If Auburn baseball were dirt on a car, the team’s 2026 schedule would have been the super-duper extraordinary cycle, with everything thrown at the dirt to break them down.
Luckily, this team was up to the challenge, and after a gauntlet that included so many you cannot count matchups against top 10 teams, the Tigers enter the postseason intact and ready to take on the world.
“Really playing the best schedule in America, it’s been a grind for a young team of freshmen and sophomores,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “We’re learning lessons. We’ve used that, and at the end of the day, what we wound up getting is a game we’ve played a lot in game threes. That’s what we wound up getting.”
Auburn's brutal schedule has prepared the Tigers for a deep run
The No. 4 Tigers' streak of six straight SEC series wins ended this weekend, as they dropped two of three games to No. 5 and SEC regular-season champion Georgia. But they did come away with a gutsy win in the finale, coming back from an early deficit to run-rule the Bulldogs 14-4. The win came after two heartbreaking defeats that could have set the Tigers up for disappointment in the third game.
Despite a slow start, starting pitcher Alex Petrovic was able to slow the Georgia bats to let the offense do its thing.
(Alex) Petrovic being able to steady himself with just an amazing amount of confidence and belief in what he’s doing, and the offense playing a lot of ball,” Thompson said. “We’re at our best when we have our whole offense working and everybody contributing. We absolutely had that today.”
As for the comeback, the big inning came in the fifth when the Tigers put six runs on the board, including Bub Terrell’s second home run in as many innings, which Cade Belyeu followed with his first dinger of the season.
Now, the Tigers wait to see who their opponent is in the SEC Tournament. And while a conference title would be sweet, Thompson and his squad have eyes on a much bigger prize that sits 984 miles away: Omaha and the College World Series.
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