The No. 4 Auburn Tigers saw their season come to a disappointing end Saturday evening in front of a record-setting crowd at Plainsman Park, falling 4-1 to No. 13 Coastal Carolina in game two of the Auburn Super Regional.
In the program’s first time ever hosting a super regional, costly miscues and missed opportunities plagued the Tigers in both losses this weekend, including their 7-6, 10-inning loss late Friday night. Coastal Carolina claimed its second College World Series appearance in school history and first since winning the national title in 2016.
“Tip of the hat to Coastal. They played in all facets very well. Great run, great season for our guys,” said Auburn Head Coach Butch Thompson. “Some of the young players helped us, our leadership was great. They made a difference for me, our fans. I’m forever grateful. The players gave us everything for the entire year. The guys battled hard.”
Auburn’s lone run came in the top of the second – the Tigers being the away team for game two – when Chase Fralick drove in Eric Snow with an RBI single to right field after Snow drew a nine-pitch walk a few batters prior, which ended up being Auburn’s last run scored of its historic 2025 season.
Battling against one of the nation’s top pitchers in sophomore Jacob Morrison (11-0) for the first six innings, Auburn struck out 11 times in the contest and tallied only two hits combined from the first four batters in its lineup. Freshman Bub Terrell and standout junior Ike Irish each racked up one hit, while senior Cooper McMurrary went 0-for-4 in the cleanup spot with four strikeouts.
The Tigers held Coastal at bay for the first six frames, but a three-spot in the bottom of the seventh propelled the Chanticleers to a 3-1 lead. Sebastian Alexander kicked off the inning with a leadoff double and later came around to tie the game at 1-1 courtesy of Walker Mitchell’s RBI single to left.
After a flyout and another single, Coastal had runners on first and second with two outs when Ty Dooley hit a slow roller back to the mound, but the throw was muffed by McMurray at first base and allow Mitchell to score the unearned go-ahead run. A couple of pitching changes and a four-pitch walk later, Parker Carlson hit Wells Sykes with the bases loaded to bring in Coastal’s third run.
The Chanticleers cashed in one more insurance run in the home-half of the eighth to make it 4-1, as the hottest team in the nation cruised to a super regional victory without any rally by Auburn in the final innings.
Despite the Tigers’ eight hits total, Auburn left 11 on base, going 3-for-12 (.250) at the plate with runners aboard and 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. Morrison, a 2025 Golden Spikes Award finalist who holds a 2.19 ERA (7th in D-1), exited the game with six strikeouts and only six hits allowed. Freshman Hayden Johnson (5-0) earned the win, pitching three innings in relief and striking out five Tigers on two hits.
Auburn started freshman Andreas Alvarez (3-1), who pitched four shutout innings on four hits and one strikeout. He finished his inaugural campaign on the Plains with 16 straight scoreless frames across four outings, including three starts and one relief appearance.
“It was a good feeling to compete like that against certain teams,” Alvarez said. “The last couple teams I’ve faced I’ve really felt confident on the mound. Being able to have the team behind me was huge, and all the fans throughout the postseason was really huge for my confidence as well.”
Cade Fisher (1-3), once in Auburn’s starting rotation earlier this season, recorded his third loss of the year after contributing 2.2 innings of work, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits. A plethora of arms followed Alvarez and Fisher, including Cam Tilly, Carlson, and John Armstrong, but the Tigers’ poor performance at the plate wasn’t enough to overcome the three-run deficit in the end.
Auburn will say farewell to seniors McMurray, Carlson, Samuel Dutton, Carson Myers, and most notably Irish, who’s projected to be a first-round draft pick in July.
“They were the glue,” Thompson said of Auburn's veteran players. “They built a bridge to hold this thing together. Job well done for every one of those guys. That’s what allowed us to get here to have a chance and an opportunity to dream about advancing one more step.”
However, fans can look forward to young talent like Chris Rembert, Terrell, Fralick, and others to grow and develop for next season in an effort to reach this year’s unachieved goal: Omaha.
The Tigers finish the season 41-20 overall and will look to reach even further heights in 2026.
“This will fuel us hopefully,” Thompson said. “These things are so hard to get to. I’m thankful for these guys. They did everything to move on. They did enough to be able to get there. We have enough backing and we have enough resources to where we should be knocking on this door in our fair share of times, the season should be ending in Omaha.”
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Gunner is a freshman majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in the fall 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @norene_gunner10
