The Troy Trojans (21-13) dropped a midweek matchup with the No. 25-ranked Auburn Tigers (22-11) by a score of 12-5 at home on Wednesday, March 26. 

A total of 1,571 fans filed into the Troy Softball Complex to watch the Trojans vs. Tigers, the seventh biggest crowd in the venue’s history. The largest crowd in the venue’s history remains the 2022 game against Florida State that saw 2,121 fans in attendance. A total of nine of the Troy Softball Complex’s highest attended games were against either Alabama or Auburn.

Just like the first game between the two schools this season, Troy jumped ahead early when Caiden Oliva scored on a wild pitch to put Troy up 1-0 in the second inning. Auburn then rallied to score seven straight runs to go up 7-1. 

Troy answered with three runs of its own in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to 7-4 but the Tigers added five more runs in the top of the sixth to extend the lead to 12-4. Troy scored one more run in the bottom of the sixth but would not be able to draw any closer. 

“The first thing I want to say is thank you to Trojan Nation,” Troy Coach Eric Newell said. “The amount of fans that were here tonight was over 1,500. I thought offensively we really did some nice things, but pitching wise we struggled at times and that’s disappointing. I hate that for our fanbase but thank you to all the people that came out and watched. I wish the outcome was a little different, and I think the game was a little closer than the final score indicated.”

Taylor McKinney led Troy at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double, a triple, two RBIs and one run. Makaley Boswell also went 2-for-4 with a double and a run, while McKinnon Howard went 2-for-2 with a run. 

Savannah Money (1-3) took the loss in the circle for Troy, giving up four hits and two earned runs in two and 1/3 innings pitched. Kate Peters struck out three batters and gave up seven hits and five earned runs in two and 2/3 innings of work. Brantley’s Kaden Dunn earned five putouts with no fielding errors, while McKinney tallied four putouts with no errors. 

For Auburn, Icess Tresvik went 3-for-4 with a home run, three RBIs and one run, while Lisenby Aubrie went 3-for-4 with two runs. SJ Geurin (15-5) was the winning pitcher, striking out six batters and giving up seven hits and four earned runs in five innings pitched. 

Troy is on the road this weekend for a Sun Belt Conference series against ULM March 28-30.