AUBURN | With a series win at No. 7 Tennessee last weekend, No. 5 Auburn has an opportunity to take another big step toward securing a Top 8 national seed this weekend hosting South Carolina.

D1Baseball currently has the Tigers as the No. 6 seed along with five other SEC teams in the Top 8, and the Gamecocks enter the three-game series 15th in the league with a 5-19 record.

But as Butch Thompson is reminding his team this week, there are no guarantees in the nation’s toughest conference.

“I see those guys probably in a very similar situation where we were last year and we won our last two series,” said AU’s 10th-year head coach.

“That was a tough series for us that we just played. Now we're starting with the Thursday, Friday, Saturday series. And the time we spent in a dugout and on a field last weekend is longer than normal.”

Auburn puts their players through baseline tests every Monday including weight, hydration and jumping, and many were at six-week lows after the series in Knoxville.

AU’s players have also had the additional stress of going through final exams this week.

“Tuesday, we barely did some stuff and some live at-bats,” said Thompson. “We'll try to get to a decent practice (Wednesday), but I'm more worried about our players being able to recycle for a series.

“And understandably, their sleep's probably thrown off too, of trying to get back and get into exams and finish.”

Auburn enters the series 33-15 overall and 13-11 in the SEC. AU is tied for seventh in the league, but just two games behind Georgia and LSU, who are tied for third. The Tigers have won six of eight conference series and are 9-3 at home.

But as Thompson continues to preach to his players, it’s not about who they play, it’s how they play.

“I look at where we're positioned in the league. We have so much work to do,” he said. “There should be no reason whatsoever to slow down, stop, and not keep trying to be successful every time you step on the field.”

Game times for the series are Thursday night at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2, Friday night at 6 p.m. on SECN+/ESPN+ and Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on SEC Network.