The No. 6 Auburn Tigers are set to travel to Birmingham, Alabama, to take on the UAB Blazers for the second time this season on Tuesday.
The Tigers are coming off a series win over No. 7 Texas A&M on the road, where they won the first two and dropped the finale on Sunday afternoon. After their weekend in College Station, Texas, Auburn holds a 32-14 (14-10 SEC) record this season.
Auburn trailed the Aggies 4-1 going into the ninth inning when sophomore Bub Terrell scored Eric Guevara with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 4-3 and loaded the bases once again. However, redshirt freshman Brandon McCraine grounded into a double play to end the scoring threat after nearly tying the game with a fly ball to right field that skewed foul.
In addition to the series' final game, the Tigers' pitching worked overtime to hold off a stellar Texas A&M offense throughout the entire weekend. Redshirt sophomore Alex Petrovic retired 14 batters in a row on Sunday, after allowing a leadoff double to start the game, and he held the Aggies hitless until a single in the fifth inning.
“I was pleased with our pitchers the entire series,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. “To hold this offense, arguably thinking it’s the best patience and power in the entire country to four runs today, they got the timely hit. We didn’t control the at-bats well. I’ll give their starting pitcher a lot of credit. Our guys just buckled down late, and our at-bats were better in the last couple frames and scared them to death.”
Although the Tigers dropped the last game, the series victory marks Auburn’s fifth straight SEC series win. Until now, Auburn hadn't won five consecutive SEC series since the end of the 2023 season.
“The standard and effort have to be the same every day,” Thompson said. “You keep your head down. The mission is the same. We’ve got two more weeks with our heads down. This is the best training in the world where it feels like we’re playing five super regionals in a row.”
The Blazers are coming off a tough road trip, dropping all three games to Rice. After its weekend in Houston, Texas, home of the Owls, UAB holds a 28-19 (12-9 AAC) record this season.
Rice swept the Blazers for the first time since 2014, and the weekend concluded with UAB dropping the finale 10-3 on Sunday, even despite getting on the board first in every game of the series.
Tuesday's game will be the second and final meeting of the season between Auburn and UAB. Earlier this season, Auburn dominated UAB with a 17-2 win in March. Auburn’s bats were on fire inside Plainsman Park, and the UAB defense could not do anything about it.
Historically, Auburn has found success against UAB, holding a 22-5 record since 2001.
The Tigers and the Blazers are set to face off at Regions Field in Birmingham on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CDT. The game will be available on ESPN+.
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