No. 5 Auburn Tigers Comeback for Big Win vs. No. 9 FSU

ARLINGTON, Texas – After falling behind by four runs in the first inning, No. 5 Auburn scored seven unanswered runs on its way to an 8-5 win against No. 9 Florida State Saturday at Globe Life Field.

The win marked Auburn’s second win against a top-10 team in the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series in the last two years and was the program’s seventh straight win in the tournament.

“That looked a little bit more like us, right?” head coach Butch Thompson said. “I loved what Jackson Sanders did. Let me start there. They came out looking for the fastball, and they banged it. It didn’t go to a glove. He didn’t do anything but get better. I like the competitive spirit for him to continue to go and get five innings after giving up four in the first.”

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Sanders (1-0) allowed four runs in the first inning but didn’t allow a hit the rest of his outing, ultimately earning the win and registering a career-high nine strikeouts in his 5.0 innings of work. He retired the last 10 batters he faced in the outing.

With Sanders settling things on the mound, the offense rattled off seven unanswered runs from the second through the seventh innings to mount the comeback. Bristol Carter and Brandon McCraine led the way with three hits apiece as the Tigers tallied 11 hits for the second straight day.

Battled back for a BIG win! 😤#WarEagle pic.twitter.com/7hjHJKWTua
— Auburn Baseball (@AuburnBaseball) February 22, 2026

“I told our team, we’ve been trying to rehearse for some good things,” Thompson added. “I said, ‘Don’t you look at that scoreboard, and you just get to six.’ We needed to focus instead of being behind on something to try to get to that’s attainable, but then they had to do it. They just gritted and grinded.”

“There was no doubt,” McCraine added of the attitude in the dugout. “Our pitchers did a great job tonight. Jackson Sanders, he handled it really well. Got hit around a little in the first, but came back out for the second and from then on was lights out. He held them there and gave us a great chance.”

A two-out, two-RBI triple from Chase Fralick gave Auburn the lead in the three-run fifth inning, and Jett Johnston entered in relief of Sanders to start the sixth. The junior continued to hold Florida State in check in his first two innings of work to allow for the Tigers to extend their advantage.

“Fill it up,” Johnston said of his mindset coming into the game. “No room for walks or anything like that. Get in and get out. I feel like going into this year for me, setting the goal of 62 or 63 percent strikes and just giving our team a chance to win.”

Florida State (4-1) jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a double and RBI single to start the game. The Tigers were a pitch away from getting out of the inning with minimal damage, but a two-out, two-strike single scored another and kept the inning alive as the Seminoles ultimately scored four in the opening frame.

Auburn (5-1) got on the board on a RBI groundout from Caiden Combs in the second, the first of his career, and made it a 4-2 game with a solo home run from Carter in the third. Carter ended the game 3-for-3 with a walk and two runs.

Trailing by two with two strikes and two outs in the fifth, Eric Guevara singled back up the middle to score Ryne Farber from second and cut the deficit to one. Again with two strikes, Fralick lifted one into no-man’s land down the right field line and drove in a pair to give Auburn the lead, 5-4.

McCraine started the sixth with a triple off the left field wall, his third hit of the game, and scored on a sacrifice fly from Logan Gregorio to extend the lead to two.

Florida State ended Auburn’s seven straight runs with a run on a wild pitch in the eighth, but Ryan Hetzler entered in relief and got the final out of the inning to strand two runners in scoring position.

The Tigers got the run right back on a number of wild pitches by Florida State, capping off the scoring in the contest.

Auburn wraps up the weekend in Arlington by squaring off against No. 15 Louisville (3-3) Sunday at 10 a.m. CT.