AUBURN, Ala. – The offense came alive in a seven-run fifth inning, which was more than enough for Andreas Alvarez and LJ Cormier to lead No. 11 Auburn to a 10-2 win over No. 15 Arkansas in the series opener at Plainsman Park Friday night.
“It was a good night for us, but there’s not a lot to say. We have to get right back out here,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “I’m trying to stay close to the bullseye. They worked through some stuff and hard this week to get off to a good start for us in this series.”
Making his first weekend start of the season, Alvarez (5-1) matched a career high with 10 strikeouts and held the Razorbacks to one run on six hits in 6.0 innings pitched.
“It was awesome. This is the first time I’ve gotten to open up a weekend series like that,” Alvarez said. “Being able to come out here with the boys swinging it and being able to get a lead like that, it just gives you all of the confidence in the world.”
All nine players in Auburn’s lineup recorded a hit in the contest, led by the middle of the order in Chris Rembert, Bub Terrell and Eric Guevara, who went a combined 7-for-12 with five runs scored.
With his parents in attendance from Panama, Guevara launched his fifth home run of the season in the sixth inning and reached in all four of his plate appearances with three hits and a walk.
"You feel it. You see one guy do it. You see the next guy do it. You see the next guy do it, and it just becomes contagious,” Guevara said of hitting. “It's just one of those things that once you see a guy do it, everybody else just starts rolling. I think we saw that tonight."
Arkansas (19-12, 4-6 SEC) started the scoring with a one-out homer from Ryder Helfrick in the fourth and threatened for more as the next two hitters reached on a single and hit batter. However, Alvarez minimized the damage with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning. The home run snapped a streak of 27.2 innings without allowing an earned run for Alvarez.
Auburn (21-8, 5-5 SEC) came out in the home half and loaded the bases with a leadoff double from Terrell and back-to-back walks before tying the game on a sacrifice fly from Ethin Bingaman, one of his season-high three RBI in the contest.
Tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the fifth, Auburn had been a combined 2-for-26 with runners in scoring position in the last handful of games before stringing together seven runs on six hits in the frame.
The first five batters of the inning reached on three hits and two walks. Chase Fralick drove in the go-ahead run one a double to right center, his team-high 25th RBI of the season, and Guevara drove in his first run of the game with a single to left. Arkansas got a strikeout for the first out of the inning, but back-to-back two-strike hits from Bingaman and Mason McCraine increased the lead to 7-1. Brandon McCraine capped off the seven-run inning, the second biggest inning this season, with a RBI single back up the middle.
After the Tigers’ big inning, Arkansas threatened to cut into its deficit by loading the bases with one out. However, as Alvarez surpassed the 100-pitch mark, he held the Razorbacks off the scoreboard with a strikeout and groundout to end the inning.
“I hope he gained something from that,” Thompson added of Alvarez getting out of the sixth inning. “I tried to make a big deal out of that to the team because I felt it. I thought that was a moment for him, being his first SEC start, and he was able to capture it. Hopefully that gives him good, steady confidence because he can absolutely do it.
After Alvarez stranded the bases loaded to end his outing, Cormier struck out five batters in 3.0 innings and earned his first career save, holding the Razorbacks to their second-lowest offensive output of the season.
Guevara hit his aforementioned home run to make it 9-1 in the sixth, and Rembert drove in Bristol Carter on a double to left field to cap off Auburn’s scoring in the contest.
Game two between the two teams is set for Friday at 6 p.m. CT.