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The Troy Trojans (12-6) struggled at the plate as they fell to the 12th ranked Auburn Tigers (13-3) at Toyota Field in Madison on Tuesday.

Troy’s Shane Lewis and Will Butcher both belted home runs in the loss but those were two of the Trojans’ four total hits on the night. Meanwhile, Auburn earned 11 hits and seven walks as Troy’s pitching staff also struggled.

Garrett Gainous took the loss on the mound for Troy, striking out two batters and giving up four hits and two earned runs in two and 2/3 innings pitched. Kristian Asbury struck out two batters and gave up one hit and no runs in two innings pitched. A total of eight Trojans toed the rubber against Auburn.

Troy and Auburn slugged it out with the Tigers leading 2-1 going into the fourth inning when Trojan pitcher Logan Ross went down with an injury. Auburn then scored four straight runs. Troy added a homer in the eighth inning but Auburn answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning to seal the win. “What an awesome atmosphere with more than 6,100 fans here; what a dream,” Troy Coach Sckylar Meade said. “This is what you dream about playing in front of. Obviously, both teams came out throwing punches in the first and then settled down. I thought the game had the makings of a 4-2, 4-3 game, and then (Logan) Ross goes down; it just zapped our juice in the middle of the game. Our guys competed well, but credit to Auburn. Their guys pitched really well, and I think they are going to do tremendously well (this season).”

The Tigers were led at the plate by Chris Stanfield, going 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Cooper McMurray and Caden Green both hit homers. Conner McBride got the win on the mound, striking out two batters and giving up one hit and one earned run in five innings pitched.

Troy will look to get back on track this weekend with a Sun Belt Conference series against ULM March 15-17 on the road.