Butch Thompson takes responsibility for Auburn’s early exit in regional

Auburn was the first nationally-seeded team to be eliminated in the regional round of the 2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament after falling to Penn and Southern Miss in consecutive games.

Tigers head coach Butch Thompson shielded his players after the loss, taking the blame for being the first team bounced in the Auburn Regional.

“The responsibility falls on me. I just feel like in the last three regionals we were in such a good spot and we played such good baseball. I did not get this team ready to compete to be there for the last day [of regionals],” Thompson said postgame. “I think our team made a good run. I tried to tell [Bryson Ware] and the rest of his teammates how proud I am of them.

“I’ll try to figure out what the responsibilities are to do a better job moving forward.”

Southern Miss jumped out to a 3-0 lead over Auburn in the first inning. They were leading 6-0 before the Tigers jumped on the board, scoring their only two runs in the sixth inning. The Golden Eagles added an insurance run in the eighth, which gave Southern Miss a 7-2 win over the No. 13-seeded regional host and ending their season winless in postseason play.

Auburn won 12 of its last 15 regular season games — including the last nine in a row — heading into the postseason after beginning the year 3-6 in conference play. They would go on to lose both SEC Tournament games against the Vanderbilt Commodores and Alabama Crimson Tide, respectively, but both of those teams are hosting their own regional this weekend, so it felt like there should be no worries playing in a regional against — on paper — lesser opponents.

“This group put us in position after a tough start and stayed in the fight the entire season. It got us to this point, to be able to host a regional at home,” Thompson said, reflecting on Auburn’s season. “It just didn’t link up enough in these two days to have success against two really good opponents.”

While the Tigers unpacks their lockers, Plainsman Park has a packed Sunday ahead of it. Southern Miss and Samford duke it out in the consolation round of the Auburn Regional beginning at 3 p.m. ET. Penn await the winner of that matchup, which is set for 9 p.m. ET. The Quakers can advance to a Super Regional with a victory on Sunday night.

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