Justin Lebron's heroics not enough as Alabama baseball drops series to Auburn

With Alabama baseball trailing by a run in the top of the 9th inning and a runner on second, Justin Lebron strolled into the batter's box. Auburn made the unwise decision to pitch to Lebron, who then sent a bomb over the giant left field wall at Plainsman Park to give the Crimson Tide a 6-5 lead that they would hold in the bottom of the inning.

It was the one bright spot in an otherwise disappointing weekend for Alabama as they dropped two of three to Auburn on the road to fall to 27-6 overall and 7-5 in SEC play.

In the series opener on Friday, Alabama was non-competitive in a 10-0 mercy-ruling. The Tigers jumped all over the Tide early, plating six runs and chasing starter Zane Adams before he could record and out in the 2nd inning. The bats fell silent, netting just two hits off of Auburn ace Samuel Dutton.

With a lot of rain forecasted for Sunday, the decision was made to play a double-header on Saturday for fear of a Sunday rain-out.

In the first game of the double-header, Alabama got a solid start from Riley Quick before Lebron's late inning heroics.

In the second game, Alabama fell into an early hole again thanks to poor pitching. Bobby Alcock was pulled after recording just a single out and giving up four 1st inning runs. Alabama got three back on a homerun from Garrett Staton, but the Tigers plated two more runs in the 2nd inning to go up 6-3.

Down 7-3, Alabama rallied in the 7th inning as Jason Torres drove in two runs with a single up the middle to cut the deficit to 7-5. Alabama went six up and six down in the 8th and 9th innings as Auburn held on to the 7-5 win to win the series.

Alabama will look to shake off the series defeat quickly. They will turn around and face Southern Miss on Tuesday in their mid-week matchup. After that, they'll welcome Mississippi State to Tuscaloosa for a weekend series the Crimson Tide will need to win to effectively bounce back from a disappointing weekend at Auburn.