Fresh off an 18-5 run-rule victory over No. 7 Texas A&M earlier in the day, No. 8 Auburn baseball secured a doubleheader sweep, taking its second Saturday matchup against the Aggies 5-4. With the two wins, the Tigers have now won six of their last seven conference matchups while also securing their fifth straight SEC series.
“It’s just a mark of three guys pitched today in a doubleheader on the road against a top-10 team and got it done,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. “Really good pitching that we have confidence and faith in held up. I know it’s an offensive day to talk about, and it should be, but nonetheless our pitchers are absolutely the reason we won two.”
Auburn will now need just one more win to secure a road series sweep for just the second time this season, the first since its series against Missouri to begin conference play in early March.
Unlike Game 1’s dominant 13-run victory, Game 2 was a much closer, pitcher-friendly matchup between the Aggies and the Tigers.
Auburn began the game with the same offensive intensity from the front half of the doubleheader. In the top of the first, catcher Chase Fralick put Auburn up 1-0 on a solo home run to right field, securing his fifth straight game with a home run — the longest streak by a Tiger since 1985. The scoring continued in the top of the second, as center fielder Bristol Carter recorded a two-out RBI single to put the Tigers up two runs.
Auburn put up its fifth multi-run inning of the day in the third, as sophomores Fralick and Bub Terrell each provided home runs, Fralick’s a solo shot to left field and Terrell’s a two-run blast to left to put Auburn up 5-0 through three innings. The Tigers’ offense stalled from that point on, however, as they were shut out the rest of the way and relied on their pitching to hold the lead.
Tigers starter Jake Marciano delivered another strong outing, earning his fourth win of the season. After tossing two scoreless frames to begin the game, including a 1-2-3 first inning, the lefty ran into trouble in the fourth and fifth, surrendering a solo home run to Aggies center fielder Caden Sorrell and a two-run triple to second baseman Travis Chesnut. Marciano regained his composure over the next two innings, facing the minimum in the fifth and sixth to cap his outing.
Fellow lefty Jackson Sanders relieved Marciano in the seventh and tossed the final three innings for the Tigers, finishing with his first recorded save of the season. The Aggies had a chance to tie the game in the eighth after an RBI double from catcher Bear Harrison cut the deficit to one run, but Sanders escaped the inning with a clutch strikeout to preserve the lead. He worked around two baserunners in the ninth to strand the tying run at third, securing the game and series win for Auburn.
“The last four weeks it feels like we’ve been short one run, and we found a way today,” Thompson said. “I just trusted (Jackson) so much. Whether they tied it or walked us off, Jackson is our net for us and he’s paid huge dividends. We got right where we wanted to. I’m proud of him. He just didn’t get caught up in the moment right there.”
Having only thrown three pitchers through its first two games of the series, Auburn will hope to utilize a rested bullpen to take Game 3 and secure the road series sweep.
Auburn will look to sweep the Aggies tomorrow afternoon. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. CDT.
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Jonathan is a freshman majoring in industrial and systems engineering. He started with The Plainsman in the fall of 2025.
