AUBURN, Ala. – Ethin Bingaman turned in just the program’s second three-homer Southeastern Conference game since at least 1993 to lead No. 6 Auburn to a 14-4 run-rule victory against No. 9 Oklahoma Sunday afternoon at Plainsman Park.
The series win marked Auburn’s fourth straight, all coming in the rubber game. The Tigers are one of two programs in the league with at least four straight series wins, joining Texas A&M (five) on the short list heading into next weekend’s series in College Station, Texas.
“A great response today,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “This is a pretty big team win against Oklahoma, who arguably has the best culture I’ve seen that we’ve competed against. A good hard-fought weekend for us. I’m thankful we were able to bounce back from last night and win a series. We had to play good in all three phases today to have a chance to win the series.”
Bingaman’s three homers matched Tony Caldwell’s three against Kentucky on Apr. 9, 2011 as the most in a league game in the stat crew era (1993-present). The freshman’s big day highlighted a season-high six home runs in the contest, accounting for 12 of the team’s 14 runs in the rubber game.
“I’ll probably feel all of it tomorrow and realize what I did but right now, it’s unreal,” Bingaman said. “It was great to put runs on the board for Petro and help him settle in a little bit more because he knows he’s got more cushion.”
Along with Bingaman’s hat trick of homers, Bub Terrell, Chase Fralick and Eric Guevara each homered in the contest. Auburn’s six home runs were the most in a game since homering seven times in the 2022 regional opener against Southeastern Louisiana and the most in a SEC game since 2021.
“As a pitching staff, they were heavy fastball. We were coming into the game hunting the fastball,” Terrell said. “We made a statement to hit the fastball today. We just kept passing the bat down one by one.”
After giving up two runs in the first inning, Alex Petrovic (7-1) held Oklahoma scoreless in five straight frames en route to his team-high-tying seventh win of the season. The outing marked Petrovic’s fourth quality start of the season, including his third straight.
“Grinding it out, working with what I have and making those small adjustments that needed to be made,” Petrovic said of his outing. “If I’m not going to have my stuff perfect, they better get me early and get settled later. It’s amazing when you’ve got offense like that, watching all those home runs. They really put it together this game.”
Oklahoma (29-14, 11-10 SEC) took advantage of a pair of free bases in the first and started the scoring with a RBI single from Jaxon Willits followed by a RBI double from Camden Johnson. Petrovic minimized the damage with a lineout and strikeout.
Terrell started the second inning with his 10th home run of the season on the first pitch he saw from Oklahoma starter Cord Rager. Terrell’s swing got the offense going as Auburn (30-13, 12-9 SEC) exploded for seven runs on six hits, including three more home runs, in the next two frames.
Fralick launched a two-run home run to give Auburn a 3-2 lead in the third, and Bingaman followed with a solo homer that traveled 419 feet to left center. Guevara ripped a RBI double to extend the lead to 5-2 in the fourth, and Bingaman capped off the four-run inning with his second home run in as many innings, a three-run homer to right center. The game marked Bingaman’s second multi-homer game of the season and was the fourth for the Tigers.
After the first inning, Petrovic faced just one over the minimum in the second through fifth innings thanks to a pair of outs on the base paths courtesy of Fralick’s arm behind the plate. The redshirt sophomore allowed two runs on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts while gutting it out for 6.0 innings of work.
Mason McCraine hit a leadoff infield single to start the sixth, and Guevara lifted a two-run homer the other way to the top of the hitting facility. The home run was Guevara’s 10th of the season and the team’s fifth of the game, marking a season high.
Oklahoma loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh and Auburn went to Ryan Hetzler in relief of Garrett Brewer. The junior righty did a good job to minimize the damage as he retired three straight batters with the lone run scoring on a sacrifice fly.
The Sooners scored for the second straight inning with a two-out solo home run from Nolan Stevens in the eighth.
Leading 11-4 going into the bottom of the eighth, Chris Rembert drove in a run on a bases-loaded fielder’s choice, and Bingaman ended the game early with his third homer of the contest, traveling 439 feet over the videoboard in left center field.
Auburn does not have a midweek game this week and travels to No. 7 Texas A&M (33-8, 14-6 SEC) for a three-game series in College Station Friday through Sunday.