We may have seen the last of diamond sports on The Plains in 2018.
After Auburn baseball’s best run at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama, in 15 years, the Tigers were selected to 16-seed North Carolina State’s Regional in Raleigh, North Carolina. The bracket featuring Auburn and the hosting Wolfpack is rounded out by 4-seed Army and 3-seed Northeastern.
In Hoover, Auburn began the tournament 2-0 for the first time since 1999 with a walk-off win over Kentucky on the first day, followed by a 9-3 victory over 2-seed Ole Miss the next, the first time Auburn won a pair of games at the Hoover Met since 2003. The Tigers were then beaten by Texas A&M in the winner’s bracket and eliminated the following day by Ole Miss, the eventual tournament champions.
Following the tournament, the Tigers had a strong case to make for a hosting with an RPI of 12, No. 7 in strength of schedule, 19 wins against RPI top-50 teams — tied for fourth-most in the NCAA — and being one of four teams with 39-plus wins against top-10 strength of schedule opponents.
.@AuburnBaseball head coach Butch Thompson said he feels like he’s going against the NL East with the arms he’s faced the last three days at the #SEC tournament.
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) May 25, 2018
“(The selection committee) knows what a body of work looks like,” head coach Butch Thompson said following Auburn’s elimination loss in Hoover. “I’m excited about the opportunity for our players next week … we’ve got to get better from the lessons we learned this week. I’m excited that Auburn baseball gets to go to a Regional back-to-back for the first time in 15 years.”
Despite Thompson’s lobbying and list of accomplishments, the Tigers were not selected as one of the 16 hosting teams and learned their Regional destination the following morning.
The NCAA Regionals are double elimination, played from June 1 through June 4. The winner from each Regional will match up with another victor in a Super Regional, a best 2-of-3 series played at the higher seed’s venue for a chance to be one of eight teams in the College World Series. The squad that emerges victorious from Auburn’s Raleigh Regional will face off with the winner of the Gainesville Regional, which includes host Florida; and Jacksonville, Florida Atlantic and Columbia.
“We’re excited,” senior infielder Luke Jarvis said. “We’re excited we got the opportunity to play in the postseason. Any time you can get that, the intensity gets kicked up a little bit. Just very excited and fortunate that we get an opportunity.”
THE BRACKET.#RoadToOmahahttps://t.co/0cOYRh9my0 pic.twitter.com/aUciCCPXyQ
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) May 28, 2018
Two-seed Auburn will be matched up with 3-seed Northeastern in the opening game. Thompson's team took the series from Northeastern earlier this season in the Tigers' nonconference finale, including Casey Mize's no-hitter in Game 1, the first for Auburn in 23 years. The Huskies stole Game 3 at Plainsman Park for Auburn's first loss of the early season.
“I’m very confident,” Mize said. “I know what we can do. I’ve seen it. I know when we play our best, we’re one of the best teams in the country. I don’t think many would disagree with that. I think we just have to go put it all together and execute well.”
Despite not claiming either the regular season or tournament crown in the ACC, the Wolfpack enter Regional play at No. 18 in the RPI with a 40-16 overall record and a 27-9 clip at home. Four-seed Army, which will match up with the hosting Wolfpack on June 1, enters at RPI No. 86 after earning an automatic bid to the field of 64 for winning the 2018 Patriot League Championship.
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Nathan King, senior in journalism with a minor in business, is The Plainsman's sports editor.
