Auburn baseball falls in latest postseason projections
The Auburn Tigers lost in their first bit of action in the SEC Tournament against the Kentucky Wildcats.
They were a team fighting to hold on to a potential seeding that would allow Auburn to host a regional. According to D1 Baseball's latest postseason projections, Auburn lost the region hosting duties to North Carolina.
The D1 Baseball staff wrote the following detailing the change.
We also have one change to our projected hosts: North Carolina replaces Auburn. The Tar Heels finished 15-15 in the ACC in the regular season, and teams that finish .500 in their leagues do not host. But UNC jumped to No. 6 in the RPI with Friday’s big win against Virginia Tech and improved to 17-15 aggregate in the ACC, assuring they will finish with a winning record against conference foes even if they lose to Notre Dame on Saturday. The combination of a top-10 RPI, a winning aggregate conference record and a red-hot finish (13-2 in their last 15) likely adds up to a host spot even if UNC loses Saturday, but a win against the Irish would likely sew up a host spot.
Auburn is just 16-14 aggregate in the SEC and finished poorly, losing three of its final four games, all against Kentucky (a team that went 12-18 in the regular season), all of which undermines its strong RPI (No. 11). Auburn does own a head-to-head series win at LSU, which is behind in the RPI at No. 22. But LSU finished stronger and has a better conference record (18-14 aggregate even after Friday’s loss to Tennessee), and we think that trumps the head-to-head and RPI advantages that Auburn owns. LSU’s elimination game Saturday against Kentucky looks very important to its hosting hopes; if the Wildcats win, it will likely move Auburn back ahead of LSU in the pecking order.
They have Auburn as the two seed in the Chapel Hill Regional. North Carolina is the one seed, then Auburn, three seed Coastal Carolina, and four seed College of Charleston.
The NCAA Baseball postseason selection show is Monday at 11 am CT.
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