Butch Thompson’s No. 11 Auburn Tigers took the field at Plainsman Park on Sunday afternoon with a chance to put the college baseball world on notice.
Ike Irish and company did just that, taking down No. 3 LSU 3-2 and sweeping the Bayou Bengals for the first time since 1988.
“Our guys came together and played in every facet, great baseball, sound baseball,” said head coach Thompson. “LSU was going to have to beat them for the most part, and then our crowd the largest series ever at home. It all just came together and synced up this weekend.”
Irish continued his stellar 2025 campaign at the plate going 2-for-3 with a walk.
“It’s huge, gives us a lot of confidence. You know winning the first two is awesome, and having the chance to sweep on a Sunday doesn’t come around often. So, being able to execute at a high level like we did today, offensively and on the mound was pretty impressive,” Irish said on Auburn’s first sweep of LSU in 37 years.
Auburn’s offense came in the first two innings, with Irish leading the charge. His double off the War Eagle Wall in left field gave the orange and blue two runners in scoring position. Cooper McMurray drove both of them home with a double of his own off the left-field wall, giving Auburn an early 2-0 lead.
Andreas Alvarez got the start for Auburn and worked around trouble going for four scoreless innings.
“Alvarez a true freshman, it's not perfect yet, he pitches himself into a little bit of trouble with some free stuff but they didn’t get the big hit,” Thompson said.
In the fifth, LSU looked to get on the board following a leadoff walk from Michael Braswell III and a double from former Auburn Tiger Chris Stanfield. Alvarez was relieved of his duties and southpaw Griffin Graves got the call.
Graves was able to escape the jam without surrendering a run, fanning Jared Jones and Daniel Dickinson.
Jones, recently named to the Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list, had a rough weekend on the Plains going 1-for-13 with six strikeouts.
“It’s just a different fastball. I think him behind Alvarez is a good look. And I think it takes a second to adjust, and whether he got the strikeout or the pop up, just got him in between for a second to get us out of that inning, Thompson said of Graves’ Houdini act. “That’s huge momentum.”
LSU’s next threat came in the eighth and this time they cashed in. With Auburn’s lead cut to 3-1 and two outs, Jake Brown singled through the left side to bring the visitors within one.
In the ninth, Dylan Watts sat down LSU in order to give Auburn its ninth conference win of the season, surpassing the 2024 team’s win total of eight.
“I think we can look back and teach off this, and you know it’s still not perfect. There’s a couple of base running things, or some at bats and moments and even pitches and decisions. But nonetheless, I think these guys are super excited to play well in front of the home fans this weekend,” Thompson said.
Eric Guevara (#8) flips the ball during the baseball game versus LSU at Plainsman Park on April 13 2025.
Auburn will take the show on the road to open up the second half of SEC play. The Tigers will take on Jacksonville State Tuesday night, with first pitch set for 6 p.m. CST, and then head to Austin to play No. 2 Texas in a three-game set beginning on Thursday night at 7 p.m. CST.
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Rory is a freshman majoring in journalism sports production. He started with The Plainsman in the spring of 2025.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @RorymGarvin
