05/23 at 10:43 PM

If not for one catastrophic, nine-run ninth inning against Georgia, Auburn would not be in this position.

Or one bad ninth inning against Tennessee, turning a one-run lead into a one-run loss and giving the Volunteers only their second conference series win of the season in the final SEC weekend last Saturday.

Or a number of flat efforts in midweek games, resulting in losses to teams such as Bethune-Cookman, Troy, Jacksonville State, Samford and South Alabama.

Just one of those games goes Auburn’s way and it enters the SEC Tournament three games above .500, virtually assured of an NCAA
Tournament spot because of its high ranks in RPI and strength of schedule.

“Our team kind of takes the midweek games for granted sometimes,” junior shortstop Casey McElroy said. “It’s really impacted us this year. Hindsight’s 20-20, but putting everything in perspective, every game is so important.

“I think we’ve learned that this year.”

Auburn still has work to do in the SEC Tournament.

At 29-27, the Tigers can’t afford to go two-and-out in Hoover because a .500 record will disqualify them from NCAA consideration.

Even if Auburn claims a win at Hoover and meets the plus-.500 criterion, a tournament berth is not nearly as sure a thing heading into the postseason as it was earlier in the year.

The Tigers used to be able to claim a consistent top-25 spot in the RPI, but, according to the latest RPI projections from BoydsWorld.com, they now sit 36th.

That places them ninth in the SEC, ahead of only Ole Miss (40th), Kentucky (110th) and Tennessee (118th).

Auburn, which was a firmly planted No. 2 seed in regional projections throughout the year, now sits at a precarious No. 3 in the Chapel Hill regional in SEBaseball.com’s latest calculations.

A bubble team. That is, if the Tigers win a game in Hoover and are even up for consideration.

“I don’t know exactly what that final number is,” Tigers head coach John Pawlowski said of the team’s NCAA future. “I’m not really sure anybody knows. There are so many variables that are out there. There are so many games yet to be played in tournament play.

“I don’t know to tell them one win gets us in, two wins gets us in. I don’t have that answer.”

Perhaps one of the biggest things working in Auburn’s favor is one of its conference companions on the bubble is facing even longer odds entering the SEC Tournament.

Georgia, despite boasting a winning conference record, the No. 5 seed in the tournament and an RPI in the low 20s, is only 28-28 overall heading into Hoover.

That means the Bulldogs have to win at least three games and get to the semifinal round of the tournament to meet the minimum win-loss record requirement.

If Auburn drops its opening game to South Carolina on Wednesday and Georgia does the same to Vanderbilt, it sets up a desperation showdown between the two teams Thursday.

The winner keeps its NCAA hopes alive. The loser can’t possibly make it.

“We like to make things interesting. We like to let things come down to the wire a lot,” McElroy said. “That’s been the story of our whole season. Nothing has come easy for us.”

Auburn’s season has been on the brink before.

After suffering sweeps against Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, the Tigers were 2-7 and last in the West before winning three straight series and forcefully inserting themselves back in the race.

After a sweep to South Carolina, two more series wins boosted the Tigers to the top of the West again.

Then, the Tennessee series.

And now they’re in a bit of a predicament.

“All year, it’s kind of been an up-and-down season,” junior pitcher Jon Luke Jacobs said. “We’ve done a good job with taking some losses in stride and bouncing back and playing well.

“The stakes are heightened. We’ve got to win some games, and it’ll be in a big atmosphere. So we’ve got to come ready to play.”