May 25, 2017
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Hoover, Ala. -- The Auburn baseball team was eliminated from the Southeastern Conference baseball tournament, falling to Arkansas 11-0 in seven innings at the Hoover Met Thursday. The Razorbacks improved to 40-16 while the Tigers fell to 35-24.
"There's all those lessons that you can take from it (the game)," Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. "I haven't forgotten the first two games that we played here either. Seeing Casey Mize throw very well in game one and seeing us battle back in both games to come back and take the lead versus Ole Miss and come back to tie versus Florida.
Razorback first basement Chad Spanberger had a career day, hitting three home runs in his first three at-bats. His third homer of the game was a grand slam as part of a six-run fourth inning. Spanberger drove in seven of the 11 Arkansas runs.
"We've had some good moments here to draw from," Thompson said. "We definitely have some things that we have to look at and work on, so we won't forget this either, but we will take the good, the bad and the ugly in this series to help our guys get ready."
Auburn finished the SEC Tournament 1-2. The Tigers won their opener over Ole Miss, 5-4, before falling Wednesday to top seed Florida by the same score.
Arkansas reliever Matt Cronin (3-0) was credited with the win after throwing three scoreless innings with six strikeouts and three walks. He was one of three Razorback pitchers to keep the Tigers hitless over seven frames. Starter Dominic Taccolini walked four in two innings and Josh Alberius tossed two innings to finish the game.
Auburn starter Davis Daniel (4-3) took the loss after allowing seven runs on six hits with five strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings.
The Tigers will await their postseason future with 2017 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship selection on Monday, May 29 at 11 a.m. CT. The selection show will air on ESPNU.