Baseball hosting a regional

[tigers23 653]

[toddc 13,194]

Auburn makes program history, hosting NCAA Regional for second straight season

Justin Hokanson

Ike Irish (Photo by Auburn Athletics)

AUBURN — Auburn baseball has earned its second straight and sixth overall NCAA Tournament regional host bid, it was announced on NCAA Baseball social media Sunday night.

PROGRAM HISTORY: For the first time in the history of the baseball program, Auburn earned a Regional in back-to-back seasons.

The program has previously hosted NCAA Regionals in 1978, 1999, 2003, 2010 and 2022.

The NCAA Tournament appearance will be the program’s 24th all-time, including its fifth in the last six seasons under head coach Butch Thompson.

The No. 13 Tigers (34-21-1, 17-13 SEC) will await their tournament seeding and regional opponents, which will be announced during Monday’s selection show beginning at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN2.

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WANT TO ATTEND? Here’s more information on attending the Auburn Regional.

Regional tickets will go on sale to the public following the selection show Monday at 12:30 p.m. CT. Information on game times and TV broadcasts will also be announced following the selection show.

Season ticket holders still have a last chance opportunity to purchase before tickets go on sale to the general public. This opportunity is good through Monday, May 29 at 8:00 a.m., but original season ticket locations are not guaranteed because the original deadline of May 22 has passed.

RECENT REGIONAL SUCCESS: Both home and away, Auburn has enjoyed recent success in NCAA Regionals.

Auburn is 3-0 in their last three Regional appearances with a perfect 9-0 record. The Tigers haven’t lost a Regional game since 2017 when they lost two straight at Florida State to lose the Regional after starting 2-0.

In 2018, the Tigers traveled to Raleigh, N.C. for the N.C. State Regional, going 3-0 and winning the Regional before falling in three games to Florida in the Super Regional in Gainesville, Fla.

In 2019, the Tigers traveled to Atlanta, Ga. for the Georgia Tech Regional, going 3-0 and winning the Regional. Auburn then traveled to Chapel Hill, N.C. for the North Carolina Super Regional and went 2-1, winning the Super Regional and heading to the College World Series.

In 2022, the Tigers hosted a Regional, going 3-0 against Southeastern Louisiana, Florida State and UCLA. Auburn then traveled to Corvallis, Ore. for the Oregon State Super Regional and went 2-1, making it back to the College World Series for the second time in three opportunities. (The 2020 season was cancelled due to Covid.)

THE RESUME: The Tigers finished with a 34-21-1 overall record, 17-13 mark in the SEC regular season. The Tigers went 1-2 in the SEC Tournament, beating Missouri before falling to Vanderbilt and Alabama.

Auburn sits at No. 19 in the latest RPI rankings.

The Tigers finished 8-10 on the road, 3-2 on a neutral field, and 23-9 at home.

Auburn beat then No. 2 South Carolina on the road two of three, then returned home to beat then No. 1 LSU two of three in back-to-back weekends.

[LPTiger 5,167]

So happy for Butch and these kids.   They are the definition of resilience.

[SaltyTiger 7,816]

7 minutes ago, LPTiger said:

So happy for Butch and these kids.   They are the definition of resilience.

Never had a real doubt and know you didn’t LP.
 

Did you suffer withdrawals from no Auburn Baseball this weekend? Saturday was a tough afternoon for me. Florida and Vandy did not suffice one bit.

[SumterAubie 3,031]

20 minutes ago, SaltyTiger said:

Never had a real doubt and know you didn’t LP.
 

Did you suffer withdrawals from no Auburn Baseball this weekend? Saturday was a tough afternoon for me. Florida and Vandy did not suffice one bit.

Welll, watching uf lose in anything is all always a good thing for me. Especially to Vandy

[aubiefifty 16,807]

Jason Caldwell's Monday morning quarterback column

Auburn baseball will be hosting a regional at Plainsman Park this weekend.

Program builder

If you look the definition up in the dictionary it should come with a picture of Butch Thompson beside it. Taking over an Auburn program that had made just two NCAA Tournament appearances since 2005 and had not been to a Super Regional since 1999, Thompson has built a program that has now been to five tournaments in six seasons and is preparing to host a regional at Plainsman Park for the second straight year.

He’s done it by bringing in quality assistants and letting them do their jobs, trusting them in every part of the program. That’s showing up this season with Karl Nonemaker, Gabe Gross and Daron Schoenrock doing a great job of bringing this team together after a slow start in conference play.

It’s also about the type of players the Tigers recruit and also bring in from the transfer portal. Last season it was newcomers like Sonny DiChiara and Blake Rambusch that pushed Auburn over the top along with a veteran pitching staff. This year it was been a combination of transfers, junior college transfers and true freshmen that have all brought this team together at just the right time.

While it can be tough to bring all those pieces together, Thompson counts on his veterans to help with that process and that’s where the program building really shows up. Guys like Kason Howell, Bryson Ware, Bobby Peirce, Nate LaRue and Cole Foster have played a lot of baseball at Auburn and now they’re being counted on to lead the way for this team heading into a new season. 

Speaking of Ware, this season has been one of the more remarkable for an Auburn player in any sport in quite some time. He's a player that the coaching staff always believed in because of his athletic ability and power potential, but it was all about finding a home for him. The move back to the infield proved to be the right spark to unlock his potential and also the potential of an Auburn offense that could do some big things as the weather continues to heat up.

SEC strength in baseball

If you want to look at the strength of the SEC, you can obviously look at the top with eight host sites and four teams expected to be Top 8 national seeds. But you can also look at the bottom of the league to see the strength as well.

This season, Ole Miss won just six games in league play after winning the national title a year ago. Despite going just 6-24 in the Southeastern Conference, Ole Miss was 3-1 against the Maryland Terrapins. All they did this season was win both the regular season and Big 10 Tournament.

The Rebels didn’t even make the conference tournament, nor did rival Mississippi State, who won the national title two years ago. Despite not making it to Hoover, the Bulldogs beat Arizona State two out of three and like Ole Miss, won their only game over Southern Miss.

Missouri made it to the SEC Tournament, but parted ways with its head coach on Sunday following another year of no postseason play. Despite the struggles, Missouri swept Tennessee this season and also had wins over Texas and TCU. Texas tied for the Big 12 regular season title while TCU won the conference tournament on Sunday.

People might question the SEC getting half of the host sites in this year’s tournament, but there is no league in the country as deep as this one. It shows up time and time again because there are no off-weeks, as the bottom of the league this year showed.

[tigers23 653]

[LPTiger 5,167]

Thanks for posting T23!

[Golden Eagle 368]

Interesting that both baseball and softball were set up to face Clemson in the postseason (assuming Auburn and Clemson win their regionals, of course).   It's time for Auburn to beat Clemson in something - hoping AU baseball gets it done.  Any thoughts on the overall bracket...did anybody get an easy path or higher/lower seed than they should have?

[Gowebb11 9,330]

33 minutes ago, Golden Eagle said:

Interesting that both baseball and softball were set up to face Clemson in the postseason (assuming Auburn and Clemson win their regionals, of course).   It's time for Auburn to beat Clemson in something - hoping AU baseball gets it done.  Any thoughts on the overall bracket...did anybody get an easy path or higher/lower seed than they should have?

Putting Clemson and Tennessee in the same bracket is interesting. That will be one of the more competitive brackets I believe. 

[AUFightingSoldiers 685]

Clemson is the one team I didn't want the match up with, but there's a chance Tennessee can take them. We can beat them, but there's freaking smoking hot right now. 

Southern Miss is a dang good team, but very beatable. I'm thinking we will start Allsup against Penn and save Vail for Southern Miss or Samford. Let's put in work and hurt some feelings! 

[LPTiger 5,167]

2 hours ago, Golden Eagle said:

Interesting that both baseball and softball were set up to face Clemson in the postseason (assuming Auburn and Clemson win their regionals, of course).   It's time for Auburn to beat Clemson in something - hoping AU baseball gets it done.  Any thoughts on the overall bracket...did anybody get an easy path or higher/lower seed than they should have?

Golden E thanks for trying to spark some baseball discussion....  I think this committee did a real nice job of putting the brackets together.   LSU gets a 19 win Tulane team...I hate Alabama and I'm biased, but I would not have given them a host based on their issues.   You are guilty by association when the tip top head of your program violates one of the most solemn rules...  The innocent kids should have been rewarded with a post season bid, but a host site after the betting scandal seems really generous.   But, again, I hate Bama.  I don't mind going to Clemson.   It sure beats a cross country trip to Oregon.    AUFSoldier mentioned starting Allsup against Penn.   It will be interesting to see what Butch does.   Penn plays in the Ivy....   They played 3 against Cocky at the beginning of the year and all three games were competitive...   We really need Herbie back.

[Gowebb11 9,330]

16 minutes ago, LPTiger said:

We really need Herbie back.

This is the obvious key to us winning, in my opinion. I feel like our bats and defense will be there at home. We have yet to have a healthy Allsup/Vail/Herbie for a weekend. Even if we have Herbie, we need Allsup to continue to be good for at least 5-6 innings. We don’t need it to go to 4 games. 

On a side note, I feel like TAMU got a bad deal. Having them go all the way to Cali after their SECT showing is wrong in my opinion. 

[AUFightingSoldiers 685]

Just now, Gowebb11 said:

This is the obvious key to us winning, in my opinion. I feel like our bats and defense will be there at home. We have yet to have a healthy Allsup/Vail/Herbie for a weekend. Even if we have Herbie, we need Allsup to continue to be good for at least 5-6 innings. We don’t need it to go to 4 games. 

On a side note, I feel like TAMU got a bad deal. Having them go all the way to Cali after their SECT showing is wrong in my opinion. 

If Allsup goes game 1 and gives us 6 full innings and a W we are a very scary team in games 2 and 3. If Herbie is back I could see a very fun super regional. 

I know A&M isn't looking forward to that trip, but Stanford got an absolute buzz saw put in their regional.

[Golden Eagle 368]

I watched the selection show today and AD Cohen (who was on the selection committee) was on after the brackets were announced.  There was a discussion about RPI being a 'broken' metric that specifically hurt west coast teams (as I understood it).  I got a phone call in the middle of it and didn't hear the reasoning.  Anybody know why specifically west coast teams?   It sounded like there was general consensus that the metric needs to be scrapped in favor of something new - but, as Cohen said, this year they had to work with RPI.   And revamping/replacing RPI isn't the selection committee's job.

[LPTiger 5,167]

Most all of the regionals have sold out.   But, ours was sold out very fast!!!!!!!   Thank-you AU fans!!!!

[Grumps 3,704]

According to Twitter post, only 5 teams are hosting regionals for the second consecutive year. Auburn is one of the five. UF is the only other SEC team hosting for the second year in a row.

[Gowebb11 9,330]

1 hour ago, LPTiger said:

Most all of the regionals have sold out.   But, ours was sold out very fast!!!!!!!   Thank-you AU fans!!!!

I’m actually going to my first game at Plainsmen Park this weekend. Very excited. 

[LPTiger 5,167]

20 minutes ago, Grumps said:

According to Twitter post, only 5 teams are hosting regionals for the second consecutive year. Auburn is one of the five. UF is the only other SEC team hosting for the second year in a row.

We don't know how special this is unless you have lived Auburn baseball for 30 years.   When I played we had moveable aluminum bleachers.    Now Butch has back to back host sites.    From all the players before us and after us, this is the salad years of AU baseball.

[AUwent 3,754]

What Butch has done is terrific. Remembering how terrible the program was when he took over coming off the Galloway debacle is truly impressive.

Tony Barbee --> Bruce Pearl

Sonny Galloway --> Butch Thompson

Bryan Harsin --> Hugh Freeze?

[woodford 3,659]

Awesome news. Need to go 3-0 and rest some arms. I know we want a national championship but this is how you build tradition. I think the promise land is just around the corner.  
 

I don’t have to tell this forum anything but we could be a total baseball juggernaut. 

[Gowebb11 9,330]

1 hour ago, LPTiger said:

We don't know how special this is unless you have lived Auburn baseball for 30 years.   When I played we had moveable aluminum bleachers.    Now Butch has back to back host sites.    From all the players before us and after us, this is the salad years of AU baseball.

I remember going into the old ROTC building by then field with the aluminum bleachers. I don’t even remember knowing when the games were. And I didn’t know we had a softball team. So proud of where we are now and I believe Butch will continue to build it out. 

[SaltyTiger 7,816]

1 hour ago, LPTiger said:

When I played we had moveable aluminum bleachers.

I go back over 40 years and didn’t know better than the aluminum bleachers. It was the port-a-potties I hated. Did the players have real toilets close by? I really do not remember. 
 

Great thread and love that @Gowebb11 is making a visit to Plainsman Park first time. 

Sorta hate it but I have a very dear niece getting married this weekend on the coast. All of great Auburn folks so will be keeping up.

 

 

 

[SaltyTiger 7,816]

4 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

This is the obvious key to us winning, in my opinion. I feel like our bats and defense will be there at home. We have yet to have a healthy Allsup/Vail/Herbie for a weekend. Even if we have Herbie, we need Allsup to continue to be good for at least 5-6 innings. We don’t need it to go to 4 games. 

On a side note, I feel like TAMU got a bad deal. Having them go all the way to Cali after their SECT showing is wrong in my opinion. 

The bats do crank up with good pitching. When they do it is scary.

[Mikey 16,625]

14 hours ago, Golden Eagle said:

I watched the selection show today and AD Cohen (who was on the selection committee) was on after the brackets were announced.  There was a discussion about RPI being a 'broken' metric that specifically hurt west coast teams (as I understood it).  I got a phone call in the middle of it and didn't hear the reasoning.  Anybody know why specifically west coast teams?   It sounded like there was general consensus that the metric needs to be scrapped in favor of something new - but, as Cohen said, this year they had to work with RPI.   And revamping/replacing RPI isn't the selection committee's job.

The best I got out of it was that the higher rated teams were in the southeast and and the west coast teams didn't have any opponents to prop up their numbers. It was rather vague. One thing that was clear was that all concerned believe the RPI in baseball needs either heavy tweaking or replacing. They mentioned how basketball went from RPI to NET and it is better.

My personal thought is that if, say, Auburn plays Jax State, wins and AU's RPI goes down then something is wrong with the system. No team should be punished for winning.