No. 11 Auburn lost a close 3-2 game to No. 15 Arkansas on April 3 at Plainsman Park, despite taking an early two-run lead.
The result impacts both teams’ standings as they look to advance in the season, with each now holding identical conference records. The loss came after Arkansas catcher Ryder Helfrick hit a solo home run in the sixth inning and followed it up with a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth.
Head coach Butch Thompson said of his team’s early advantage, “You just know as you go through the ballgame you want to extend it one more time. The more I reflect on it, it just felt like a Friday night ballgame.” Thompson also said about Arkansas, “Credit to those guys. I do think we competed offensively. We scratched and competed hard. They got a bunch of strikeouts because that was pretty good stuff. I wish we could’ve come back or expanded in the middle innings to give us a better chance, but it didn’t happen. We wound up just on the short end of this one.”
Auburn starting pitcher Jake Marciano delivered seven strong innings, allowing only one run on four hits while striking out seven batters and walking one. It marked his fifth quality start this season and third outing allowing one run or less over seven innings.
Auburn scored first when Chris Rembert hit an RBI single following an error by Arkansas in the opening inning. Ethin Bingaman added another RBI for Auburn after Eric Guevara doubled to lead off the second inning.
Marciano managed to escape a bases-loaded jam in the second without giving up any runs and then retired nine of ten batters over the next three innings. He commented on his approach during high-pressure moments: “The focus for me was on the batter, just making sure I made my pitches and almost competed even more than I needed to make sure that run didn’t come in,” Marciano said.
After Helfrick’s first home run put Arkansas on the board, Marciano finished his outing by retiring six straight hitters before Jett Johnston entered as relief pitcher in the eighth inning.
Arkansas’ pitchers Hunter Dietz and Ethan McElvain combined for fourteen strikeouts against Auburn while not issuing any walks over seven scoreless frames late in the game.
Looking ahead, Auburn has used only four pitchers across two games so far this series, which leaves their pitching staff well-rested for Saturday’s finale scheduled at 2 p.m Central Time.
Marciano expressed confidence about Auburn’s chances moving forward: “Yeah, it’s huge that tomorrow we have our entire staff (ready). We can really go out there and have confidence that we’re going to win.”
