AUBURN | Auburn will have its hands full and then some this weekend in its Super Regional matchup against Coastal Carolina.

The Chanticleers will enter the best 2-of-3 series riding a 21-game winning streak and with the nation’s best record at 51-11.

“We’re down to one team that’s in our way of going back to Omaha,” said AU coach Butch Thompson. “That’s the goal, the dream of every college baseball player.

“We probably have the hottest team right now in America that will be coming here to try and take it. So I think we’ve got to keep our head down and keep fighting for that consistency with our lineup.”

The Sun Belt regular season and tournament champions played a very competitive schedule that includes wins over Clemson, N.C. State, Kansas State, Washington, Ohio State, Southern Miss and East Carolina.

According to WarrenNolan.com, Coastal has the nation’s No. 5 RPI, No. 64 strength of schedule and a 7-6 record in Quad 1 games.

“They're a good team. They beat Power 5 teams throughout the year even though they played in the Sun Belt,” said AU All-American Ike Irish. “I know they got power arms Friday and Saturday night. I grew up playing with their Friday night guy so that'll be fun.

“I know they're a scrappy bunch. They might not hit it for a ton of power, but they're gonna be on the bases, and we've had a couple of Coastal guys here, and they play fundamental baseball.”

Coastal Carolina, which won the College World Series in 2016, is led by a dominating pitching staff that is second in the country with a 3.22 team ERA and backed up by a defense that’s in the top 30 nationally with a .977 fielding percentage.

Their three weekend starters are a combined 24-3 led by staff ace Jacob Morrison, who is 11-0 with a 2.19 ERA. The trio of right-handers also includes Cameron Flukey, who is 7-1 with a 3.12 ERA, and Riley Eikoff, who is 6-2 with a 2.90 ERA.

Their bullpen is led by right-hander Ryan Lynch, who is 2-1 with a 0.61 ERA and seven saves, and left-hander Dominick Carbone, who is 6-0 with a 2.25 ERA and five saves.

Coastal is batting .290 as a team led by Caden Bodine, who is hitting .329 with 18 doubles and 45 RBI. Sebastian Alexander is batting .309 with 10 home runs, 53 RBI and 27 stolen bases.

CCU has 106 stolen bases, which ranks in the top 50 nationally.

Auburn will be hosting its first Super Regional in program history. The Tigers swept their Regional in front of a program-record 22,174 for a three-game series at Plainsman Park.

“It's going to be electric. I think the fanbase is going to get behind us again, and I hope we have night games,” said Irish.

Game times for the series will be Friday night at 8 p.m. CT and Saturday at 2 p.m. Both games will be on ESPN2. Sunday’s if necessary games is TBD.