This Saturday, Auburn baseball will go on the road to face Kennesaw State in its second exhibition game.
While the baseball season won’t officially begin until February, the Tigers are playing their second exhibition game against Kennesaw State following their Banana Ball game against the Savannah Bananas on Oct. 25.
“What they provided for us is an experience our players will take with them forever — a real opportunity to absolutely focus on their game,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said of the Banana Ball experience. “I think our Auburn people and Auburn family had a blast as I was looking around the crowd. This was a huge win for our program.”
While Banana Ball doesn’t follow traditional baseball rules, it still provided valuable reps for the Tigers. Freshman Mason McCraine, for example, hit a three-run home run in his first — albeit unofficial — at-bat during the second inning.
The Tigers are coming off a highly successful season in which they went 41-20 overall and 17-13 in conference play, earning the No. 4 national seed in the NCAA tournament. That allowed Auburn to host a Super Regional at Plainsman Park for the first time in program history. The Tigers ultimately lost to Coastal Carolina in the tournament, but the 2025 season was still a major success that set higher expectations for the program.
Auburn lost four players to the transfer portal after the season: catcher Cale Stricklin, pitcher Hayden Murphy, infielder Addison Klepsch and outfielder Cole Edwards. The Tigers also had major losses to the MLB draft, with catcher/outfielder Ike Irish notably selected 19th overall in the first round by the Baltimore Orioles. Other draftees included Eric Snow, Dylan Watts, Cam Tilly, Samuel Dutton, Murphy — who signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks after entering the portal — and Cade Fisher. Two signees, Jacob Johnson and Ethin Bingaman, were also drafted, bringing Auburn’s total to nine selections.
Auburn has also made several key additions through the transfer portal ahead of the 2026 season, including right-handed pitcher Drew Whalen from Western Kentucky, left-handed pitcher Jake Marciano from Virginia Tech and infielder Ryne Farber from Texas State. The Tigers also landed Todd Clay from UAB, an Auburn High School product.
Kennesaw State had a solid 2025 season, going 31-27 overall and 17-9 in conference play. The Owls’ year ended in the first round of the Conference USA tournament with a 10-2 loss to Western Kentucky. Their success was especially notable considering the 2024-25 campaign marked their first in Conference USA. Transfers for the upcoming season have not been announced, but pitcher Bo Rhudy transferred to Tennessee after last season.
The matchup will give both teams valuable reps ahead of the upcoming season, as each enters with high expectations in its respective conference. Auburn will face Kennesaw State at Mickey Dunn Stadium in Kennesaw, Georgia, on Nov. 8, 2025, at noon CST.
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Braden is a freshman majoring in Aviation Management. He started with the Plainsman in fall 2025.
