Following a rough spell for both teams, No. 18 Auburn baseball is set for a three-game series against No. 17 Arkansas, commencing Thursday night inside Plainsman Park.
“It’s going to be a fight,” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said on the upcoming series.
The Tigers and Razorbacks have followed similar paths to start their respective seasons, as each historic program opened the year ranked in the top 10 and off to a strong start before dropping four straight games in their most recent contests.
Now, each squad enters this pivotal SEC matchup looking to regain momentum and bounce back from recent struggles.
“This is a tough stretch for us, so we’re glad to be home for an eight-game homestand,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. “There’s nobody I respect more than Dave Van Horn and what he’s done with his program. This will be really important for both teams to try to find success."
The Arkansas pitching staff's slumps have been on full display as of late, with opposing offenses tallying 38 runs during their four-game losing streak, and short outings from its starters have caused much unnecessary damage to the bullpen. Van Horn has made it clear that he may be forced to make some changes to the rotation prior to this weekend’s series after the Razorbacks never held a lead against the Florida Gators last weekend
"We play catch-up too much," Van Horn said. "We're behind, and it's hard, so we've got to figure out offensively, when you score early, and on the mound, we need to get people out early."
On the other side of the matchup, Auburn’s weekend pitching staff has proved to be the driving factor towards victories. It's holding opponents to an average of just 3.33 runs per game, even while facing daunting lineups over the last two weekends with Alabama and Texas.
Although the Tigers' weekend starters have already proved to be strong, right-handed pitcher Andreas Alvarez will join the rotation by making the series-opening start on Thursday night. Alvarez has been one of Thompson’s most dominant arms thus far, tossing a 0.83 ERA over six weekday starts.
Auburn’s offense will look to get back some of its success this weekend, as well, and take advantage of a struggling Arkansas staff by taking it one at-bat at a time after averaging under two runs per game during their four-game skid.
"We have to keep our strengths, our strengths and find a way to free them up and go back to having some good at-bats and not feeling the weight of the world," Thompson said. "They need to be able to figure this out and dominate it. They're trying to learn how to grow from playing a sport."
The Tigers hold a 50-56 record against the Razorbacks over the course of their history, but Auburn boasts a winning record of 26-22 at home inside Plainsman Park.
The conference battle will commence on Thursday night, with first pitch for games one and two set for 6:00 p.m. CDT and the series finale scheduled for 2:00 p.m. CST on Sunday. The opener will be nationally televised on ESPN2, and games two and three are slated to be aired on SEC Network+.
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Will is a sophomore majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in the spring of 2025.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @willdembo
