Auburn baseball beats Milwaukee, can advance to super regionals with win on Monday

Auburn baseball is on the cusp of an incredible turnaround. After a shaky start to the Auburn regional, the Tigers are just 27 outs away from securing a second consecutive trip to the super regionals.

Surviving and Advancing

To keep their postseason dreams alive, the Tigers had to survive two high-stakes tests on Sunday. The day culminated in a redemption matchup against Milwaukee, the same squad that shocked Auburn with a 13-8 victory on Friday night.

This time, the result was a lopsided 8-1 triumph for Auburn. While Milwaukee struggled with command—walking five batters and hitting four more—the Tigers’ pitching staff remained disciplined, neither walking nor hitting a single Panther throughout the contest.

Fralick’s Power Surge

Chase Fralick continued his blistering offensive tear in the second inning. Following an Eric Guevara sacrifice fly, Fralick launched a three-run home run to blow the game wide open. The blast marked his fifth homer of the regional and his third of the day, following a two-homer performance against UCF earlier in the afternoon. That 5-0 lead proved insurmountable for the Panthers.

Pitching Dominance

The turnaround on the mound was equally impressive. After allowing 26 runs in their first two regional games, Auburn's pitchers surrendered only four runs across Sunday’s two matchups. Ryan Hetzler was a standout, logging four innings against Milwaukee after having already pitched three innings earlier in the day against UCF. In total, Hetzler struck out 11 batters over seven innings of work.

Freshman LJ Cormier provided a stellar finish, tossing five scoreless innings and striking out eight while conceding just one hit. The performance marked a massive shift from Friday’s outing, where Cormier gave up four earned runs in 2.2 innings.

The Final Push

With the win, Auburn forces a winner-take-all final at 5 p.m. CT on Monday. Head coach Butch Thompson remains focused on the task at hand rather than reflecting on the journey just yet.

“I’ll tell you after the game tomorrow,” Thompson said when asked about his team’s resilience. As for the mindset entering Monday, he kept it simple: “Job’s not done. We gotta come out here tomorrow and stay present and keep fighting.”

The Tigers will look to secure the regional title with top pitchers Jake Marciano and Jackson Sanders available as they aim to close the chapter on this comeback run.