In front of a record-setting crowd at Plainsman Park on Saturday night, the No. 4 Auburn Tigers’ season came to an end when they lost 4-1 to No. 13 Coastal Carolina in game two of the Auburn Super Regional.
The Tigers lost both games this weekend, including their 7-6 loss in 10 innings late Friday night. They made costly mistakes and missed chances that cost them the chance to win. In school history, Coastal Carolina made it to the College World Series twice. This was their first trip since winning the national title in 2016.
“A tip of the hat to Coastal.” In every way, they played very well. The head coach of Auburn said, “Great run, great season for our guys.” “Some of the young players helped us, and we had great leadership.” Our fans made a difference for me. I will always be thankful. We got everything from the players all year. The guys fought hard.
Auburn scored its only run in the top of the second inning; the Tigers were on the road for game two. Chase Fralick hit an RBI single to right field that scored Eric Snow after Snow had been hit by nine pitches earlier. That was Auburn’s only run scored in its historic 2025 season.
Auburn struck out 11 times against junior Jacob Morrison (11-0), who is one of the best pitchers in the country, in the first six innings. The first four batters in Auburn’s lineup only got two hits between them. Freshman Bub Terrell and junior Ike Irish each got one hit. In the cleanup spot, senior Cooper McMurrary went 0 for 4 and struck out four times.
After the first six frames, the Tigers kept Coastal at bay. But in the bottom of the seventh, a three-spot gave the Chanticleers a 3-1 lead. Sebastian Alexander hit a leadoff double to start the inning. Walker Mitchell’s RBI single to left later brought Alexander around to tie the game at 1-1.
Two outs later, Coastal had runners on first and second with one out when Ty Dooley hit a slow roller back to the pitcher. McMurray dropped the ball at first base, letting Mitchell score the go-ahead run without earning it. After a couple of changes of pitchers and a four-pitch walk, Parker Carlson hit Wells Sykes with two outs to score Coastal’s third run.
The Chanticleers scored one more run in the home half of the eighth to make it 4-1. The best team in the country then easily won the super regional without Auburn being able to mount a comeback in the last few innings.
Auburn had eight hits, but they left 11 on base and only hit.250 (3 for 12) when runners were on base and.250 (0 for 4) when runners were in scoring position. Morrison was a candidate for the 2025 Golden Spikes Award and has a 2.19 ERA, which is seventh best in D-1. He left the game with six strikeouts and only six hits allowed. The win went to freshman Hayden Johnson (5-0), who pitched in relief for three innings and got five strikeouts while giving up only two hits.
Auburn’s first pitcher was freshman Andreas Alvarez, who went 3-1 and gave up just four hits while striking out one batter in four innings. At the end of his first season on the Plains, he had 16 straight scoreless frames spread out over four starts and one rescue appearance.
“That kind of competition against those teams felt good,” Alvarez said. “I’ve felt really good on the mound against the last couple of teams I’ve played.” Having the team behind me was huge, and all the people during the playoffs really helped my confidence as well.
Cade Fisher (1-3), who was in Auburn’s starting lineup earlier this season, took his third loss of the season after working for 2.2 innings and giving up five hits and four runs, three of which were earned. A lot of pitchers came after Alvarez and Fisher, like Cam Tilly, Carlson, and John Armstrong, but the Tigers’ bad hitting wasn’t enough to make up the three-run loss in the end.
McMurray, Carlson, Samuel Dutton, Carson Myers, and Irish, who is expected to be picked in the first round of the draft in July, are all seniors who will be leaving Auburn.
He said of Auburn’s senior players, “They were the glue.” “They built a bridge to keep everything together.” All of those guys did a great job. We got here so that we could have a chance and an opportunity to dream about taking one more step forward.
Fans can look forward to seeing young players like Chris Rembert, Terrell, Fralick, and others improve and grow for next season as they try to reach Omaha, which was their unfinished goal this year.
The Tigers have a 41-20 record for the season and will try to do even better in 2026.
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