HOOVER, Ala. — Auburn is ranked at No. 6 in the Top 25 rankings that were published on May 18 from D1Baseball.com, and Texas A&M is at No. 10. The Tigers played like the higher seed.
Right-handed pitcher Andreas Alvarez built one of his best performances of the season — 9 strikeouts across five-plus innings, just one hit allowed — and the Auburn offense erupted for five runs in the first two innings to send No. 3 seed Texas A&M home one-and-done with a 7-0 elimination in the Hoover Met’s nightcap. Closer LJ Cormier picked up the save.
The No. 6-seeded Tigers (38-18) advance to Saturday’s 4:30 p.m. ET SEC Tournament semifinal against No. 7 seed Arkansas. The No. 3 seed Texas A&M Aggies (39-14) — 2026 SEC East champions with a projected top-eight national seed and a likely NCAA Regional host bid — go home one-and-done in their opening SEC Tournament game.
The Tigers did not hesitate to get on the board early on Friday night. Left fielder Bub Terrell cracked an RBI double to right-center field in the top of the first inning, scoring Ethin Bingaman to jump out to a 1-0 lead.
Do it with two! ✌️@BubTerrell rips one to right center! pic.twitter.com/VS8n7bdugE
— Auburn Baseball (@AuburnBaseball) May 23, 2026
Auburn’s offense kept rolling in the top of the second inning. Mason McCraine drilled a solo home run over the center field wall — 422 feet, his sixth of the year — to extend the lead to 2-0.
Swing and a drive! @mccraine_mason flexes his muscle! 💪 pic.twitter.com/lKG0ycKUB9
— Auburn Baseball (@AuburnBaseball) May 23, 2026
A few moments later, Chase Fralick smacked a two-run double to left-center field, scoring Taylor Belza and Bristol Carter to jump out to a 4-0 lead.
Comin' out swingin' 🥊@chase_fralick doubles the early lead! pic.twitter.com/1BzRKSFLvv
— Auburn Baseball (@AuburnBaseball) May 23, 2026
Eric Guevara kept the offense rolling for Auburn shortly after, banging an RBI single to right-center field, scoring Fralick to make it 5-0.
https://x.com/AuburnBaseball/status/2058006083042496703
In the top of the sixth inning, second baseman Chris Rembert joined the RBI parade with a double to right field, scoring Carter to scorch the scoreboard at 6-0.
https://x.com/AuburnBaseball/status/2058024410515202540
Bingaman capped the scoring in the seventh with a leadoff solo home run to left field — a 412-foot blast that traveled to the parking lot beyond the Hoover Met. Auburn 7, Texas A&M 0.
Alvarez and the Auburn shutout machine
The Tigers got the start they came to Hoover hoping for. Andreas Alvarez (9-3) — the right-handed sophomore who has been part of the deep Auburn rotation Butch Thompson built across the year — was as sharp as he has been in any SEC start. The final line: 5.0+ IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 9 K.
Alvarez recorded nine of his outs via strikeout. He held the Texas A&M lineup — first in the SEC in team ERA and WHIP entering the tournament, and stocked with All-SEC bats including 2026 SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year Gavin Grahovac (.378, 17 HR, 60 RBI), All-SEC First Team OF Caden Sorrell, and All-SEC Second Team 2B Chris Hacopian — to one hit through the first four innings.
The fish freshman picked up his 50th strikeout of the season on his fourth K of the night, an in-season milestone that aligns with the broader pattern: Auburn pitching, top to bottom, has been the spine of the team this year.
In four total matchups against Auburn this year, Texas A&M has allowed 33 total runs for an average of more than eight per game. The Aggies, who have not been shut out all season — their closest result was an 11-1 loss to UCLA in the regular season — got their goose egg in Hoover.
LJ Cormier picked up the save — his second of the season. The Aggies’ best look at LJ Cormier and the Auburn back end came in the late innings, when shortstop Boston Kellner drew a one-out walk and Grahovac grounded into an inning-ending double play.
The Aggies’ lineup goes silent
Texas A&M (39-14) was projected entering Friday as a top-eight national seed and a likely NCAA Regional host. The 7-0 shutout in Hoover left some doubt for the selection committee, but it does not change the Aggies’ fundamental profile.
What it does change: the conversation about the Aggies’ pitching staff entering regional play.
Ethan Darden (4-3) was charged with the loss after allowing four earned runs on five hits in 1.0 inning pitched as the starter. The redshirt freshman left-hander was pulled after the second-inning four-run inning that turned the game decisively. Gavin Lyons followed in long relief and tossed 4.0 innings, allowing just one earned run with five strikeouts — including the strikeout that marked his 50th of the season.
Shane Sdao, Weston Moss, and Clayton Freshcorn made appearances out of the bullpen to combine for the final 4.0 innings. Sdao punched out three; Moss fanned one. Freshcorn tossed a clean eighth inning, inducing three flyouts.
Despite the loss, Texas A&M still leads Auburn 22-18 in the all-time series. The Aggies will await Monday’s NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament selection show at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN2 for their seeding fate.
The Aggies’ offensive night was uncharacteristic: two hits, no runs, the star-studded duo of Sorrell and Grahovac combining for 1-for-8 with Sorrell’s lone single representing one of the two Aggie hits. Junior catcher Bear Harrison extended his on-base streak to 28 games via a hit-by-pitch — his 31st of the year, tying him with Blake Allemand for fifth-most all-time in Texas A&M baseball program history. Blake Binderup extended his on-base streak to nine games. Sorrell extended his hitting streak to seven games.
But by the time the Tigers had stretched the lead to 7-0 in the seventh, the Aggies’ Reddit game thread had moved from cautious optimism to gallows humor.
“GG Auburn, run it out,” one Aggie fan posted on r/CollegeBaseball as the seventh inning closed. Another, on the Aggies’ inability to score: “2 hits, 0 runs. Just utterly impotent tonight.” A third, on the broader feel: “Real tourney starts next weekend. At least that’s my cope.”
The Aggies’ staff — fronted by All-SEC starters Mason Howell and Cameron Tilly along with reliever Hunter Brewer — was held back for the regional next week, much in the same approach Texas’s Jim Schlossnagle ran one game earlier across town in Texas’s 8-1 elimination by Arkansas. Three SEC Tournaments in a row, two coaches pitching off for the regional. Two SEC Tournaments, two losses by the higher seed.
What Auburn brings to Saturday
Butch Thompson, Auburn’s head coach since 2016, is now 6-11 in SEC Tournaments across nine appearances. He has won at least 17 SEC games in four of the last five seasons. Friday’s win extends a quiet program signature: when Auburn shows up to Hoover with arms ready, the Tigers find ways through bracket weekends.
