AUBURN, Ala. – No. 5 Auburn jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a 12-3 win against Nebraska Sunday afternoon at Plainsman Park.
The win secured Auburn’s 11th straight regular season home series dating back to the final series of the 2024 season. It also marked the first time the team has won a series after dropping the opener since week 13 of the 2024 season.
“I tried to convey that we completed good Friday night. I think they gave us pretty good effort all week,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “We can take a lot from this. It’s the first time since Missouri in 2024 for us to lose the first game of a series like that and come back and find a way to win. To really play pretty competitive in all phases against a team like we’re going to be playing here the rest of the year is positive.”
Leading 2-0 in the second, Chase Fralick provided the offensive highlight of the day as he hit a two-out, two-strike pitch off the back wall of the visitor’s bullpen to extend the lead to 5-0.
“I saw a good pitch. I had a good count, got a good swing off and the ball went out,” Fralick said of his home run. “It’s been awesome. We have had a way better approach, a more refined approach, and had a better game plan going in and it showed in the last two games.”
On the mound, Alex Petrovic (3-0) earned his third win in as many starts as he held the Cornhuskers to just two runs, one of which was earned, on four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts in 5.0-plus innings pitched.
“It gives you the chance to pitch with a lead and that changes the way you approach things with the strike zone,” Petrovic said of the early advantage. “Like we talk about, it just makes it easier knowing you have runs, a great lineup and a great defense.
“I put in a lot of work to be here, and these guys have had my back for two and a half years now. I love being able to reciprocate that and give back to these guys,” Petrovic added. “It’s a blessing to be out there every Sunday and give it everything I’ve got.”
Auburn (9-2) wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard with a RBI single from Eric Guevara in the bottom of the first and extended the lead to 5-0 with four runs in the second. Brandon McCraine lifted a sacrifice fly to center field before Fralick hit his aforementioned three-run home run to right. The ball left Fralick’s bat at 110 miles per hour.
Nebraska (5-5) cut into Auburn’s advantage with two runs in the fourth, but the Tigers answered with a run on a RBI single from Lucas Steele in the home half of the inning.
Leading 6-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Logan Gregorio lined a two-out, two-run single to left to make it a six-run game.
After Nebraska scratched a run across on a sacrifice fly, patience paid dividends in the bottom of the eighth as Auburn added three runs on bases-loaded walks and another on a ground ball to extend its advantage to the eventual final of 12-3.
Following Petrovic on the mound, LJ Cormier made his fourth appearance of the season and logged 2.0 innings. Drew Whalen also made his fourth appearance of the year and turned in a scoreless eighth, while Ethin Bingaman made his pitching debut with a scoreless ninth to end it.
Auburn continues its nine-game homestand next week, starting with a midweek matchup against Samford (5-6) Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT.