No. 6 seed Auburn baseball took an early lead but could not overcome a pair of runs by No. 7 seed Arkansas after a two-hour, 15-minute weather delay, ultimately falling 2-1 in the SEC Tournament semifinals at the Hoover Met on Saturday night.
Auburn struck first on a solo home run from Bub Terrell in the second frame, but it was the Tigers' only run of the night. Arkansas' Ryder Helfrick homered in the eighth to give the Razorbacks a one-run lead to close things out.
Ryan Hetzler relieved Auburn starter Alex Petrovic after the delay and fanned a career-high eight Razorbacks in a career-long outing of five innings. However, Hetzler yielded a pair of runs to take the loss – his second of the season and the Tigers' ninth one-run loss this year.
Petrovic turned in four scoreless frames, giving up a pair of hits with seven strikeouts before his night was cut short due to inclement weather.
After Auburn was retired in order to start the game, Terrell blasted his team-best 16th homer of the season over the wall in right-center in the second, giving the Tigers an early 1-0 lead. The ball traveled 414 feet and marked his first longball of the tournament.
Petrovic worked around a pair of walks in the third by recording three strikeouts in the frame.
With two outs in the fourth – after play resumed from the delay – Brandon McCraine doubled to left-center, but was left stranded after a lineout ended the inning.
Arkansas plated its first run of the ballgame in the fifth after Camden Kozeal singled home Reese Robinett, who doubled with one out.
The Tigers threatened in their half of the frame with a pair of one-out singles. Bristol Carter, who hit the first one to left field, swiped third to put runners on the corners. The stolen base marked his 30th of the season, making him the fourth player in program history to reach that mark.
However, a pair of strikeouts left them stranded.
Auburn went down in order in the following two frames before recording its last hit of the night in the eighth, a two-out single off the bat of Ethin Bingaman.
With Hetlzer turning in three straight clean frames in relief, Helfrick got the best of him with a two-out solo blast in the top of the eighth. The homer marked Helfrick's fourth home run of the season against the Tigers.
Auburn awaits its postseason fate as Regional host sites will be announced Sunday evening, with national seeds and regional pairings releasing Monday at 11 a.m.
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