The NCAA selected Auburn to host a regional in the 2022 NCAA Baseball Tournament. The Florida State Seminoles, UCLA Bruins and Southeast Louisiana Lions also were selected to compete in the Auburn Regional.
Auburn started off the weekend against Southeast Louisiana. Trace Bright was the starting pitcher for Auburn, Adam Guth was the starting pitcher for Southeast Louisiana. The Tigers started the weekend off by scoring 11 runs in the bottom of the first inning. This would spark a large amount of offensive production for Auburn. They ended up winning the game 19-7. Cole Foster had a huge day at the plate, going four for six with three home runs. Blake Rambusch went three for four with an RBI. Sonny DiChira went three for six with one home run and two runs batted in. Nate LaRue went two for three with two home runs and two runs batted in. Mike Bello went three for four with one run batted in. Trace Bright had a good day on the mound for Auburn, pitching five innings with 10 strikeouts and only four earned runs. After the game head coach Butch Thompson said, “Great night for us.” He added, “The entire lineup came out swinging. We've been looking for that.”
Florida State knocked off UCLA 5-3 in their first game, so they met up with Auburn in the winner’s bracket on Saturday night. Joseph Gonzalez was on the mound for Auburn and Bryce Hubbart was on the mound for Florida State. Auburn was up 3-1 early, but they really blew the game open in the top of the fourth inning. The Tigers scored seven runs to give them a 10-1 lead. Auburn scored another run in the fifth inning, four runs in the seventh inning, one run in the eighth inning and five runs in the top of the ninth inning. Auburn ended up winning 21-7 and securing a place in the Regional Championship game. Sonny DiChira went three for five with one home run. Brody Moore went five for five with five runs batted in. Kason Howell went four for five with one run batted in. Head coach Butch Thompson said, “Another positive night for us.” He added, “A great pitching performance by Joseph. We played amazing team offense and played together for these two nights, so we at least give ourselves an opportunity to play for a regional championship.”
The UCLA Bruins beat the Florida State Seminoles 2-1 Sunday afternoon to earn a chance to take on Auburn in the Region Championship Game on Sunday evening. After the top of the sixth inning, the game was called off due to rain and scheduled to continue on Monday afternoon. Mason Barnett was the starter for Auburn and James Hepp was the starter for UCLA. Auburn had yet another hot start, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. They would score plenty more and led 9-0 by the time the weather had gotten too bad to continue. UCLA finally got on the board in the seventh inning scoring two runs, they did the same in the eighth. Auburn did not choose to slow down however as they scored two runs in the ninth inning and extended their lead to seven. Sonny DiChira had another big game, going three for four with four runs batted in. Brooks Carlson went two for five with two runs batted in. Auburn called on Blake Burkhalter to close out the game, and he answered. He held Auburn together through the last two innings.
With Oregon State defeating Vanderbilt on Sunday, Auburn will travel out to Corvallis, OR for the Super Regional hosted by Oregon State.
