By Caleb Connelley
This past weekend, Auburn opened up SEC play at home with No. 16 Vanderbilt. The three-game series at Plainsman Park featured high quality matchups, clutch performances, and a great start to SEC play for the Auburn Tigers.
GAME ONE: Auburn 6, Vanderbilt 2
Auburn opened the series on a strong note, taking down the 16th-ranked Commodores 6-2 behind stellar pitching and timely hitting. Right-hander Samuel Dutton got the start and delivered a masterful performance, holding the Commodores offense in check across five innings of work, while Carson Myers provided shutdown relief to close out the game.
The duo struck out 11, walking only two, on six hits, and only allowing two runs. The turning point came in the third inning, when the Tigers' erupted for five runs. A two-run double from Deric Fabian, followed by a single from Chase Fralick driving in Fabian, gave Auburn an early lead that proved insurmountable. Vanderbilt's offense struggled to string together hits, managing just two runs on the night.
GAME TWO: Vanderbilt 8, Auburn 6
The Commodores bounced back in Game 2, erasing an early deficit with a five-run explosion in the fifth inning to secure an 8-6 victory. Cade Fisher got the start and retired seven of the first eight batters, but Vanderbilt answered with two walks in a row followed by back-to-back doubles to even the score 3-3 in the third.
The Tigers were down 8-5 after five innings, and Head Coach Butch Thompson's squad tried sparking a rally in the seventh but only picked up one. The biggest difference for the Tigers during game 2 was not getting the clutch hits, the Tigers simply could not score the runs they needed in the latter part of the game, leaving 10 runners on base. The three freshmen in the lineup, Fralick, Rembert, and Terrell, reached base eight times in the game, and each collected multiple hits to account for seven of the team's nine in the game.
GAME THREE: Auburn 7, Vanderbilt 6
Auburn pulled off a dramatic comeback 7-6 victory over Vanderbilt on Sunday, clinching the series and capping off a tightly contested weekend between the SEC rivals. The Tigers secured the win behind a strong offensive showing and clutch pitching down the stretch.
Vanderbilt jumped to an early lead, 6-1 after four innings. Auburn battled back and chipped away at the Vanderbilt five-run lead, scoring two in the bottom of the fifth, and four in the eighth. None other than Cade Belyeu came in clutch to give Auburn their first lead of the night. Trailing by three with bases loaded and facing an 0-2 count, Belyeu got a breaking ball from Vanderbilt closer Miller Green, who he faced in the last three innings on Saturday and sent it well over the right-center field wall to give Auburn the lead, and the big win.
With the Sunday win, Auburn took the series and improved to 16-4 overall. The win marked Auburn's seventh straight series win, dating back to the final two series of the 2024 season. This win also marks the first SEC opening series win since 2019 for the Tigers.
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