No. 5 Auburn Clinches Tournament Championship, Beats No. 15 Louisville

ARLINGTON, Texas – Facing its second straight top-15 opponent, No. 5 Auburn defeated No. 15 Louisville, 10-6, on its way to being crowned the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series champions for week two Sunday afternoon at Globe Life Field.

The win marked Auburn’s eighth straight in Arlington dating back to the program’s inaugural trip in 2022, including its fourth win against a top-15 opponent in the tournament.

“Now, after the last two games, I feel like, at least offensively, we had a chance to score about every inning. That’s what we want to feel like even if we don’t (score),” head coach Butch Thompson said. “We really just had one run, one run, and didn’t have a lot of big innings. We had the one big one today, the five-spot was huge.”

In three games in Arlington, the Tigers registered double-digit hits in all three contests, totaling 35 hits for the weekend, and scored in six innings in each of the last two contests.

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Pacing the offense all weekend, Bristol Carter finished 6-for-11 with a .643 on-base percentage, capping it off with two more hits and runs in the finale Sunday. Five of the first six hitters in today’s lineup finished with multiple hits.

“Bristol Carter was a catalyst for us this weekend,” Thompson added. “I think he might be the one who gets the most credit for getting us going. Brandon McCraine filled in great for Chris Rembert. He stuck out to me, and (Ethin) Bingaman getting his first two home runs were two big swings today for us.”

Freshman Ethin Bingaman clobbered his first two career home runs and scored all three times he reached in his breakout performance. His two home runs traveled a combined 800 feet and left the bat at 107 and 110 miles per hour, respectively.

Bing bomb! 💣

First career blast for @BingamanEthin!

💻 » https://t.co/35KgQtIeRR pic.twitter.com/TMQnloCo6U
— Auburn Baseball (@AuburnBaseball) February 22, 2026

“My plan today was just heater. Be ready for it, and if they throw it swing at it,” Bingaman said. “It ‘s great. It gives you a lot of confidence when you see the guy in front of you get on base, and you feel more confident that you can hit that guy.”

Making his first career start at first base, Chase Fralick went 2-for-4 with a home run, a walk, two runs, and two RBI. The sophomore backstop has started the season on a seven-game hitting streak.

Sunday slugfest. 🥊@chase_fralick gets in on the action!

💻 » https://t.co/35KgQtIeRR pic.twitter.com/g10rjw9wmb
— Auburn Baseball (@AuburnBaseball) February 22, 2026

“Everyone finally relaxed and bought into the training that we’ve done,” Fralick said of what was working offensively this weekend. “Today, I think we got the leadoff guy on in five innings. That’s the goal we set when we compete. Usually, when the leadoff guy gets on, we have success scoring some runs.”

With two on and one out in the second, Caiden Combs delivered an RBI single back up the middle to get the scoring started. The base hit was the first of Combs’ career.

The Tigers (6-1) extended their advantage to 3-0 with a run in each of the third and fourth innings. Brandon McCraine ripped a two-out double in the third and ultimately scored on a double steal from first and third. Bingaman then started the fourth with a solo home run to right field, the first home run of his career.

Louisville (3-4) cut into its deficit with a two-run home run from Tague Davis in the bottom of the fourth, but the Tigers answered as Fralick smoked an opposite-field homer to left with one out in the fifth, extending Auburn’s lead to 4-2.

The Cardinals put the first two batters of the sixth aboard and cut Auburn’s lead to one on a sacrifice fly, but Christian Chatterton did a good job to minimize the damage in relief of Alex Petrovic (2-0), who earned his second straight win in 5.0 innings of work.

Auburn responded in a big way after its lead was cut to one in the sixth, scoring five runs on four hits to make it a 9-3 game in the seventh. Bub Terrell drove in a pair with a two-strike single through the left side and Bingaman put an exclamation point on the inning with a 413-foot homer into the second deck in left field. The long ball was his second of the game.

After Chatterton put up his second zero of the game in the seventh, the Tigers scored for the sixth time in eight at-bats with their 10th run on a two-out single through the left side from Fralick.

LJ Cormier made his team-best third appearance of the season in the eighth and struck out three batters after allowing a leadoff baserunner. Cormier struck out six batters in 1.2 innings, but Louisville extended the game as a throw to first on a strikeout in the dirt sailed into the outfield. Garrett Brewer made his second appearance of the weekend and needed just three pitches to end the game with a strikeout.

Auburn returns to the Plains for four games next week, starting with a matchup against West Georgia (1-6) on Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT at Plainsman Park.