Auburn baseball projected to host regional following fifth-straight SEC series win
AUBURN — Auburn baseball‘s meteoric rise up the rankings continues. After its fifth straight SEC series win, this time a sweep over Missouri, the Tigers may very well host a regional for the second straight season.
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HOSTING FOR SECOND STRAIGHT SEASON? D1Baseball projects Auburn to be the No. 12 overall national seed in the NCAA Tournament. Baseball America projects the Tigers a No. 14 overall national seed.
- The D1Baseball projections place East Carolina, Troy and Alabama State in the Auburn Regional. As the 12 seed, Auburn is paired with No. 5 overall national seed Stanford.
- The BA projections place Texas, Troy and Samford in the Auburn Regional. As the 14 seed, Auburn is paired with No. 3 overall national seed Arkansas.
- That’s what happens when you take series from Mississippi State, South Carolina, LSU, Ole Miss and Missouri in consecutive weekends, including sweeps of Ole Miss and Missouri, and winning eight straight SEC games.
- Auburn owns the best SEC record over the second half of the season (12-3) and has won eight straight SEC games for the first time since 1995.
- The Tigers’ RPI has climbed to No. 15.
- The SEC projects 10 teams to make the NCAA Tournament with seven teams hosting a regional.
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RISING IN THE RANKINGS: Auburn is ranked inside the top 20 in both the Baseball America and D1Baseball polls, as well as the RPI rankings.
- Baseball America ranks the Tigers’ 20th, with D1Baseball ranking them 19th. Auburn’s latest RPI rankings stand at No. 15 overall.
- How good is the SEC? Despite being No. 15 in the RPI rankings, the Tigers are 8th in the SEC, behind Kentucky, Arkansas, LSU, Florida, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Alabama. Tennessee is one spot behind Auburn in the RPI rankings.
PITCHING TURNAROUND: Auburn’s pitching is the primary reason the Tigers struggled the first half of the SEC season, and it’s the primary reason the Tigers have turned it all around during the second half.
- Over the first 15 games of SEC play, Auburn gave up an average of 8.5 runs per game. That includes allowing at least nine runs in seven of 15 contests.
- Over the last 15 games of SEC play, Auburn has given up an average of 4.7 runs per game. That includes allowing three runs or less in seven of 15 contests.
| 2023 D1Baseball Field of 64 Projections: Week 14 | ||
|---|---|---|
| WINSTON-SALEM | AUSTIN | |
| 1 Wake Forest* (1) | 1 Texas (16) | |
| 4 Saint Joseph’s* | 4 Loyola Marymount* | |
| 2 Northeastern | 2 Dallas Baptist* | |
| 3 TCU | 3 Texas A&M | |
| GAINESVILLE | BRIGHTON | |
| 1 Florida* (2) | 1 Boston College (15) | |
| 4 Central Connecticut* | 4 Fairfield* | |
| 2 Maryland* | 2 Connecticut* | |
| 3 Kansas State | 3 Southern California | |
| FAYETTEVILLE | TUSCALOOSA | |
| 1 Arkansas (3) | 1 Alabama (14) | |
| 4 Maine* | 4 Samford* | |
| 2 Indiana | 2 Southern Miss | |
| 3 Oklahoma | 3 Arizona State | |
| BATON ROUGE | STILLWATER | |
| 1 LSU (4) | 1 Oklahoma State* (13) | |
| 4 Nicholls* | 4 Oral Roberts* | |
| 2 Washington | 2 Oregon State | |
| 3 Texas Tech | 3 Grand Canyon* | |
| STANFORD | AUBURN | |
| 1 Stanford* (5) | 1 Auburn (12) | |
| 4 San Jose State* | 4 Alabama State* | |
| 2 North Carolina | 2 East Carolina* | |
| 3 UC Santa Barbara* | 3 Troy | |
| CLEMSON | CORAL GABLES | |
| 1 Clemson (6) | 1 Miami (11) | |
| 4 Army* | 4 Wright State* | |
| 2 Campbell* | 2 Tennessee | |
| 3 Oregon | 3 Kent State* | |
| NASHVILLE | CONWAY | |
| 1 Vanderbilt (7) | 1 Coastal Carolina* (10) | |
| 4 Lipscomb* | 4 UNC Wilmington* | |
| 2 Duke | 2 South Carolina | |
| 3 UC Irvine | 3 NC State | |
| CHARLOTTESVILLE | LEXINGTON | |
| 1 Virginia (8) | 1 Kentucky (9) | |
| 4 Pennsylvania* | 4 Morehead State* | |
| 2 West Virginia | 2 Indiana State* | |
| 3 Iowa | 3 Notre Dame |
| BASEBALL AMERICA PROJECTED FIELD OF 64 | ||
| Winston-Salem, N.C. | Terre Haute, Ind. | |
| 1. (1) Wake Forest^* | 1. (16) Indiana State^* | |
| 2. Campbell* | 2. Tennessee | |
| 3. Cal State Fullerton* | 3. Notre Dame | |
| 4. St. Joseph’s* | 4. Wright State* | |
| Gainesville, Fla. | Brighton, Mass. | |
| 1. (2) Florida^* | 1. (15) Boston College* | |
| 2. Texas Tech | 2. Connecticut* | |
| 3. UC Irvine | 3. Northeastern* | |
| 4. Alabama State* | 4. Army* | |
| Fayetteville, Ark. | Auburn, Ala. | |
| 1. (3) Arkansas^ | 1. (14) Auburn^ | |
| 2. Washington | 2. Texas | |
| 3. Oklahoma | 3. Troy | |
| 4. Maine* | 4. Samford* | |
| Baton Rouge, La. | Columbia, S.C. | |
| 1. (4) LSU^ | 1. (13) South Carolina^ | |
| 2. Southern Miss | 2. Duke | |
| 3. North Carolina State | 3. Oregon | |
| 4. Nicholls State* | 4. Grand Canyon* | |
| Stanford, Calif. | Coral Gables, Fla. | |
| 1. (5) Stanford^* | 1. (12) Miami^ | |
| 2. West Virginia | 2. Alabama | |
| 3. UC Santa Barbara | 3. TCU | |
| 4. San Jose State* | 4. Loyola Marymount* | |
| Clemson, S.C. | Lexington, Ky. | |
| 1. (6) Clemson^ | 1. (11) Kentucky^ | |
| 2. East Carolina* | 2. Indiana | |
| 3. Texas A&M | 3. Kent State* | |
| 4. Central Connecticut State* | 4. Morehead State* | |
| Nashville | Stillwater, Okla. | |
| 1. (7) Vanderbilt^ | 1. (10) Oklahoma State^* | |
| 2. Oregon State | 2. Dallas Baptist* | |
| 3. Kansas State | 3. Iowa | |
| 4. Lipscomb* | 4. Oral Roberts* | |
| Charlottesville, Va. | Conway, S.C. | |
| 1. (8) Virginia^ | 1. (9) Coastal Carolina^* | |
| 2. Maryland* | 2. North Carolina | |
| 3. Arizona State | 3. Southern California | |
| 4. Pennsylvania* | 4. Fairfield* |
* denotes automatic bid
^ denotes regional host
Bold denotes clinched bid
