No. 11 Auburn baseball took game one of its three-game home series against No. 14 Oklahoma 6-4 on Friday night.
This marks the team’s fourth straight win and its seventh victory in its last 10 SEC matchups.
The game began with a bang as freshman outfielder Mason McCraine, in his new leadoff role, blasted a solo home run to right field on just the second pitch he saw. Two batters later, sophomore catcher Chase Fralick matched it with a home run of his own to left field, putting the Tigers up 2-0. Auburn continued its hot start in the first, loading the bases with one out but failing to drive in any more runs.
The Tigers scored again in the bottom of the second, thanks to the speed of junior center fielder Bristol Carter. After being hit by a pitch, he scored from first base on an RBI single up the middle by junior third baseman Eric Guevara. Guevara had a strong all-around game, driving in three runs while extending his hitting streak to 17 games. Auburn left runners on base again, however, ending the inning with the bases loaded for the second straight inning.
After the Sooners put up two runs in the top of the fourth, Auburn responded with two runs of its own on a two-run home run to center field by Guevara, one of his three hits on the night. The Tigers waited until the bottom of the seventh to add their final insurance run. After back-to-back singles from sophomore Bub Terrell and freshman Ethin Bingaman, junior Eddie Madrigal laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt down the third-base line to advance both runners to second and third. Freshman Brandon McCraine made the most of the opportunity, hitting a sacrifice fly to deep right-center to allow Terrell to tag up and score.
Auburn once again saw a strong outing from sophomore starter Andres Alvarez. The right-hander earned his seventh win of the season, allowing three runs in 6 2/3 innings while striking out six. After allowing a run late in the top of the second, Alvarez was relieved by Jackson Sanders, a usual starter for the squad, making his fourth bullpen appearance of the season. Sanders stranded runners on first and second to end the seventh inning. The left-hander ran into trouble in the eighth, allowing a run to score on an RBI single, but escaped the jam by forcing a groundout to third base. The ninth inning went much more smoothly for the sophomore, as he closed out the game with a 1-2-3 inning.
The Tigers need to win one of their two remaining weekend matchups against the Sooners to win their fourth straight SEC series. Sophomores Jake Marciano and Alex Petrovic are expected to take the mound in the remaining games.
The Tigers will look to take their home series this weekend against a tough opponent in No. 14 Oklahoma.
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Jonathan is a freshman majoring in industrial and systems engineering. He started with The Plainsman in the fall of 2025.
