Auburn baseball kickoffs the 2025 season returning to the newly renovated Plainsman Park Friday for its opening day series against Holy Cross.

After the Tigers abysmal 2024 season, finishing 27-26 overall and 8-2 in SEC play. Auburn coach Butch Thompson brought in 21 new players during the offseason.

Adding 12 freshman and nine transfers to this year’s roster, Thompson is hopeful for a better season especially with the renovations to Plainsman.

“We’ve had 34 sellouts the last two years. That’s all but three SEC games,” Thompson said Thursday afternoon. “We’re going to be able to offer now to our fans over 6,000 people per game will be able to come into Plainsman Park, the most ever before.”

“We want to get off to a great start if we can. I want that to be the goal for us. Spring training is over. Tomorrow’s game starts counting. Hopefully we’re putting in guys and giving them opportunities because we think they are the best people to give us a chance to have success in that situation.”

The Tigers voted on five captains this season in Ike Irish, Cooper McMurray, Parker Carlson, Deric Fabian and Ben Schorr.

Irish, a Buster Posey Award semifinalist last season, led Auburn in batting average, runs, hits, and RBIs with 59. His 14 home runs tied for a team high with McMurray. In SEC play, he finished with eight homers and eight RBIs.

“Yeah, I think for us it was probably one of the first times in our lives that we actually lost at something, and it grew character,” Irish said when discussing last season. “I mean, [Parker Carlson] went to Omaha and then went to a regional and then last year was the only year that he had not been successful here. And so, it was taking a step back and just figuring out, man, what do we got to do to get back to those places that we were once at.”

To get back to the Omaha stage, Auburn has to dominate on the mound. Something they failed at last season. In the series with Holy Cross, Cade Cross, Samuel Dutton and Christian Chatterton will be the pitching rotation.

Thompson spoke on the early pitching decision saying that it could change in games to come. However, this weekend’s starters give the Tigers the best shot at a high strike percentage.

“I think I have advertised for us what is most important and would be the one thing that can get us back to being competitive at the highest level and we said strike percentage,” Thompson said. “You’re good at what you focus on. Those three guys won the race. They won the game of driving strike percentage. That’s what our team needs to see. That was our focus. That’s what our fans want to see.”

Thompson called starting catcher Irish a top 10 MLB prospect entering his third year with the program. Irish believes this year’s roster is filled with the right group for a successful season.

“Auburn is home, and our coaching staff does an amazing job, and they brought in a lot of talent, but they brought in the right dudes and that was key for us is man,” Irish said. “They would tell me they’re talking to travel ball coaches from three years ago, high school coaches and all these guys just to find the right dudes and sure we probably could have gotten more talented guys, but for us that wasn’t what it was about. It’s about having the right group of guys to come together as one team and not just individual talents.”

Auburn’s series with Holy Cross will begin Friday at 6p.m. and will be streamed on SEC Network+.