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The No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks (17-2, 3-0) are on top of the SEC West standings after sweeping Missouri last week, but will face stiffer competition in their first true road battle at the No. 23 Auburn Tigers (14-6, 0-3 SEC) this weekend.

Led by ninth-year head coach Butch Thompson, the Tigers were swept by No. 8 Vanderbilt to start conference play last weekend, but they bounced back with a midweek victory over South Alabama. Last season, Auburn finished with a 34-23-1 (17-13 SEC) overall record after it was eliminated during the regional round of the NCAA Tournament.

WATCH/LISTEN: Diamond Hawgs Podcast - Arkansas at Auburn series preview

"They’ve a very offensive team," Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said Tuesday. "They hit home runs. They can score. Their lineup’s deep. … It’s hard to judge anything really this early in SEC play. You have a bad weekend, a bad day or two, and your numbers don’t look right. They’ll even up. Vanderbilt is tough at home, playing on that turf, no foul territory. It’s a totally different environment. It’s just a different game.

"Auburn’s really good at home. You look at their home record. They’ve done a nice job over there with their, I guess, accommodations for fans. Now you can go around right field and they’ve built another section, almost in center field, right-center. It can be loud there now. They get after you pretty good. So we’re going to have to pitch and field again so we don’t give up big innings, because those guys can score."

Arkansas is coming off another strong week after outscoring Missouri 23-1 in three games. While the offense did its job, the Razorbacks' three starting pitchers — Hagen Smith, Brady Tygart and Mason Molina — shined with a combined 16.0 IP, four hits, zero earned runs, eight walks and 27 strikeouts. Despite the series being a Thursday-Friday-Saturday format, Van Horn said he doesn't anticipate any changes to the starters' routine.

"One less day, the weather looks good Thursday, Friday doesn’t look very good, Saturday looks a little better," Van Horn said. "Just unless we ran into some super cold weather or something. But that’s one reason we let the guys go a little longer this weekend pitch count wise, just continually building it up so they can go 90-100 if they need to. Just because it’s one day shorter, we don’t feel like it’s going to be an issue unless they tell us they’re tired or they’re not feeling right."

Arkansas holds a 54-49 all-time series lead against Auburn, including a 39-23 advantage in the Van Horn era. The Hogs have won five consecutive weekend series against Tigers, as well as seven of the last eight weekend series.

Should Arkansas sweep this weekend at Auburn, it will mark its first 6-0 start in SEC play since 2009. The Razorbacks began their 2009 campaign with an 8-0 mark in conference play, including consecutive sweeps of Florida and Auburn.

Thursday's matchup between the Razorbacks and Tigers will feature an ace-on-ace battle between LHP Hagen Smith and RHP Conner McBride. Against Missouri, Smith tossed six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts, one walk and two hits. McBride's last appearance came against Troy on March 12, when he threw five innings of one-run ball.

Unable to watch Arkansas-Auburn? HawgBeat has you covered with inning-by-inning updates, highlights and more from the Hogs' 1-0 win over Auburn.

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RHP Conner McBride pitching for Auburn

- Stovall works the count and gets hit by a pitch to leadoff the inning

- Diggs strikes out swinging on a full-count pitch, Stovall is thrown out at second base on an attempted steal

- Aloy homers to right field on a full-count swing (1-0)

- McLaughlin grounds out to second base to end the frame

1 runs, 1 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB

LHP Hagen Smith pitching for Arkansas

- Weiss gets out to a 3-0 count, but Smith battles back for the swinging strikeout

- Irish is first-pitch swinging and singles through the right side

- Peirce strikes out swinging on three pitches, Irish advances to second on the play

- McMurray swings and misses for the strikeout to end the frame

0 runs, 1 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB

McBride still pitching for Auburn

- Sprague-Lott grounds out to Fabian at third base, who makes a good play for the out

- Lovich strikes out swinging on six pitches

- White picks up a two-strike single to right field

- Souza strikes out swinging to end the inning

0 runs, 1 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB

Smith still pitching for Arkansas

- Stanfield hits a hard liner straight to Lovich in left field for the out

- Maners grounds out to McLaughlin at first base

- Fabian strikes out swinging on a full-count, six-pitch at-bat to end the frame

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB

McBride still pitching for Auburn

- Wilmsmeyer flares one into right field for a leadoff single

- Stovall walks on four pitches

- Diggs strikes out looking on a full-count, eight-pitch at-bat

- Wilmsmeyer advances to third base on a wild pitch

- Aloy walks on five pitches to load the bases

- McLaughlin flies out right field for the out, Wilmsmeyer tries to tag up but is thrown out at home to end the inning

0 runs, 1 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB

Smith still pitching for Arkansas

- Hall strikes out swinging on a full-count, eight-pitch at-bat

- Hernandez singles to center field

- Weiss hits a hard grounder to Sprague-Lott at third base, who turns it for an inning-ending double play

0 runs, 1 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB

McBride still pitching for Auburn

- Sprague-Lott grounds out to Hernandez at second base for the out

- Lovich pops up to Maners in left field on the first pitch

- White singles through the left side, his second knock of the night

- Souza grounds out to McMurray at first for the unassisted out

0 runs, 1 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB

Smith still pitching for Arkansas

- Irish walks on five pitches to leadoff the inning

- Peirce singles up the middle on an 0-2 count, Irish advances to second on the play

- McMurray strikes out swinging on three pitches

- Peirce steals second, Irish stole third

- Stanfield strikes out swinging on a nasty slider

- Maners strikes out looking to end the threat

0 runs, 1 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB

RHP Cam Tilly relieving McBride for Auburn

- Wilmsmeyer grounds out to Weiss at shortstop for the out

- Stovall flies out to Stanfield in center field

- Diggs strikes out swinging for the third time to end the frame

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB

Smith still pitching for Arkansas

- Fabian strikes out looking on four pitches

- Hall flies out to Wilmsmeyer in center field

- Hernandez strikes out swinging on five pitches to end the frame

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB

Tilly still pitching for Auburn

- Aloy gets hit by a pitch to leadoff the frame

- McLaughlin flies out to Stanfield in center field

- Aloy advances to second base on a wild pitch

- Sprague-Lott reached on a fielder's choice, out at second base following a rundown between third and second for Aloy who ended up back at second on the play

- Lovich swings and misses to strand Aloy at second base

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB

Smith still pitching for Arkansas

- Weiss strikes out swinging on four pitches to start the sixth

- Irish gets hit by the first pitch of the at-bat

- Peirce reached on an error by Lovich in left field, advances to second, Irish advances to third on the play

- McMurray strikes out swinging on three pitches

- Stanfield walks on four pitches to load the bases

- Maners grounds out to McLaughlin, who throws it over to Smith for the out at first base to leave them loaded

0 runs, 0 hits, 1 errors, 3 LOB

Tilly still pitching for Auburn

- White flies out to Stanfield in center field for the first out

- Souza walks on eight pitches

- Souza stole second base

- Wilmsmeyer grounds out to Hernandez at second base, Souza advances to third on the play

LHP Tanner Bauman relieves Tilly

- Stovall lined out to Bauman for the final out

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB

RHP Will McEntire relieves Smith for Arkansas

- Fabian strikes out swinging on five pitches

- Hall strikes out swinging on five pitches

- Hernandez grounds out to McLaughlin, who makes a nice play and throws it over to McEntire for the close out at first

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB

Bauman still pitching for Auburn

- Diggs reaches first base on an error by Bauman

- Aloy smashes one out to Stanfield in center field for the first out, 112 MPH off the bat

- McLaughlin singles through the open hole on the left side of the infield, Diggs advances to second on the play

- Sprague-Lott flies out to deep right field, Diggs advances to third on the play

Peyton Holt pinch hits for Lovich

- Holt strikes out swinging on four pitches

0 runs, 1 hits, 1 errors, 2 LOB

McEntire still pitching for Arkansas

Will Edmunson to LF for Holt

- Weiss grounds out to Stovall at second base

- Irish strikes out swinging on a breaking ball

- Peirce grounds out to Stovall at second base to end the frame

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB

RHP Will Cannon relieves Bauman for Auburn

- White singles to left field in a 1-2 count

- Souza strikes out looking, White out at second base on an attempted steal

- Wilmsmeyer pops up to McMurray at first

0 runs, 1 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB

RHP Gabe Gaeckle relieves McEntire for Arkansas

- McMurray strikes out swinging on a full-count, six-pitch at-bat

- Stanfield grounds out to Stovall at second base

- Maners strikes out swinging to end the game

0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB

Who: No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks (17-2, 3-0 SEC) at Auburn Tigers (14-6, 0-3 SEC)

When: Thursday, March 21 at 6:00 p.m. CT

Where: Plainsman Park — Auburn, Alabama

TV/Stream: SEC Network/Watch ESPN (Dave Neal and Gregg Olson)

Radio: Learfield Razorback Sports Network (Kyle Schassburger)

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Arkansas:

1. Peyton Stovall, 2B

2. Kendall Diggs, RF

3. Wehiwa Aloy, SS

4. Ben McLaughlin, 1B

5. Jared Sprague-Lott, 3B

6. Ross Lovich, LF

7. Hudson White, C

8. Nolan Souza, DH

9. Ty Wilmsmeyer, CF

SP: LHP Hagen Smith

Auburn:

1. Cooper Weiss, SS

2. Ike Irish, C

3. Bobby Peirce, RF

4. Cooper McMurray, 1B

5. Chris Stanfield, CF

6. Mason Maners, LF

7. Deric Fabian, 3B

8. Christian Hall, DH

9. Javon Hernandez, 2B

SP: RHP Conner McBride

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