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Auburn’s dream of making it to the College World Series was swallowed up on Saturday by Coastal Carolina, which defeated the Tigers for the second straight day and captured the Auburn Super Regional with a 4-1 victory.
One day after its stirring comeback fell short in a 7-6, 10-inning loss in Game 1, the Auburn offense went quiet with everything on the line. The Tigers managed 8 hits on Saturday, though they were all singles. And the Tigers could only turn them into 1 run, on Chase Fralick’s RBI single to right that scored Eric Snow in the top of the second inning.
It was only 1 run, but it was something, and it gave Auburn a lead, something it had for just the first inning of Friday’s Super Regional opener before being forced to play catch-up for the rest of the game.
That 1 run on Saturday held into the bottom of the 7th. Then things got bad for Auburn, which allowed 3 runs in the seventh and 1 more in the eighth.
An error by Auburn first baseman Cooper McMurray during that fateful 7th inning plated the go-ahead run for Coastal Carolina, and things continued to unravel for Auburn from there.
Cade Fisher was saddled with his third loss of the season after giving up 5 hits and 3 runs (1 earned) in 2.2 innings of work. Andreas Alvarez started on the bump for Auburn, pitching 4 innings while allowing 4 hits and no runs.
Auburn was seeking a return to the CWS for the first time since 2022, but instead, the Tigers saw their season end on their home field. They finish with a 41-20 record on the season.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
