COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 6 Auburn handed No. 7 Texas A&M its first series loss in six weeks, sweeping Saturday’s doubleheader by winning game one, 18-5, in seven innings and taking game two, 5-4, at Blue Bell Park.
The Tigers exploded for its most runs and second most hits in a contest in game one and buckled down with the one-run win in game two.
“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,” 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.”
Andreas Alvarez (8-2) went the distance with a career-high 11 strikeouts in game one, before Jake Marciano (4-3) and Jackson Sanders combined for 27 outs in game two.
“The last four weeks it feels like we’ve been short one run, and we found a way today,” Thompson added. “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.”
“It just feels awesome to have our team be in a spot like that and be able to compete like that. It’s just awesome, especially at a place like this,” Alvarez said. “Credit to our offense. They gave me 18 runs, and that just gave me the ability to go out there and throw as many strikes as possible.”
Highlighting Auburn’s 23 runs on 28 hits in the doubleheader, the Tigers blasted six home runs and have now totaled 30 home runs in the last 11 games after hitting 29 in the first 34 games of the year.
Chase Fralick homered three times in the doubleheader, including twice in game two, and became the first Auburn player to hit a home run in five straight games since 1985.
“This day was incredible. We were fully rested. We haven’t played since Sunday. Six days off is huge, especially at this point in the season, and we took it like we wanted to come out here and show what this team is capable of,” Fralick said.
“Getting their starter out and getting into their (bullpen) early was really important,” the sophomore backstop added. “It was also just passing the bat back. We didn’t have a big swing until the third or fourth. All of those were just singles or doubles, just passing the bat back. Everybody in this lineup did a great job contributing to today.”
GAME ONE
Auburn exploded early with six runs on six hits in the top of the second. The first eight batters of the inning reached and Auburn drove in its first four runs with two strikes. Brandon McCraine got the scoring started with a bases-loaded single before Eddie Madrigal drove in a pair on a two-run single down the right field line. Bristol Carter doubled down the opposite line to make it 4-0 before Cade Belyeu and Eric Guevara drove in runs on back-to-back infield singles to cap off the six-run inning.
Texas A&M responded with a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning, but Alvarez buckled down with a strikeout and flyout to end the frame with a 6-2 lead.
Auburn added a run on situational baserunning with runners on the corners in the third. Madrigal broke from first with Brandon McCraine on third, and the Auburn shortstop scampered home to score as the throw went through to second.
Texas A&M answered with a solo homer to start the home half, but the Tigers answered with a pair of two-out, two-run homers in the fourth. Fralick homered for the fourth straight game into Auburn’s bullpen to make it 9-3, and Ethin Bingaman followed Chris Rembert’s second single with a two-run homer of his own to extend the lead to 11-3. The long ball was the freshman’s fourth home run in the last two games.
Alvarez struck out the side in order in the bottom of the fourth, and Auburn scored for the fourth straight inning starting with Belyeu’s third hit of the game in the fifth. Leading by nine, Guevara drove in another on a ground ball to short before Fralick and Bingaman each drove in their third runs of the game with a single and double, respectively.
Gavin Grahovac hit his second home run of the game to cut the Texas A&M deficit to 10 in the bottom of the fifth.
After Alvarez worked a clean bottom of the sixth, Auburn extended its lead to 13 on McCraine’s first home run of the season. With two outs and nobody on, Bingaman and Bub Terrell extended the inning with singles before McCraine’s line drive to left field left the yard.
Sitting on 100 pitches, Alvarez went back out for the seventh and allowed a one-out single but turned a double play on a comebacker to end the game. The sophomore turned in his first career complete game and struck out a career high 11 batters in the outing.
The team’s 18 runs were a season high, and its 19 hits were one shy of a season high. Half of the 18 runs were scored with two outs.
The 13-run margin of victory was the largest in a league game this season and since defeating South Carolina 24-2 on May 8, 2025. It’s the largest margin of victory in a SEC road game since defeating Alabama 20-5 on Apr. 21, 2018.
GAME TWO
Fralick wasted no time to start the scoring in game two as he homered for the fifth straight game with two outs and nobody on in the top of the first, his fifth straight game with a home run. Tim Lemons in 1985 was the last Tiger to accomplish the feat.
The Tigers scored their 11th two-out run of the day as Carter grounded an infield single back up the middle to score Terrell in the second.
Fralick came back around in the third and homered for the sixth time in the last five games with a solo homer to left. Terrell came up three batters later and deposited the first pitch he saw off his headshot on the videoboard at Blue Bell Park for a two-run homer, extending the early lead to 5-0.
Texas A&M got on the scoreboard with a solo homer from Caden Sorrell in the bottom of the inning and added two to make it a 5-3 game with a two-out, two-run triple in the fourth.
Marciano responded with clean fifth and sixth innings, retiring the last seven batters he faced after four straight reached in the fourth. The sophomore retired the first two batters he faced in all six innings of work. He turned in his team-high sixth quality start of the season with three runs on four hits in 6.0 innings pitched.
Texas A&M drew a leadoff walk to start the eighth, but Jackson Sanders retired the next two batters and was a strike away from escaping the inning. However, the Aggies cut their deficit to one with a double down the left field line as the runner from first broke on the full-count pitch and scored without a throw.
The Aggies put the tying run on third and winning run on first with two outs in the ninth, but Sanders induced a ground ball to second, which McCraine fielded and flipped to Rembert for the final out.
This weekend marks the first time the Tigers have won the first two game against a top-10 team on the road since winning the series at No. 2 South Carolina in 2023.
The series finale between Auburn (32-13, 14-9 SEC) and Texas A&M (34-10, 14-8 SEC) teams is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.