For years, Auburn baseball has lingered just on the edge of greatness, occasionally flirting with the national spotlight but never quite seizing it. That changed in emphatic fashion this weekend, as the No. 4 overall seed Auburn Tigers delivered a resounding message to the rest of the college baseball world. With an 11-1 rout of NC State in the Auburn Regional final, the Tigers not only punched their ticket to the Super Regionals—they made program history, earning the right to host a Super Regional for the first time ever.
The win completed a perfect 3-0 run through the regional round and extended Auburn’s winning streak to eight games. The Tigers now sit just two wins away from a trip to the College World Series in Omaha, and judging by the way they’ve been playing, it’s hard to bet against them.
Everything clicked for Auburn on a picture-perfect night at Plainsman Park. The pitching was dominant. The defense was airtight. And the offense? Explosive. From the very first inning, the Tigers looked like a team possessed—unshakably focused, unrelentingly aggressive, and undeniably elite.
Auburn set the tone early, plating three runs in the bottom of the first to ignite a raucous crowd. Senior outfielder Bobby Peirce continued his torrid postseason tear, launching a two-run double off the left-center wall to put the Tigers ahead. One batter later, Ike Irish lined a single up the middle to bring Peirce home, giving Auburn a 3-0 cushion before NC State could even catch its breath.
While the bats made noise early, it was starting pitcher Drew Nelson who stole the show. The left-handed sophomore was simply masterful, carving up the Wolfpack lineup with surgical precision. He worked seven innings, allowing just one run on four hits while striking out nine and walking none. It was arguably the best start of his Auburn career—and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Nelson mixed his fastball and changeup beautifully, keeping NC State hitters off balance all night. He worked quickly, attacked the zone, and induced weak contact with stunning efficiency. When he walked off the mound after the seventh inning to a standing ovation, it was a fitting sendoff for a performance that will be remembered in Auburn baseball lore.
But this wasn’t a one-man show. Auburn’s offense pounded out 13 hits and scored in five different innings. Peirce, Irish, and third baseman Bryson Ware each finished with multi-hit games, while freshman slugger Chris Stanfield added a booming three-run homer in the sixth to break the game wide open. By the time the dust settled, Auburn had posted double-digit runs for the 16th time this season.
The Tigers didn’t just beat NC State—they overwhelmed them in every facet. Auburn’s aggressive baserunning rattled the Wolfpack defense, forcing errors and creating chaos on the basepaths. Head coach Butch Thompson, now in his ninth season at the helm, praised his team’s execution, toughness, and hunger in the postgame press conference.
“That’s the most complete game we’ve played all year,” Thompson said. “From the first pitch to the last out, our guys were locked in. They’ve earned this moment, and I couldn’t be prouder of them. We’ve talked all year about making history—well, tonight, we did just that.”
Indeed, hosting a Super Regional marks a significant milestone for a program that has steadily climbed the national ranks under Thompson’s leadership. This is Auburn’s third trip to the Super Regional round in the past six seasons, but the previous two required traveling—first to Chapel Hill in 2019 and then to Corvallis in 2022. Both times, the Tigers played the role of underdog. Not this time.
This time, Auburn will be the favorite. This time, Plainsman Park will be the epicenter of college baseball’s postseason drama. And this time, the Tigers will have the home-field advantage they’ve so richly earned.
That edge could prove pivotal. Auburn has gone 30-3 at home this season, a staggering number that reflects both their talent and their confidence playing in front of the orange-and-blue faithful. The energy inside the ballpark during the regional was electric, with every seat filled and the outfield berm packed with standing fans. The atmosphere felt more like an SEC football Saturday than a June baseball game.
“It means everything to us,” Peirce said after the game. “We feed off this crowd. They’ve got our backs, and we want to give them a show every time we step out there. Hosting a Super? That’s what we’ve dreamed about. That’s what we’ve worked for. And now it’s real.”
While Auburn waits to find out their Super Regional opponent, speculation is already swirling. Several potential matchups loom, but the Tigers are focused on one thing: staying hot. Their current form suggests they’re peaking at just the right time, a scary thought for anyone standing in their way.
