AUBURN | Auburn returns seven position players and 10 of its top pitchers from last year’s College World Series team. It’s a consensus top 10 preseason team led by All-American pitcher Tanner Burns.

But if the Tigers are to return to the CWS for a second consecutive season, they’ll have to build a new team starting this weekend with a four-game opening series against Illinois-Chicago.

“It’s a different ball club,” said fifth-year head coach Butch Thompson. “There’s just a different chemistry in that clubhouse, and you have to build a new foundation. But when you’ve had success and you’ve worked really hard to try to build it to a space where you have respect of your fan base, you have respect of your conference and peers and college baseball in general, you should embrace every positive movement and growth you have.

“I think that’s part of my job, too. I embrace the potential of where I want us to be.”

Added to the returning players are 18 newcomers, which give Thompson and his staff a lot of extra bats to work with, especially in the infield, and a deep pitching staff. That bullpen will be especially important with five games in five days to open the season and the starters ready to throw a maximum of 70-75 pitches apiece.

“This is the best pitching staff I’ve been on, I think, since I’ve been here,” said Burns, who will start Friday night’s season opener. “The freshmen, we’ve got some good arms and we’ve got some guys that are crafty. We’ve got a mixture of both. We’ve got power guys too. That’s good toward the end of the game.

“We’ve got guys to pick up Cody (Greenhill) so we don’t just have Cody this year. We’ve got guys that I think we’ll take the pressure off Cody this year.”

Newcomers including freshmen Mason Barnett and Hayden Mullins will add depth to the bullpen while junior college transfer Drew Baker can help close games along with Greenhill. Freshman Trace Bright is expected to start Tuesday night’s game against Oakland.

Auburn must replace shortstop Will Holland and third baseman Edouard Julien, who combined for 48 home runs the past two seasons, but the lineup has shown a lot of pop during preseason practice led by a bulked up Steven Williams.

“We’ve had some good success off what I’d say is our highly above average pitching staff so I think that’s a good sign for start of the season,” senior catcher Matt Scheffler said.

First pitch Friday night is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT while Saturday’s doubleheader is scheduled for 1 p.m. and approximately 4:30 p.m. Sunday’s finale will be at 11 a.m. Friday’s game and the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader will be on SEC Network+.

Auburn will play its first 23 games at home to open the season.

“These four games will give us a huge gauge on where we’re going and trying to build a new identity of an entire new ball club,” Thompson said.