AUBURN | Auburn, which finished sixth in the SEC, was a bit of a surprise on Selection Monday when it was chosen as the No. 4 national seed.

The Tigers, which head into the NCAA Tournament with a 38-18 record, certainly benefitted from having the nation’s No. 3 RPI and the No. 1 strength of schedule.

The architect of that schedule was AU Director of Operations Greg Drye.

“I think one of the biggest things we’ve done and I give Greg Drye a lot of credit on our staff, is researching and revamping our scheduling,” said AU coach Butch Thompson. “I think the No. 1 strength of schedule has held serve. You can see it in 2022, 2023 and 2025, hosting three of the last four years.

“I give Greg a lot of credit of adjusting to where we needed to get to in order to create a day like this, a Top 4 national seed. It’s absolutely a big deal.”

This year’s schedule was three years in the making. A series against Holy Cross, a tournament team, a home-and-away against Georgia Tech, the ACC champion, and playing No. 8 national seed Oregon State in the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series, were set up years ago.

But the Tigers also benefitted from a late cancellation that allowed Drye to schedule tournament team Wright State for a three-game series. Auburn swept the Raiders and finished 8-1 against non-conference teams that made the tournament.

Playing in the nation’s toughest conference is a boost every season. This year, the SEC put a record 13 teams in the NCAA Tournament. Of the three teams that didn’t make the field, Auburn played a series against just one, sweeping South Carolina by a combined 46-15 score.

“Just trying to fill up a schedule with good competition is always what Butch wants and what we try to strive for. It doesn’t always work every year,” said Drye. “I think we’re lucky that we do have some good team around us that are willing to come play us, and the schedule takes care of itself when we play the teams in our league.

“It’s not a perfect science but you want to do what’s best for your program. Playing all these goods teams obviously helps.”

Not surprisingly, Drye already has the Tigers lined up for some tough non-conference games in the upcoming years.

“The last couple of years when we play out in Dallas at Globe Life, we know there’s going to be good competition in that. We’re going to go back next year,” said Drye. “And in ’27 we’re going to go out to California and play in the Tony Gwynn Classic. We know those are going to be good games.”

In addition to helping Auburn earn a high seed in the NCAA Tournament and potentially host a Super Regional for the first time in program history, the tough schedule has also helped AU’s players prepare for the competition and pressure of playing in the postseason.

“It’s huge,” said All-American Ike Irish. “I think we have seen everything now. We’ve seen every result possible. We’re prepared. Now, we just have to go execute.”

The Tigers will open the Auburn Regional against No. 4 seed Central Connecticut State Friday at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN+.