Arkansas ends Auburn's SEC title hopes after lengthy rain delay

No. 6 Auburn baseball fell to No. 7-seeded Arkansas 2-1 on Saturday night, bringing an end to its SEC title hopes in a low-scoring affair shaken up by a lengthy rain delay.

After cruising to a seven-run victory against Texas A&M on Friday night, in which every batter recorded a base hit, the Tigers struggled to replicate that performance against an inexperienced, yet unforgiving, Arkansas pitching staff. No Auburn hitter got on base more than once, and momentum was hard to muster as strikeouts plagued the middle of the order.

“Congratulations to Arkansas. We had every desire and intention to try to be playing tomorrow,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “This week, we were shooting for a championship; we fell short. We get to try to play for another championship next week. Disappointed with the outcome, but I thought this was great training.”

Right-handed pitcher Cooper Dossett represented the Razorbacks on the bump to begin the game in what marked his first-ever collegiate start. The homegrown junior struggled to a 7.90 ERA across 13 appearances out of the bullpen in the regular season. He held his own with a pair of strikeouts and one earned run through two innings, serving as an opener before long reliever James DeCremer took over in the third.

Alex Petrovic, Auburn’s season-long No. 3 starter, took the mound for the Tigers in what was a much-deserved postseason debut. The team captain suffered season-ending injuries in both 2024 and 2025. He took some time to settle in, escaping a shoddy first inning after 22 pitches and a pair of hard-hit flyouts, but recovered quickly with a three-up, three-down second inning and a three-strikeout third to take control.

Bub Terrell put Auburn on the board early with his team-leading 16th home run of the year, driving a first-pitch breaking ball to right-center field to put the Tigers up one in the second inning. He flashed his abilities on the other side of the ball just an inning and a half later, robbing Arkansas second baseman, Nolan Souza, of a home run with a leaping grab over the left-field wall to keep the Razorbacks scoreless.

“The wind was blowing a lot. Before the game, I tracked my steps to see how many steps it takes to get to the wall. That’s a routine,” said Terrell. “I went up to the wall and I caught it, thank God, because it was definitely going over. It felt amazing, with the pitching staff we have, if we save any runs, I feel like they can go the distance.”

Heavy rainfall began to pummel the Hoover Met in the middle of the fourth inning, and the game entered a weather delay that lasted nearly two and a half hours. That forced a premature conclusion to Alex Petrovic’s evening, who had been thriving with seven strikeouts on just two hits.

The Tigers pivoted to high-leverage reliever Ryan Hetzler when play resumed, who went on to set career-high marks in pitches and innings pitched as he threw the rest of the contest.

Hetzler punched out three batters in the fifth, but Arkansas still scratched across a run. Reese Robinett doubled between strikeouts and Camden Kozeal drove him in with a single, tying the game at one apiece.

Hetzler recovered and retook control by retiring nine straight batters, but the Tigers struggled to support him offensively as the night went on. Arkansas pitcher Ethan McElvain emerged as the Razorbacks’ game-defining contributor, battering the strike zone down the stretch to hold Auburn to just one baserunner across the final four innings.

With two outs in the top of the eighth and the score still deadlocked, Arkansas catcher Ryder Helfrick got a hold of a hanging slider and blasted a no-doubt solo homer to left field, his first hit of the tournament, to put the Razorbacks ahead 2-1.

McElvain capped off his exceptional outing with a suffocating seven-pitch bottom of the ninth, forcing a popup, strikeout and flyout to clinch the victory for the Razorbacks and send them to the SEC title game.

Auburn will look ahead to Monday’s selection show, where its three opponents will be revealed for next weekend’s NCAA Regionals. Despite missing out on its first SEC title since 1998, Plainsman Park is expected to host both a regional and a super regional in the coming weeks, with Auburn having all but secured a top-eight national seed.

“We all know we have the desire and it’s possible for us to make it to Omaha and make a push,” Thompson said. “I believe that because I believe with our pitching staff every day we roll out on the field we have a chance to win. That’s a good feeling as a coach.”

Arkansas will face Georgia in the SEC championship Sunday at 1 p.m. CDT, seeking what would be its second-ever tournament championship.