The series that almost never was is set to take place at Plainsman Park beginning Friday night.
Auburn welcomes USC to the Plains for a three-game set after cold weather and rain forced administration from both Auburn and USC to call an audible. The series originally planned for Los Angeles was changed in a matter of 6-8 hours according to Auburn head coach [autotag]Butch Thompson[/autotag].
“I hate it for our guys not being able to make that trip (to Los Angeles), but I tip my hat to a lot of people in administration, our travel people, Southern Cal’s administrators,” Thompson said Thursday. “It’s tough to pick up a college baseball team and travel across country, so I tip my hat to both administrations for going, ‘This is the right thing to do. How do we get there?”
USC has arrived, they have practiced at Plainsman Park, and they have their hotel. So now reality has set in that one of college baseball’s “blue bloods” is coming to Auburn for the first time in history.
“We’re going to have a 12-time national champion at Plainsman Park for the first time. It keeps getting neater,” Thompson said. “I appreciate (USC). I appreciate our fans for how they’ve jumped on the tickets. I’m just thankful this series is about to be pulled off.”
Auburn and Southern Cal each enter the series with 3-1 records. The Tigers took two-of-three from Indiana in last weekend’s season-opening series and defeated North Alabama, 13-1 on Tuesday in Madison. As for the Trojans, they swept Marist last weekend but dropped a midweek contest to UC-Irvine.
Below, you will find everything you need to know ahead of this weekend’s series between Auburn and USC including a how-to-watch guide, pitching matchups, and key players to watch.
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