AUBURN | No. 21 Auburn will have to navigate Tobacco Road to advance in the 2018 NCAA Baseball Tournament.
The Tigers are the No. 2 seed in the Raleigh Regional along with No. 1 seed N.C. State, No. 3 seed Northeastern and No. 4 seed Army. Auburn will get the double-elimination Regional started against Northeastern Friday at 1 p.m. CT.
Auburn was a Regional finalist last year. Third-year coach Butch Thompson is determined to push all the right buttons to get the Tigers to a Super Regional and an opportunity to make it to the College World Series this year.
“I’m more interested in us taking calculated risks because I’m increasingly getting more interested in us finishing a tournament, to be standing on top,” Thompson said. “That’s becoming increasingly more important.
“Our guys are excited, they’re loose. That’s how they should play the game. As the leader of the program I have to continue to figure out where we can take a calculated risk to finish as the team standing at the end of the day.”
The Raleigh Regional is paired with the Gainesville Regional for the Super Regionals. The Gainesville Regional includes No. 1 overall seed Florida, No. 2 seed Jacksonville, No. 3 seed Florida Atlantic and No. 4 seed Columbia.
The Tigers enter the tournament with a 39-21 record after finishing 2-2 at the SEC Tournament. Auburn is led by All-American starter Casey Mize, who was one of seven players to receive All-SEC honors including four on the All-Freshman team.
The Tigers took 2-of-3 from Northeastern at home March 9-11 with Huskies giving the Tigers their first loss of the season. Mize threw a complete game, no-hitter with 13 strikeouts against the Huskies March 9.
Thompson said the decision to start Mize on Friday or hold him until a potential matchup with N.C. State on Saturday is one of those calculated risks he’ll be considering this week.
“We’re not going to play it safe to get less Twitter feedback or email feedback. We’re going to try to win a Regional,” Thompson said. “If that means Casey Mize throwing Game 3 or throwing Game 1 or 2, those are things we have to set down. I think that might be one of 10 things that we need to analyze.”
The Huskies, 36-19, are led by ace pitcher Sean Mellen, who is 10-3 with a 2.28 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 79.0 innings. He held Auburn to a run on two hits with eight strikeouts in 8.0 innings of a 2-1 win March 11.
“I think it's a little bit of a confidence boost,” said senior second baseman Luke Jarvis of facing Northwestern again. “Especially being in a Regional where the intensity is kicked up, having an opponent that we've played before is a little bit comforting so maybe guys won't get too eager. Maybe they'll settle down and think 'okay, we know them a little bit' so it should be a little bit easy for us in that sense.”
N.C. State, 40-16, is led by seven All-Conference players including ACC Pitcher of the Year, left-hander Brian Brown, who is 6-2 with a 2.71 ERA. The Wolfpack had two All-Freshman players including ACC Freshman of the Year, catcher Patrick Bailey, and right-hander Reid Johnston. Bailey hit .316 with 11 home runs and 33 RBI. Johnston is 7-0 with a 3.13 ERA.
Auburn is in back-to-back Regionals for the first time since 2003. The Tigers were beaten by Florida State twice in the final two games of the Tallahassee Regional last season.
“I think we’re very motivated,” Mize said. “From how last year ended, from not being a host this year, I think there’s a lot of motivation on our side, which is good. I think there’s going to be a new focus for us this year. I think we kind of realized last year that you literally have to be focused with every pitch because one pitch can end it for you like it did last year.”
