Tennessee experienced 18 innings at the plate Saturday against Auburn without ever having the lead or without ever producing the lead.
Yet the Volunteers still have a chance to win this rain-soaked series inside Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
The No. 6 Vols and No. 11 Tigers have only been able to complete one contest, with Auburn winning the series opener 6-1. That started Friday night and ended Saturday afternoon, and the second game was halted Saturday night in a 4-4 deadlock in the top of the 10th inning.
Dalton Bargo’s solo home run to left field with one out in the ninth inning kept Tennessee alive in its quest to avoid losing a third consecutive home series.
The second game will resume at 1 p.m. Sunday, and it will be followed by the series finale that has been shortened to seven innings. Tennessee enters Sunday with a 36-10 overall record and a 13-9 mark in Southeastern Conference play, while Auburn is 32-14 and 12-10.
On Friday night, Vols ace Liam Doyle took the mound in a steady rain and allowed a one-out walk to Cade Belyeu and a two-run home run to left by Ike Irish. The game was suspended after the top of the first inning, thus ruining Doyle’s start.
Auburn extended its lead to 3-0 once the contest resumed Saturday morning when Belyeu reached on a bunt single and scored on Irish’s single to left. Cooper McMurray’s homer to right in the sixth inning made it 4-0.
The Vols collected their only run in Saturday’s opener during the seventh inning when Bargo and Levi Clark produced consecutive one-out doubles.
Tigers starting pitcher Samuel Dutton was pulled after Clark’s RBI and wound up allowing four hits while striking out eight batters in improving to 6-2 while lowering his earned run average to 2.37. Doyle was handed the unusual loss, which dropped him to 7-2 overall with a 2.47 ERA.
Auburn also took a 2-0 lead in the second game with first-inning RBI singles by Irish and Lucas Steele, but Tennessee loaded the bases with one out in the third inning and tied the game on Hunter Ensley’s single to right-center that scored Manny Marin and Dean Curley. The Tigers went back up 3-2 in the fifth when Irish reached on a throwing error by Curley at second, stole second and third, and scored on Dylan Loy’s wild pitch.
The Vols got singles by Curley and Andrew Fischer to put runners on the corners with nobody out in the seventh, and Bargo’s sacrifice fly to left scored Curley to make it 3-3.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.