The No. 18 Auburn Tigers grabbed a 10-2 win against the No. 18 Arkansas Razorbacks in Plainsman Park on Thursday, securing a much-needed win after going 0-4 on the road.
The Tigers improve to 21-8 (5-5 SEC) on the season, with this win evening out their SEC record.
The night started slowly for both teams, as the bats stayed quiet until the fourth inning, when Arkansas's Ryder Helfrick hit a home run. The Tigers responded in the bottom of the inning when freshman Ethin Bingaman flied out and allowed sophomore Bub Terrell to score.
Sophomore Chase Fralick brought Bristol Carter home in the fifth with a double. After that, singles from junior Eric Guevara, Bingaman, redshirt freshman Brandon McCraine and freshman Mason McCraine brought in the other six Auburn runs of the inning.
Eric Guevara (8) celebrating his run during the Auburn vs. Arkansas game on Thursday, April 2, 2026.
“It was a good night for us, but there’s not a lot to say. We have to get right back out here,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. “I’m trying to stay close to the bullseye. They worked through some stuff and hard this week to get off to a good start for us in this series.”
Guevara kept things going in the sixth with his 11th homerun of the season to centerfield, which was extra special since his parents were visiting from Panama on Thursday night.
"You feel it. You see one guy do it. You see the next guy do it. You see the next guy do it, and it just becomes contagious,” Guevara said. “It's just one of those things that once you see a guy do it, everybody else just starts rolling. I think we saw that tonight."
The offense was not the only thing on fire Thursday night. Sophomore Andreas Alvarez matched a career-high 10 strikeouts in 6.0 innings pitched in his first SEC start and weekend opener debut of the season. Allowing only one run, Alvarez dominated on the mound.
“It was awesome. This is the first time I’ve gotten to open up a weekend series like that,” Alvarez said. “Being able to come out here with the boys swinging it and being able to get a lead like that, it just gives you all of the confidence in the world.”
Andreas Alvarez (21) pitching the ball during the Auburn vs. Arkansas game on Thursday, April 2, 2026.
The Razorbacks fall to 19-12 (4-6 SEC) on the season, as the loss to the Tigers adds to a four-game losing streak.
Helfrick’s homerun in the fourth was his 10th of the season, and he was placed on the midseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award. The only other Razorback run of the game was in the ninth when Nolan Souza doubled and allowed Carter Rutenbar to score.
“We had our opportunities against him [Alvarez],” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. “He did get us out with that breaking ball; I’ll give him credit for that, but that’s all I’ll give him credit for. We did a bad job with runners in scoring position, bases loaded with one out, didn’t score a run. Runners at first and second in two different innings and no outs and did not score, and they did the opposite.”
Game two of the series is set to take place on Friday at 6 p.m. CDT in Plainsman Park.
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