Aggies blanked by Auburn in SEC Tournament quarterfinal

Game #53: #6 Auburn 7, #3 Texas A&M 0
Records: Texas A&M (39-14, 18-11), Auburn (38-18, 17-13)
WP: Andreas Alvarez (9-3)
LP: Ethan Darden: (4-3)
Save: LJ Cormier (2)
Box Score

HOOVER, Ala. — And now we wait.

If Texas A&M was hoping to bolster its resume at the 2026 SEC Tournament, the opposite happened.

In a late-night quarterfinal at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, the third-seeded Aggies were run out of town by a 7-0 loss to No. 6 seed Auburn in front of a pro-War Eagle crowd of 13,105.

After waiting all day Friday through storms in central Alabama, A&M will now await its NCAA Tournament fate when the field of 64 is revealed on Memorial Day.

“We were a little bit out of character, to be honest with you,” Aggie skipper Michael Earley said. “They kept us off-balanced. We chased out of the zone. We didn’t need to chase out of the zone, and it just wasn’t a great day offensively for us.

“I need to do a better job, obviously, preparing these guys with that break, and we will here in this next week.”

His offense mustered just two hits, failed to capitalize on five walks and struck out 13 times.

That’s alarming for a club seemingly on the cut line of being a top-eight national seed.

Sure, the Ags finished third in college baseball’s best league, but they’ll most certainly be peeking behind them and peeking at scores the rest of the weekend.

Florida has sped into the rearview mirror and is an object that’s now much closer than it appears.

While the Aggies return home, the Gators play top-seeded Georgia in a semifinal on Saturday. Another Florida win could force the Maroon & White to sweat more profusely before the selection committee deliberates.

Aggies will ask: What about head-to-head?

A&M took two of three in Gainesville in April, but resume metrics have matriculated closer and closer since.

The Aggies sit at No. 14 in RPI, No. 7 in DSR and No. 9 in KPI, while the Gators check in at No. 9, No. 8 and No. 5, respectively.

Ethan Mito, Texas A&M Athletics

In relief, Gavin Lyons provided four innings of one-run ball, striking out five Tigers.

“That’s up to the committee,” Earley said. “Our body of work speaks for itself. I’m not going to speak about other teams. I think they have all the information. They know what we’ve done. What I do know is we’re hosting a regional. I think we deserve to be a top-eight, but that’s for them to decide.

“We just gotta have a good week of practice and play better baseball in the regional.”

Most definitely.

If recency bias plays a factor, it won’t help, but A&M couldn’t help itself on Friday.

Auburn struck often early, plating five runs on seven hits before Ethan Darden and Gavin Lyons combined to record six outs.

From there, A&M didn’t challenge…except on a trio of Bear Harrison ABS initiations as the Aggie backstop went 1-for-3.

After throwing a seven-inning complete game at Blue Bell Park on May 2, Andreas Alvarez befuddled Aggie batters across five scoreless frames, striking out nine.

Caden Sorrell’s first-inning single was the only hit Auburn’s starter allowed. Ben Royo’s infield knock of LJ Cormier in the seventh was the only other as A&M went 2-for-28.

Ethan Mito, Texas A&M Athletics

Caden Sorrell’s first-inning single accounted for half of Texas A&M’s hits.

Hitting .071 as a club certainly won’t help improve your resume, which is officially under the microscope.

“I think we should be top-eight still,” Harrison said. “Just look at our SEC record. There’s not a lot of teams in the country that can do that. Eighteen wins. It’s impressive, and we should definitely be top eight.”

A&M’s offense being shutout for the first time since April 4, 2025, is certainly an anomaly.

They’ve also lost six of their last 10 against SEC opponents.

Can the Aggies turn it around and do so quickly?

Regardless of seed, we’ll wait and see.