AUBURN | Auburn has an opportunity to punch its ticket to the College World Series at Plainsman Park.

The Tigers earned a No. 4 national seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, tying the 2003 team for the highest in program history.

"The atmosphere, the renovations at Plainsman Park — everything coming at this time. For us to be able to host a Regional here, I’m pretty excited," said AU coach Butch Thompson.

"I’m pretty excited about the people and what it’s going to feel like in this ballpark and these people being alongside this team as we start this postseason journey. For it to be here is pretty special just because of the timing of everything."

Auburn will play No. 4 seed Central Connecticut State Friday in the double-elimination Auburn Regional, and the winner of No. 2 seed N.C. State vs. No. 3 seed Stetson on Saturday. AU is hosting a Regional for the third time in the last four years.

"I think it’s huge for our program," said junior All-American Ike Irish. "That’s three of the last four years. We’re starting to build something really special down here. I think the teams that are coming in, Central Connecticut is probably going to be a really gritty team from the North. They’re probably going to play really hard.

"N.C. State is going to be really sound. They made it to Omaha last year. Stetson, they have a long history of being good in this sport. I think we have a tall task ahead of us, but we’re playing at home."

If the Tigers advance out of the Auburn Regional, they will host a Super Regional for the first time in program history.

The Auburn Regional is matched up with the No. 13 national seed Coastal Carolina Regional, which also includes No. 2 seed Florida, No. 3 seed East Carolina and No. 4 seed Fairfield.

This will be the sixth time in program history that AU has hosted a Regional.

The 1999 team beat Tulane to advance to the Tallahassee Super Regional where they were beaten in two games.

The 2003 team went 2-2 in the Auburn Regional, losing to Ohio State 9-7 in the Regional championship while the 2010 team fell to Clemson 13-7 in the Regional championship.

In 2022, AU went 3-0 to win the Auburn Regional, beating UCLA in the championship game. AU won the Corvallis Super Regional, taking 2-of-3 from Oregon State, to advance to the CWS for the sixth time in program history.

In 2023, AU went 0-2 in the Auburn Regional losing to Penn and Southern Miss. AU didn’t qualify for the postseason last year.

"I think the freshman year regional we let Penn hang around too long," said Irish. "Watching the regional before that when they played Southeastern Louisiana, they didn’t leave any doubt and didn’t leave a team like that any confidence.

"We just have to get off to a hot start. We have to hit well and we have to pitch well. I think if we get off to a hot start, we’ll be fine."

AUBURN REGIONAL SCHEDULE

GAME 1 Friday 1 p.m. CT No. 2 N.C. State vs. No. 3 Stetson, ESPN+

GAME 2 Friday 6 p.m. No. 1 Auburn vs No. 4 Cent. Connecticut St., ESPN+

GAME 3 Saturday 2 p.m. GAME 1 loser vs. GAME 2 loser

GAME 4 Saturday 8 p.m. GAME 1 winner vs. GAME 2 winner

GAME 5 Sunday 2 p.m. GAME 3 winner vs. GAME 4 loser

GAME 6 Sunday 6 p.m. GAME 4 winner vs. GAME 5 winner

GAME 7 Monday TBA (if necessary)