AUBURN | The last time Auburn didn’t play in the SEC Tournament was 2016, Butch Thompson’s first season.

Some of the key players that helped return the Tigers to the tournament in 2017 are now seniors and in a three-way battle with Texas A&M and Missouri for the 12th and final bid to this year’s SECT.

“It’s huge,” said senior Steven Williams, whose walk-off home run in the Atlanta Regional helped propel Auburn to the 2019 College World Series. “I think we’re still in a spot to control our own destiny. So we’re going to focus on one day at a time, one pitch. We know we’re good enough and we’re just going to make it happen.”

Auburn hosts Texas A&M this weekend and ends the regular season with a three-game series at Missouri. Entering the weekend, the Aggies are in 12th with a 7-17 conference record, Auburn in 13th at 6-18 and Missouri in 14th at 5-20 following Thursday night's loss at No. 3 Mississippi State.

Only the top 12 teams in the SEC make the SECT, which will be played in Hoover May 25-30.

“We’re at a critical point in our season,” said Thompson. “It feels like a postseason type of mindset for us with Texas A&M and Missouri. There’s really no other option if you look at A&M being a game up and Missouri being a game behind. Every one of these games are going to be meaningful.

“If you don’t win a series this weekend they’ll be really hard to catch because there are tiebreakers if you wind up with the same amount of wins. I think any way you look at it we have to find a way to win this series.”

Auburn, which beat TAMU 6-1 at the Round Rock Classic Feb. 28, has three of its six SEC wins the last two weekends, taking 2-of-3 at Georgia and then beating LSU at home Saturday.

The Aggies were swept at MSU two weeks ago but bounced back to take 2-of-3 from No. 11 Ole Miss at home last weekend.

The Tigers will be looking for their first conference home-series win of the season.

“Our fans have been more than gracious and understanding and continuing to stay behind our program,” said Thompson. “I think for our coaches and players and our program I think it’s important for us to lay it all out there. I would love to see us really come together and play a great series at home.”

Auburn will honor six seniors — Williams, Rankin Woley, Judd Ward, Cody Greenhill, Jack Owen and Peyton Glavine — before Saturday’s game.

The group helped Auburn advance to an NCAA Regional in 2017, the second Super Regional in program history in 2018 and the first College World Series since 1997 in 2019.

“I hate that we’re going through the challenge of this season,” said Thompson. “They were guys that believed in our program when we were not in a state of going to the College World Series or going to back-to-back Supers or going to three consecutive regionals. These guys believed in the coaches and believed in Auburn before they could see all that.”

Friday’s game at Plainsman Park will be 6 p.m. CT, Saturday’s 2 p.m. and Sunday’s 1 p.m. All three games will be on SECN+/ESPN+.