Coming off an electric series win against their in-state rivals, and a hard fought 9-8 road victory at Georgia Tech, the Auburn Tigers will get set for another SEC series battle as they eagerly look to continue their momentum into the weekend against No. 3 LSU at Plainsman Park.
Following a rough four game stretch in which Auburn got swept on the road by Georgia and fell to unranked UAB, the Tigers bounced back as they run ruled No. 8 Alabama at home. Auburn split the next two games against the Crimson Tide and was able to squeeze out a victory against the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta on Tuesday evening. These statement wins now put the Tigers at 23-10 on the season and up to No. 9 in the most recent rankings. Although Butch Thompson’s team has been trending in the right direction recently, the LSU Tigers will be one of the team’s most challenging tests all year.
LSU has been a college baseball powerhouse in recent decades as the Tigers have only missed the postseason four times since 1985. The Tigers head coach, Jay Johnson is entering his fourth season in Louisiana and has already led his team to a College World Series victory as LSU was crowned champions in 2023. LSU’s success has continued into 2025 as the team currently holds a 31-3 record while going 10-2 in conference play.
This season, LSU ranks top four in the SEC in both ERA and batting average behind powerful hitters such as Jared Jones and pitchers like Casan Evans and Zac Cowan. Junior Jared Jones is a powerful first baseman who is ranked number seven in the SEC for batting average currently and also leads his team in RBIs and total bases. Jones will definitely be an offensive threat for Auburn’s pitching staff to be careful of as they look to contain the Tigers bats.
On the defensive side of things, Casan Evans and Zac Cowan each hold an ERA under 1.00 in 23 plus innings of work along with an average much over one strikeout per inning. Auburn’s offense will most likely get to face both of these right-handed arms this weekend and will look to end the pitchers' current positive trends.
For Butch Thompson’s Auburn Tigers, the offense has been a strong point thus far into the season as the team has averaged 7.6 runs per game. The Tigers top three hitters, Ike Irish, Chase Fralick, and Cooper McMurray all have maintained .340 plus batting averages with .400 on base percentages. Auburn’s impressive offense going head-to-head with LSU’s dominant pitching staff should be a must watch matchup inside Plainsman Park.
Auburn carries an 80-113 all-time record against LSU into Friday’s matchup, but Auburn pulled out a series win the last time the team hosted LSU. The series opening games on Friday and Saturday are scheduled for a 6 p.m. CST start with Sunday’s first pitch set for 2 p.m. CST. All games over the course of the weekend will be televised on SECN+ and can also be heard on the Auburn Sports Network.
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Will is a freshman majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in the spring of 2025.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @willdembo
