AUBURN, Ala. – In the first of back-to-back road series against top-10 teams, No. 6 Auburn (30-13, 12-9 SEC) travels to No. 7 Texas A&M (34-8, 14-6 SEC) for a three-game series Friday through Sunday in Bryan-College Station, Texas.
Weather permitting, first pitches at Blue Bell Park are scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m. CT, Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
“It gets more interesting every week. We sold this whole second half as keeping our head down for five weeks, and now we start week three of that,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “Something I’m trying to sell to my team is, ‘We want the journey.’ That keeps us present. We want to stay in the journey more than we want the end. The end is the future. This group has loved each other so much, and I absolutely appreciate the coaches and players on this team. I want the journey. Some of my regret in the past has been wanting the end and not enjoying the journey.
“We have no control over (the journey) except for our play, and this is going to make us a better ballclub going to play this series against these guys,” Thompson added.
The games will be broadcast on the Auburn Sports Network and can be heard locally on Wings 94.3 FM. Friday’s game will air nationally on SEC Network and games two and three will be streamed digitally on SEC Network+.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday – So. RHP Andreas Alvarez (7-2, 2.22) vs. R-Jr. LHP Shane Sdao (3-3, 5.72)
Saturday – So. LHP Jake Marciano (3-3, 2.04) vs. So. RHP Aiden Sims (8-0, 3.45)
Sunday – R-So. RHP Alex Petrovic (7-1, 2.83) vs. TBA
QUICK HITTERS
This weekend’s matchup features the only two teams in the league to have won at least four straight SEC series - Texas A&M (5), Auburn (4).
The series represents Auburn’s third of five straight against top-10 opponents to end the season.
The Tigers are 10-10 against ranked opponents this year, including 4-5 away from home.
Auburn is 28-0 when outhitting the opponent this season and 132-16 in the last five years.
The team is also 22-2 when scoring six or more runs and 144-29 in the last five years.
After homering 29 times in the first 34 games, the team has homered 24 times in the last nine.
The six home runs hit in last Sunday’s finale vs. Oklahoma were the most in a game since 2022 and the most in a league game since 2021.
Ethin Bingaman homered three times in the finale, becoming the first freshman in program history to hit three home runs in one game.
Auburn’s pitching staff is the national leader in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.13), WHIP (1.13) and walks allowed per 9.0 innings (2.60) while ranking third in shutouts (6) and ERA (3.29).
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
Texas A&M enters the weekend with a 34-8 overall record and stands in second place in the SEC with a 14-6 mark. The Aggies have won five straight series, going 12-2 during the 14-game span.
Offensively, Texas A&M ranks third in the league with a .310 overall average and is second with a .283 clip in SEC play. Gavin Grahovac leads the team and ranks third in the league with a .369 overall average, including a .381 clip in conference play while Caden Sorrell ranks second in the SEC in HR (20) and RBI (61).
On the mound, the Aggies have turned in a 4.54 staff ERA with 356 strikeouts and 109 walks, the second fewest in the league behind Auburn, in 353.0 innings pitched. The staff’s 60 home runs allowed are the most in the SEC.