The road to Omaha begins Friday for Auburn baseball as they’ll host a regional and open with a matchup against Central Connecticut State.

After pitching the Tigers only game in the SEC tournament, Auburn coach Butch Thompson named sophomore Cam Tilly the starting pitcher for Friday’s game.

Tilly struck out six batters in the Tigers loss to Texas A&M during the conference tournament. Thompson said his final stretch to end the season gave him the confidence to trust Tilly during Regionals.

“We’ll start with Cam Tilly. I think that’s what we’ve done the last few weeks. We’ve tried to research and have meetings and just feel like that’s where we’re at this stage of the year,” Thompson said Thursday morning to members of the media.

“He started our one game there in the SEC Tournament. And I feel like going back to the Ole Miss outing and the couple of outings before, I feel like we’re growing a little bit, a little piece. But we believe in Cam to be able to go out and handle anybody. I think he gives us an amazing chance to jump out here and get us started good on the mound.”

In the Tigers regular season finale against Ole Miss Tilly finished with five strikeouts. In a previous start against South Carolina, Tilly struck out six batters, totaling 17 strikeouts in his last three games on the mound.

“I think it speaks a lot about the coaching staff. He (Butch Thompson) talked about my two-year journey; not having started my first year, and not having started the first half of this season. I think he also talks a lot about these guys having trust in me, going out there and getting this thing started,” Tilly said.

First pitch for NC State and Stetson is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday. The Tigers game with Central Connecticut State fill start at 6 p.m. and both games will be streaming on ESPN+

Jerry Humphrey III covers Auburn sports forAL.com. You can follow him on X at @Jerryhump3or email him at [email protected].