After playing the majority of its last 21 games on the road, the Auburn Tigers baseball team is thrilled to be returning home to Plainsman Park to host a NCAA Regional for the second year in a row.
“It's huge," junior third baseman Eric Guevara said, per Auburn Undercover. "Butch talked about just being able to come back yesterday and reset. So just being able to really reset for our guys and just have fresh bodies out there going into the long stretch of our season is gonna be awesome."
On Sunday it was announced that the Tigers were the No. 4 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament after falling in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament to Arkansas. Also participating in the Auburn Regional are 2-seed UCF, 3-seed NC State and 4-seed Milwaukee, who will be the Tigers’ first opponent.
“Everybody's either hot, Power 4, done it before, been there before," Head Coach Butch Thompson said, per Auburn Undercover. "And we've got to play some good baseball. Can we keep pitching? It's been consistent. Can we score runs when we need to? Can we keep playing good defense? I think all that's absolutely possible for us, but you'll have to. There's no moving on to the next weekend. You have to be the winner of this to advance."
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Milwaukee entering the NCAA Regional against Auburn on a tear
The Milwaukee Panthers finished their season with a 25-31 overall record and 14-10 in the Horizon League. They're ending the season hot, earning an automatic bid to the tournament after winning the Horizon League Tournament. It will be another challenge for the Tigers, but they are no strangers to a challenge after playing one of the toughest schedules in college baseball.
"Obviously, we've had plenty of games at home," pitcher Jake Marciano said. "Really just coming back, we just got to practice on the field a little bit, get back into a routine, and just come out Friday and go at it."
The Tigers and the Panthers will face off from Plainsman Park at noon on Friday.
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