Scouting Report: Analyzing the Auburn Tigers

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 against the Auburn Tigers (14-6, 0-3 SEC) this weekend.

Led by ninth-year head coach Butch Thompson, the Tigers are coming off a series sweep to No. 8 Vanderbilt and 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.

"They’ve a very offensive team," Van Horn said on 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 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, head coach Dave Van Horn doesn't anticipate any changes to his pitching 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."

The Hogs have faced Auburn 96 times before Thursday's matchup and lead the all-time record 51-45. The two programs last met in a series during the 2022-23 season, when Arkansas swept all three games in Fayetteville.

Thursday's matchup between the Razorbacks and Tigers will likely feature an ace-on-ace battle between LHP Hagen Smith and RHP Chase Allsup. Against Missouri, Smith tossed six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts, one walk and two hits. Allsup didn't fare as well against the Commodores, as he allowed nine hits and seven runs in four innings with four strikeouts and two walks.

Here's a closer comparison of Arkansas' and Auburn's stats, along with projected starters, key players, HawgBeat's prediction and more ahead of Thursday's game, which is set to start at 6 p.m. CT and will broadcast on SEC Network.

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1B Cooper McMurray: .369 AVG, 19 GP, 65 AB, 20 R, 24 H, 28 RBI, 8 HR, 15 BB, 17 K, 4 E, .972 FLD%

LF Mason Maners: .350 AVG, 19 GP, 60 AB, 21 R, 21 H, 7 RBI, 5 2B, 12 BB, 15 K, .966 FLD%

SS Cooper Weiss: .344 AVG, 18 GP, 61 AB, 21 R, 21 H, 18 RBI, 3 HR, 15 BB, 15 K, .982 FLD%

RHP John Armstrong: 1.46 ERA, 0-0 W/L, 7 GP, 12.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 5 BB, 14 K

RHP Connor McBride: 2.41 ERA, 3-0 W/L, 4 GP, 18.2 IP, 12 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 15 K

LHP Tanner Bauman: 3.97 ERA, 2-1 W/L, 8 GP, 11.1 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 16 K

RHP Christian Herberholz: 5.84 ERA, 0-1 W/L, 5 GP, 12.1 IP, 15 H, 3 BB, 17 K

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Thursday: Junior LHP Hagen Smith

6'3", 225 pounds / Bullard, Texas / Bullard HS

2024 stats: 3-0, 1.57 ERA, 5 GP, 23.0 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 8 BB, 50 K

Friday: Junior RHP Brady Tygart

6'2", 215 pounds / Hernando, Mississippi / Lewisburg HS

2024 stats: 3-0, 0.73 ERA, 5 GP, 24.2 IP, 12 H, 2 ER, 11 BB, 35 K

Saturday: Junior LHP Mason Molina

6'2", 230 pounds / Rancho Santa Margarita, California / Trabuco Hills HS

2024 stats: 3-0, 2.74 ERA, 5 GP, 23.0 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 11 BB, 43 K

1. Peyton Stovall, 2B

2. Kendall Diggs, RF

3. Wehiwa Aloy, SS

4. Ben McLaughlin, 1B

5. Ross Lovich, LF

6. Jared Sprague-Lott, 3B

7. Nolan Souza, DH

8. Hudson White, C

9. Ty Wilmsmeyer, CF

Thursday: Junior RHP Chase Allsup

6'2", 235 pounds / Dothan, Alabama / Dothan HS

2024 stats: 1-1, 7.15 ERA, 5 GP, 22.2 IP, 29 H, 18 ER, 8 BB, 27 K

Friday: Junior LHP Carson Myers

6'2", 204 pounds / Bowling Green, Kentucky / Bowling Green HS

2024 stats: 1-2, 4.79 ERA, 5 GP, 20.2 IP, 21 H, 11 ER, 10 BB, 15 K

Saturday: Redshirt Junior RHP Joseph Gonzalez

6'4", 233 pounds / Humacao, P.R. / Leadership Christian Academy

2024 stats: 2-1, 6.92 ERA, 4 GP, 13.0 IP, 16 H, 10 ER, 9 BB, 4 K

1. Cooper Weiss, SS

2. Ike Irish, C

3. Deric Fabian, 3B

4. Cooper McMurray, 1B

5. Bobby Peirce, RF

6. Gavin Miller, DH

7. Mason Maners, LF

8. Chris Stanfield, CF

9. Caden Green, 2B

Arkansas owns recent history over Auburn, including a series victory over the Tigers the last time they faced off in Alabama two years ago. Auburn is a good program and has a powerful offense, but the pitching is definitely suspect and the Hogs should be able to take advantage.

As for the prediction, I think the Razorbacks flex their pitching staff depth and pick up another series sweep to maintain their top spot in the SEC West rankings.

Prediction: 3-0 series sweep

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