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Auburn

Auburn baseball still projected to land Top 8 national seed, but barely

Justin Hokansonby: Justin Hokanson05/24/25_JHokanson
Cooper McMurray (Photo by Auburn Athletics)
Cooper McMurray (Photo by Auburn Athletics)

AUBURN — Will Auburn baseball host not only a Regional, but a Super Regional?

The answer to that question appears to be up in the air after the Tigers lost two of three at Ole Miss to end the regular season and lost their opening game in the SEC Tournament to Texas A&M.

Auburn sits at 38-18 overall after finishing with a 17-13 league record.

The good news for Auburn is their resume is littered with Top 8 national seed-quality accomplishments.

The Tigers possess the No. 3 RPI and the No. 1 strength of schedule. They won 17 games and seven series in the toughest conference in college baseball. Only three other SEC teams won seven conference series out of 10.

Auburn won eight games against the RPI Top 10 and won three series against teams inside the RPI Top 10. Those two stats are tied for the most in the country. And the Tigers’ 15 Quad I wins ranks fourth most nationally.

In addition to the No. 1 overall strength of schedule, Auburn faced league competition that ranked No. 2 in opponent winning percentage. Eight of 10 conference opponents faced finished the season .500 or better in league play — tied for the most in the SEC. Auburn also faced ranked opponents in every SEC road series. That group of road opponents went 85-65 in SEC play.

And among all SEC teams, Auburn faced the No. 1 out-of-conference strength of schedule. The Tigers beat three different conference champions outside of the SEC, including No. 6 Oregon State.

Because of all that, projections still have Auburn landing inside the Top 8 with the opportunity to host all the way until Omaha, but barely.

D1 Baseball projects Auburn at No. 7 overall, hosting Duke, Troy and Long Island in the Auburn Regional. They are paired with No. 10 seed Coastal Carolina and their regional.

Baseball America also projects Auburn at No. 7 overall, hosting Wake Forest, Xavier and Oral Roberts. They are paired with No. 10 seed Florida State, with Alabama being the No. 2 seed in Florida State’s regional.

Given how Auburn performed this season, despite the so-so finish, the metrics sure seem to lean heavily that the Tigers were one of the top eight teams in college baseball this season. It’s awfully hard to argue against it.

Auburn was fantastic this season at home, going 12-3 in SEC play. We’ll see if things work out for the Tigers to take advantage of newly renovated Plainsman Park, as head coach Butch Thompson certainly knows how important that advantage could be.

“I’ll ask our fans to absolutely be there for us in full force and help us push it across the finish line together.”

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