Auburn
Texas
Texas A&M
HOOVER, Ala. (05/21/2026) — The Auburn Tigers rode a dominant pitching duo and a four-run second inning to a 7-0 shutout of the Texas A&M Aggies on Thursday at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, turning what could have been a competitive matchup into a runaway behind nearly flawless work on the mound.
Auburn never trailed, never let Texas A&M back into the game, and combined for 13 strikeouts while limiting the Aggies to just two hits over nine innings.
How It Happened
Auburn struck first in the top of the first inning, when Ethin Bingaman reached and came around to score on a Brody Terrell RBI double to right center. Eric Guevara advanced to third on the play, setting the table for what was about to unfold.
The second inning is where the Tigers blew the game open. Mason McCraine launched a solo home run to center field on a 0-2 count to make it 2-0. Moments later, Chase Fralick doubled to left center to plate Bristol Carter and Tucker Belza, stretching the lead to 4-0. Guevara followed with an RBI single to right center, bringing Fralick home and making it a five-run lead before Texas A&M starter Ethan Darden could escape the frame. Darden was tagged for four runs on five hits in just one inning of work.
Andreas Alvarez took the ball for Auburn and was nearly untouchable. He spun five innings of one-hit, scoreless baseball, striking out nine Aggies and giving the Tigers' lineup all the breathing room they needed.
The Tigers tacked on in the sixth when Cooper Rembert doubled to right field to score Carter, who had reached and worked his way around the bases yet again. Bingaman provided the exclamation point in the seventh, crushing a solo home run to left field to push the lead to 7-0.
LJ Cormier handled the back end, throwing four innings of one-hit relief with four strikeouts to slam the door and preserve the shutout.
Turning Point
The second inning ended the competitive portion of this game. Auburn batted around, collected four runs on a homer, a double, and a single, and chased Darden after just 1.0 inning pitched. With Alvarez carving through the Texas A&M lineup, a 5-0 deficit through two felt like a much larger gap. The Aggies never put together a sustained threat against either Auburn arm.
Star of the Game
Alvarez was the engine behind this win. The right-hander's line — 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 9 K — set the tone from the first pitch and gave Auburn's offense the freedom to play with a lead. His nine strikeouts came against an SEC lineup that struggled to square up anything he threw, and his ability to work deep into the game preserved Auburn's bullpen for the rest of the tournament.
Offensively, Bingaman was a one-man wrecking crew: 1-for-4 with two runs scored, an RBI, a walk, and the seventh-inning home run. Bristol Carter chipped in a 2-for-4 day with two runs scored, while Fralick's two-RBI double in the second was the biggest swing of the night. Guevara added two hits and an RBI, and McCraine's second-inning homer gave Auburn separation it never relinquished.
What It Means
For Auburn, this is the kind of complete performance that travels in postseason baseball. The Tigers got length and dominance from their starter, lockdown work from the bullpen, and run production from up and down the lineup. Six different players drove in or scored runs, and the staff held a dangerous Texas A&M offense to two hits. Auburn now carries momentum and a rested bullpen into its next game at the SEC Tournament.
For Texas A&M, the offensive struggles tell the story. Caden Sorrell and Ben Royo accounted for the Aggies' only two hits, and the team went 0-for-the-rest-of-the-night with men trying to climb back into it. Gavin Lyons provided a steady four-inning stretch out of the bullpen, but the early hole proved insurmountable. The Aggies will need to regroup quickly with their tournament hopes on the line.
