Auburn Baseball Stunned by Milwaukee in NCAA Regional Opener

The Auburn Tigers were stunned on Friday, falling to bottom-seeded Milwaukee 13-8 in the first game of the NCAA regional tournament. 

Tigers head coach Butch Thompson chose to go with his ordinary series-opening pitcher in Jake Marciano. And unlike his past few starts, he struggled early. He allowed four runs off five hits, including a homer, in the first inning. Velocity was something that was an early concern for the sophomore, as he struggled to reach 90 mph. 

Auburn only allowed three total runs during the entire SEC tournament, and surpassed it quickly in allowing four runs in the first inning of the regionals.

Marciano allowed another run in the second inning and was lifted without recording an out. His six earned runs against were the most on the season and tied a career high. He was pulled after just 29 pitches for LJ Cormier.

The country's best pitching staff certainly struggled against Milwaukee, which entered the tournament for the first time in 16 years with one of the worst resumes and was quickly down by double digits, 10-0.

The Tigers' bats were inconsistent as well on Friday, adding to the nightmare scenario. Auburn didn't get the scoring started until Ethin Bingaman put the Tigers on the board with a three run home run. The freshman continued to add more RBIs to his already impressive season total. 

Chase Fralick also sent one over the wall before the game entered a short weather delay to make the game 11-5.

Eric Guevara picked up the Tigers' final homer of the day, but it wasn't enough as the team lost to a 4th seed for the second time in program history.  

The team will play the winner/loser of the UCF and NC State game on Saturday. The team is now facing elimination with any other loss inside the tournament. They will need to win the next four games to advance to Super Regionals next weekend.