On Selection Monday, the Auburn Tigers were slotted in as the fourth overall team in the NCAA baseball field, thanks to a 38-19 overall record against the toughest schedule in all of college baseball. Their reward? A spot as a regional host, and a first-game date with Milwaukee out of the Horizon League, a 25-31 team that secured a spot in the field after winning the conference tournament.
NCAA baseball tournament 2026: Milwaukee stuns Auburn
Auburn entered the NCAA tournament as the fourth-overall seed. Now the Tigers are facing elimination
Mark Schofield is a former college quarterback and attorney covering the NFL and F1.
Even better, Auburn would be sending left-hander Jake Marciano to the mound, he of the 2.65 ERA and 0.97 WHIP.
To say things were set up well for the Tigers would be putting it mildly. But by the top of the first inning the Panthers had put six runs on the board, Marciano was already in the showers, and Milwaukee was on its way to a stunning 13-8 win, putting Auburn on the brink of elimination.
The Panthers hung four runs on the board in the top of the first. A single from designated hitter Dom Kibler brought two runs home, staking Milwaukee to the early lead. That brought left fielder Bradyn Horn to the dish with a pair of runners aboard.
In the blink of an eye, it was 4-0 Panthers:
It was the fifth home run of the year for Horn, and an unexpected start to the contest. And after keeping the Tigers scoreless in the bottom of the first, Milwaukee chased Marciano in the top of the second with two more runs.
Milwaukee held a 6-0 lead in the top of the fourth, when they broke into double digits. Third baseman Grant Ross singled to bring home Connor Bozak, bringing Charlie Marion to the plate with a pair of Panthers aboard.
That’s when Marion blasted his 13th home run of the season:
Auburn would start chipping away at Milwaukee’s lead, and a blast from Eric Guevara in the bottom of the seventh cut the Panthers’ advantage to 12-7. And the Tigers got out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, when Jett Johnston struck out Horn to keep Auburn within five.
But the Tigers could not complete the comeback.
Riley Peterson held Auburn scoreless in the eighth, retiring the side in order with a strikeout and a pair of groundouts. Milwaukee pushed another run across in the ninth, when Marion walked with the bases loaded, the fourth walk given up by Auburn pitchers in the frame.
The Tigers loaded the bases in the ninth and got a sacrifice fly from Guevara to cut the score to 13-8, but Peterson got catcher Chase Fralick to line out to center for the final out.
The celebration was on in the Panthers’ dugout.
For Milwaukee, it was just the second NCAA tournament win in program history, the first coming back in 1999 when the Panthers knocked off Rice. Milwaukee finished the afternoon having gone 8-for-16 with runners in scoring position, and the 13 runs were the most scored by the team in their NCAA tournament history.
As for the Tigers, they became just the seventh top four national seed in NCAA tournament history to lose a regional opener, joining Alabama (No. 3, 2002), Georgia Tech (No. 3, 2003), Florida State (No. 4, 2008), Baylor (No. 4, 2012), Florida (No. 2, 2014), and North Carolina (No. 2, 2017).
The Tigers will hope to join an even smaller list with Florida State and Baylor, as those two teams still went on to win their regional.
Milwaukee will take on the winner of No. 3 NC State and No. 2 UCF, while Auburn will face the loser of that contest in an elimination game.
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