How to Watch Auburn Baseball's Regional Championship Game Against Milwaukee

Despite losing their first game of their own regional, the Auburn Tigers have strung together three wins in the last 48 hours to set up a winner-take-all matchup with Milwaukee in the final of the Auburn Regional.

The Tigers’ pitching has come to life once again, only allowing one Milwaukee run compared to the 13 that it saw against them on Friday afternoon to begin the postseason. On the flip side, Auburn took an early lead and never looked back, plating five runs in the second inning.

Despite finishing the first game of the night against UCF, Ryan Hetzler got the ball to start against the Panthers and delivered. He threw four innings while striking out six Milwaukee batters, only allowing three hits and a run.

At the end of it, he would finish with seven total innings pitched between both games, only allowing that sole run while striking 11 total batters off of 104 pitches. It was a feat that not many Tigers have seen before.

With a Plainsman Park crowd that remained in the stadium for almost 12 hours, Hetzler felt the energy that they brought, even after a midnight finish.

“Unbelievable to have the trust to go out and save our bullpen some innings,” he said after the game. “Having the Auburn family behind me is unbelievable.”

On the hitting side, catcher Chase Fralick continued his hot stretch, hitting his fifth home run of the tournament in that high-scoring second inning. That’s the most home runs in the regional round in program history, also recording a record total of 13 RBIs over the last four games.

CHASE FREAKING FRALICK‼️

His record 5th HR and 13 RBI of the regional!! pic.twitter.com/We7omDULe2
— Auburn Baseball (@AuburnBaseball) June 1, 2026

After the game, Fralick said that the team knew that two wins had to be the outcome on Sunday, and it ended up being the case.

“The team was locked in all day today,” Fralick said. “Everybody competed. We made a great adjustment with our gameplan and everybody went out and executed.”

Auburn’s win now sets up the rubber match between the Tigers and Panthers, each taking one game now over the course of the weekend. Head coach Butch Thompson and the team will look to get the best of Milwaukee one more time to be able to host a super regional next weekend, which would be against the Ole Miss Rebels.

The first solution to figure out: pitching. Milwaukee did amass 26 runs in its first two games to have the leg up on Auburn, having no losses before late last night. The Panthers took ace Jake Marciano last time out of the game in only three outs recorded, but Thompson has a replenished bullpen after only using three total arms over Sunday’s doubleheader.

Over May, the Tigers’ opponent recorded double-digits in seven games, and Thompson will look to make the best choice to disallow that.

“We’ve got to get back and figure out who’s going to pitch,” Thompson said. “They did score 26 runs in the first two games, which is the most for a No. 4 seed in the history of this tournament. We need a good spirit tomorrow, we’ve got to stay hot offensively, and we’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do on the mound.”

Whether it’s Marciano or starter-turned-reliever Jackson Sanders for a chunk of the game, Thompson should have other rested relievers to help keep the season going into next weekend.

No. 1 Auburn Tigers (41-20) vs. No. 4 Milwaukee Panthers (27-32): What You Need to Know

Where: Plainsman Park, Auburn, AL

When: Monday, June 1, 5 p.m. CST

Watch: ESPNU

Pitching Matchup: Neither program has an issued starter just yet. Auburn Tigers on SI will remain updated when that is released.

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