Auburn’s Cole Lipscomb prepares to pitch in the first inning of the Tigers’ NCAA regional game against College of Charleston on Friday. (Mike Herndon/mherndon@al.com) No. 3 seed Auburn (35-24)opens the Tallahassee Regional today at 11 a.m. Central against No. 2 seed College of Charleston (43-13)
The Tigers are throwing right-hander Cole Lipscomb (8-2, 2.38 ERA, 84 Ks), while Charleston sends right-hander Taylor Clarke (13-1, 1.34, 136 Ks) to the hill.
The Cougars’ lineup includes five hitters with 9 or more home runs: Blake Butler (12), Carl Wise (11), Bradley Jones (10), Alex Pastorius (9) and Nick Pappas (9).
The Tigers’ lineup today:
- Melvin Gray, 2B
- Anfernee Grier, CF
- Damon Haecker, RF
- Daniel Robert, 1B
- Austin Murphy, DH
- Blake Logan, C
- Alex Polston, 3B
- Cody Nulph, SS
- Jackson Burgreen, LF
Florida State plays Mercer at 5 p.m. in today’s other game. Check back here for live updates throughout the Auburn-College of Charleston game.
Fifth inning: College of Charleston 3, Auburn 1
Morgan Phillips nearly gave the College of Charleston its fourth home run of the game with a shot to left, but Jackson Burgreen robbed him at the fence.
Auburn goes down in order.
Fourth inning: College of Charleston 3, Auburn 1
The Cougars’ big bats are active, as Blake Butler and Nick Pappas blasted back-to-back solo home runs to give College of Charleston the lead.
Austin Murphy, who is now 2-for-2 today, singles off the first baseman’s glove with two outs, then steals second. But Clarke gets Blake Logon on a fly-out to end the inning.
Third inning: Auburn 1, College of Charleston 1
The Cougars are retired in order on a groundout, a pop-out and a strikeout.
Cody Nulph rips a leadoff double down the left field line, moves to third on Jackson Burgreen’s sacrifice bunt and scores on a Melvin Gray groundout.
Second inning: College of Charleston 1, Auburn 0
Bradley Jones takes Lipscomb deep to left for a two-out solo home run, giving the Cougars a 1-0 lead. Lipscomb then strikes out Erven Roper to get out of the inning without further damage.
Auburn’s Austin Murphy beats out an infield single, but is stranded at first.
First inning: Auburn 0, College of Charleston 0
The Cougars go down 1-2-3.
Auburn goes down in order in the first, two by strikeouts.
