Watch: Confused Catcher's Inability To Find Ball Allows 2 Runs for Stunning Walk-Off Win
The Auburn baseball team lost a heartbreaker Thursday in the SEC tournament in the most unusual ending you’ll probably see all year.
The Tigers held a 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the ninth in an elimination game against LSU.
Auburn freshman Brooks Fuller was on the mound trying to close out the game, but with one out and runners on second and third, he threw a wild pitch in the dirt.
Auburn catcher Matt Scheffler blocked it, but it got away from him.
The ball squirted away about 20 feet to his right, but he couldn’t find it. He tore off his mask and looked around the batting circle but didn’t see it.
Auburn first baseman Rankin Woley did see it — the ball had gone beyond the batting circle onto the grass in foul territory. He bolted after it and flipped it to the catcher as LSU’s Giovanni DiGiacomo was sliding.
The throw was too late to get DiGiacomo, who scored the tying run. The throw from Woley went wild and Drew Bianco, who was on second, easily scored the game-winner.
WHATEVER IT TAKES ? pic.twitter.com/mlKxPwqfQM
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) May 23, 2019
“Unusual, tough way to lose it,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson told the Opelika-Auburn News. “I’m disappointed — not mad or sad — that our journey ends here at Hoover (Alabama).”
Now all the Tigers can do is sit and hope they get picked for the College World Series; otherwise, their season is over.
For LSU, on the other hand, it was a crazy couple of days.
The night before, they played a 17-inning game against Mississippi State that didn’t end until 4:03 a.m ET on Thursday. Less than eight hours later, at noon Thursday, they would be playing LSU.
They lost that marathon game at Mississippi State, so they were also facing elimination.
“We were all energetic and ready to play. Like [LSU coach Paul Mainieri] says, we’re 18- to 22-year-old kids, if we can’t bounce back and play baseball in a great stadium like that, there could be worse things we could be doing,” Bianco said, the LSU Reveille reported.
HOLY COW…. Does that take the sting off that 3am loss or WHAT?
LSU defeats Auburn in some bottom of the ninth on some pure craziness.. . Where’s the ball? Where’s the ball? pic.twitter.com/rjwSqbBGJm
— Mike Scarborough (@ScarboroughMike) May 23, 2019
“I think that’s what we did. We just wanted to show we could make a run, and we really wanted to be a host in a regional and to win this game is huge and we know that,” Bianco said. “I think that’s why we played with a lot of energy today.”
LSU plays Friday afternoon against top-ranked Vanderbilt (47-10) in the SEC semifinals — and this time, the Tigers will have more than eight hours to prepare.
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