Takeaways from Auburn Baseball's Season-Opening Sweep of Youngstown State

Auburn swept Youngstown State, including a run-rule win in Game Three, to open the 2026 season.

Auburn Tigers, pictured here in 2025, opened the 2026 season with a sweep against Youngstown State. | Mickey Welsh / Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

AUBURN, Ala.- The 5th-ranked Auburn Tigers took down Youngstown State in sweeping fashion on the opening weekend of college baseball. Auburn Tigers on SI goes over a few takeaways of the series and what stood out. 

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Pitching could be Elite This Year

The weekend’s starting rotation of Jake Marciano, Jackson Sanders and Alex Petrovic combined to strike out 29 batters with one walk in 16 innings. All three set career highs in strikeouts in their outings with Marciano’s 12, Sanders’ eight and Petrovic’s nine. 

In the three games, Auburn pitchers allowed four runs on 11 hits with 43 strikeouts and six walks. The 43 strikeouts were the most in a three-game series under Thompson.

High heat. 🔥@JettJohnston1 finishes his first victim. pic.twitter.com/9ibiiCHhv7

— Auburn Baseball (@AuburnBaseball) February 14, 2026

“I was tickled to death, three really good starts,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. “There was a lot of execution. I thought the defense played well, too. I really saw the three guys we committed to start have a commitment of really trying to force in the strike zone.”

LJ Cormier, Ethan Harden and Connor Gatwood each made their Auburn debuts on the mound with Cormier and Gatwood registering their first career strikeouts.

Bats Showed Up When It Mattered Most

Initially, in the first two games of the series, the Auburn offense suffered from a lack of production for eight or nine innings, winning both games by a score of 2-1 with Game Two in walk-off fashion in the 10th inning.

Neither game saw any runs scored until the fifth inning at the earliest (Chris Rembert single in Game One), and the winning run until the eighth (Chase Fralick single in Game One). Game Two may have been the most frustrating, with Auburn not scoring until the ninth off a sacrifice fly-out from Bristol Carter, but despite loading the bases, the Tigers failed to take home the win until the 10th inning.

All tied up! @bristol_carter drives in Belyeu! pic.twitter.com/RynIB1rzCJ

— Auburn Baseball (@AuburnBaseball) February 14, 2026

Thankfully for Auburn, though, Saturday being a doubleheader allowed the Tigers to carry over the late momentum from Game Two into Game Three 

On his first plate appearance of game three, sophomore catcher Chase Fralick secured his team’s first home run of the season, and it was only uphill from there as the Tigers took home a 17-2 win.

The slow offensive starts are not surprising, given this is the opening series of the season. But the Auburn offense capitalized when it mattered the most to bring home three victories over the weekend. 

Next Up

With the offensive identity finally showing itself, Auburn could become a dangerous team as the season progresses. Auburn will now host the Cincinnati Bearcats for a midweek matchup on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CST, before traveling to Arlington, Texas, for the College Baseball Series next weekend.