Auburn Baseball’s Dominant Pitching Staff Has Tigers Ready for a Deep Postseason Run

The Auburn Tigers have done everything they need to do to lock in a national seed as they prepare for regionals next Friday. 

Although they couldn't run the table and win the SEC tournament, the Tigers won two games and showed the country even more, adding to their impressive resume as one of the best teams in college baseball. 

The team took down LSU in its first game of the tournament, followed by a shutout victory over Texas A&M (the first time the Aggies had been blanked all season). Auburn's SEC tournament run ended with a 3-1 defeat to the Arkansas Razorbacks following a lengthy rain delay. 

Although the Tigers' bats weren't always consistent during the tournament, one thing remained dominant: the Auburn arms. 

Auburn's head coach, Butch Thompson, only used two pitchers in each of the three games during the SEC tournament, choosing to rely on "stacks" to get through some of the tough competition in the conference. And most likely, it's a taste of what to expect when regionals begin on Friday. 

Across 27 innings inside the conference tournament this week, Auburn's pitchers only allowed scoring in three of them. As long as the offense shows up, this team will be near impossible to take down in regionals, super regionals, and even Omaha. 

Thompson clearly has full confidence in his pitching staff's stars. Jake Marciano and Jackson Sanders held LSU  to one run on four hits Wednesday night. Andreas Alvarez and LJ Cormier combined for a two-hit shutout against Texas A&M on Friday, something that hasn't happened to the Aggies all season long as they were battling for a potential national seed spot as well. Instead, the pitching staff ensures they will be one-and-done. And even in the rain-delayed defeat against Arkansas, Alex Petrovic and Ryan Hetzler pitched well enough to win the game if the Auburn offense had shown more consistency. 

The Auburn Tigers will know exactly who will be in their regional, as all 64 teams will be announced on Monday during a selection show special on ESPN at 11 a.m. Central Time. According to recent projections from D1 Baseball, the Tigers are expected to be seeded around the five- or six-seed range.