The Auburn Tigers had an incredible run to the College World Series in 2022.
Following an early exit from the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Auburn went on a tear through the Auburn Regional by outscoring Southeastern Louisiana, Florida State, and UCLA 51-18 in three games to set up a weekend slate at Oregon State. Auburn was able to knock off the Beavers in the Super Regionals to clinch a berth in the College World Series for the second time in three seasons.
Despite such a strong end to the 2022 season, it seems that Auburn will need to prove its worth to the voters this season.
D1Baseball recently released its preseason top 25 rankings. Nine SEC teams made the cut, with seven of those being placed in the top 10. Out of those nine teams, Auburn was not one of those.
While it is not known why Auburn did not make the preseason top 25, it may be due to the uncertainty surrounding Auburn’s roster. Pitching-wise, the Tigers will look to replace [autotag]Trace Bright[/autotag] and [autotag]Mason Barnett[/autotag] in the rotation and [autotag]Blake Burkhalter[/autotag] in relief. Auburn will also be missing the bats of [autotag]Sonny DiChiara[/autotag], [autotag]Blake Rambusch[/autotag], [autotag]Brooks Carlson[/autotag], and [autotag]Brody Moore[/autotag].
Auburn will need to replace many key pieces of last season’s College World Series team but is off to a great start as the incoming freshman class ranks No. 10 according to D1Baseball.
Auburn opens the season on Friday, Feb. 17 at Plainsman Park against Indiana. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT.
Here’s a look at the initial top 25 from D1Baseball.com.
| 1 |  LSU |
| 2 |  Tennessee |
| 3 |  Stanford |
| 4 |  Ole Miss |
| 5 |  Texas A&M |
| 6 |  Wake Forest |
| 7 |  Florida |
| 8 |  Arkansas |
| 9 |  Oklahoma State |
| 10 |  Vanderbilt |
| 11 |  East Carolina |
| 12 |  North Carolina |
| 13 |  Maryland |
| 14 |  Virginia Tech |
| 15 |  TCU |
| 16 |  Louisville |
| 17 |  UCLA |
| 18 |  Southern Miss |
| 19 |  Virginia |
| 20 |  Alabama |
| 21 |  NC State |
| 22 |  Miami |
| 23 |  South Carolina |
| 24 |  Texas Tech |
| 25 |  Oregon |
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