The No. 14 Auburn Tigers are set to play in their third Super Regional in four NCAA Tournaments beginning Saturday night in Corvallis, Oregon, against the No. 3 Oregon State Beavers.
The Tigers dominated their competition during last week’s Auburn Regional, outscoring their opponents 51-17 over three games. Head coach [autotag]Butch Thompson[/autotag] says that it will be key for his team to maintain the persona that they displayed last weekend, and to keep riding momentum.
“Most of our talks will be about doubling down on our identity, who we are,” Thompson said. “We can’t play better than we did last weekend. The biggest challenge for us is trying to maintain and stay there.”
What Auburn won’t have on their side this weekend, however, is home field advantage. The Tigers fed off of the energy of their home fans last weekend, and will now have to compete in an electric environment, across the country. Thompson believes that as long as his squad does their job, and plays to the best of their abilities, distance and environment should not dictate their success.
“The score will take care of itself, and this will come down to execution,” Thompson said. “Whether we’re playing at Plainsman Park or a 41-hour drive away, this thing will come down to execution.”
The Beavers went 3-1 in the Corvallis Regional last weekend, defeating Vanderbilt in the regional championship game to move on to the Super Regionals.
Oregon State shares two mutual opponents with Auburn, Vanderbilt and UCLA. The Beavers went 1-1 against the Commodores in last weekend’s Corvallis Regional, while Auburn defeated UCLA in the Auburn Regional final.
During the season, Auburn took two-of-three from Vanderbilt at Plainsman Park. Oregon State dropped two-of-three games to UCLA in the final Pac-12 series of the season, and went 1-1 against the Bruins in the Pac-12 tournament.