An RBI single up the middle by Daniel Robert delivered Gray to the plate, and an RBI double later in the inning scored Robert, before a balk allowed the go-ahead run to walk home.
The Cougars followed suit with three runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth, capitalizing on an Auburn error and adding three hits. Brown led off the inning with a single to right, the first Cougar hit to stay in the park. Alex Pastorius executed a sacrifice bunt, and Auburn's fielding error on a grounder to second put runners on the corners. After a flyout, Pappas singled to right to score brown, and a walk to Jones loaded the bases. Roper fell behind 1-2 in the count, but fouled off two pitches before working a full count and driving a two-RBI single back up the middle, putting the Cougars back on top 6-4.
The lead wouldn't hold long, however, as Auburn responded yet again in the seventh. Burgreen skied a ball which was toyed with by the wind, and ultimately fell between the Cougar defenders converging between the mound and plate. Burgreen hustled the whole way, allowing him to reach third when the ball fell for a rare infield triple. On the next pitch, Gray homered to left to tie the game.
The teams battled through three scoreless innings before Roper's heroics in the bottom of the 11th. Auburn pitcher Izaac Yarbrough pitched 3.0 scoreless innings before giving up the bomb, and was tagged with the loss despite it being the only hit he surrendered.
“In my previous at-bat (against Yarbrough), I struggled a little bit with a lot of off-speed pitches, but the second time I slowed things down and saw the baseball,” said Roper. “I got a pitch I could handle and drove it. It's like floating on a cloud; I don't even remember running around the bases. This is definitely something I'll remember the rest of my life.”
POSTGAME NOTES
For the sixth week in a row, the Cougars are ranked in all five polls recognized by the NCAA. The Cougars are currently ranked No. 15 by both the NCBWA and D1Baseball, No. 16 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 18 according to Baseball America, and No. 25 by Collegiate Baseball.
The win was the program's 13th in the NCAA Tournament, with CofC improving to 13-12 across seven postseason appearances.
