Southern Miss will start its NCAA Tournament run on the Plains.

The Golden Eagles will head to the Auburn Regional for the opening weekend of the tournament, and will play Samford in their first game on Friday.

Host Auburn (34-21-1), the No. 13 national seed, will face Ivy League champion Penn (32-14) in the other first-round game of the double-elimination regional on Friday. Southern Miss and Samford will play at 1 p.m., and Auburn vs. Penn follows at 6 p.m. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.

Southern Miss (41-17) received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. It has won 19 of its last 21 games entering the regional.

Samford (36-23) won the Southern Conference tournament championship by winning three consecutive elimination games on Saturday. The marathon day was caused by rain in the Carolinas that was forecast for Sunday.

Samford also won the SoCon regular-season title.

Auburn was one of eight Southeastern Conference teams — along with Florida, Arkansas, LSU, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, South Carolina and Alabama — selected as top-16 national seeds and regional host sites.

Florida (No. 2), Arkansas (3), LSU (5) and Vanderbilt (6) are top-8 national seeds and will also host super regional series if they make it through the regional round.

The other top-8 seeds are Wake Forest (No. 1), Clemson (4), Virginia (7) and Stanford (8).

LSU will host a regional for the 27th time, and first time since 2019. It will play in-state rival Tulane, a surprise entrant in the 64-team bracket, in its opening game Friday at 2 p.m. on ESPNU.

Tulane finished with a 19-40 record and has the most losses of any team ever to reach the NCAA Tournament. It received the automatic bid from the American Athletic Conference by winning the league tournament.

LSU (43-15) was ranked No. 1 in the country for much of the regular season, but is limping into the tournament a bit. It lost two of its last three SEC series and two of its three games in the conference tournament. It is just 6-8 over its last 14 games.

LSU beat Tulane 11-5 in a midweek game in April. This will be their first postseason meeting since the 2003 regional in Baton Rouge.

Sam Houston State (38-23) and Oregon State (39-18) will play in the other first-round game Friday at 7 p.m. in Baton Rouge.

Former Warren Central star Shane Lewis will also get a chance to continue his record-breaking season, after his Troy Trojans received the final at-large bid to the tournament.

Troy (39-20) will play Boston College (35-18) Friday at 2 p.m. in the Tuscaloosa Regional. Host Alabama (40-19) will play Southland Conference champion Nicholls State (34-22) — whose roster includes former St. Aloysius star Haden Luke — in the other opening-day game at 6 p.m.

Lewis set Troy’s single-season home run record with 27 and is tied for third among all Division I players. He also has 76 RBIs and was named the Sun Belt Conference’s Player of the Year.

Auburn Regional
Friday, June 2
Game 1 – Southern Miss (41-17) vs. Samford (36-23), 1 p.m. (ESPN+)
Game 2 – Auburn (34-21-2) vs. Penn (32-14), 6 p.m. (ESPN+)
Saturday, June 3
Game 3 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 2 p.m.
Game 4 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 8 p.m.
Sunday, June 4
Game 5 – Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 2 p.m.
Game 6 – Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 8 p.m.
Monday, June 5
Game 7 (If necessary) – Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, TBD

Baton Rouge Regional
Friday, June 2
Game 1 – Tulane (19-40) vs. LSU (43-15), 2 p.m. (ESPNU)
Game 2 – Oregon St. (39-18) vs. Sam Houston (38-23), 7 p.m. (ESPN+)
Saturday, June 3
Game 3 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 2 p.m.
Game 4 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 8 p.m.
Sunday, June 4
Game 5 – Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 2 p.m.
Game 6 – Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 8 p.m.
Monday, June 5
Game 7 – Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, TBA (if necessary)