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Auburn vs. UCF weather delay: Auburn Regional delayed Sunday

Byington mugby: Alex Byington05/31/26_AlexByington

The start of Sunday’s Auburn Regional elimination game between host Auburn and UCF has been delayed due to stormy weather in the area, the team announced Sunday afternoon. Scattered thunderstorms are approaching from the north, pushing back the 3 pm ET start time.

Thunderstorms are expected to continue through 5 pm ET, with 70-percent chance of rain expected around 4 pm ET, according to Weather.com. The Plainsman Park grounds crew rolled out the tarp shortly after 3:30 pm ET, according to Auburn Sports’ Bryan Matthews, indicating a potentially lengthy delay.

*** UPDATE: Auburn play-by-play announcer Andy Burcham reported a tentative resumed start to Sunday’s elimination game vs. UCF for 6:06 pm ET, pending any further lightning strikes. ***

The host Tigers face their second elimination game in as many days after fourth-seeded Milwaukee upset No. 4 Auburn, 13-8, on Friday night at Plainsman Park. The Tigers’ bats exploded for 18 hits in a 17-13 victory over NC State on Saturday to send the Wolfpack packing.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee punched its ticket to Sunday night’s double-elimination championship game after dispatching second-seeded UCF 13-6 on Saturday. The Knights and Tigers now face off in a do-or-die elimination game for a chance to try for another chance at the upstart Panthers.

The Auburn Regional championship game is currently still on track for an 8 pm ET first pitch, though any lengthy delay to the start of the Auburn-UCF game could push that back.

NC State’s season, Elliott Avent’s career, comes to end on pitch clock violation vs. Auburn

As one of the at-large last teams into the 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament field, NC State saw its season come to an end on Saturday. It comes after just two Regional games.

The Wolfpack fell to No. 4 national seed Auburn 17-13 in a high-scoring affair, ending both their season and the legendary career of head coach Elliott Avent. The game ended on a bit of a wonky note, however.

With NC State‘s Christian Serrano facing a 3-2 count, Serrano was called for a pitch clock violation. That meant an automatic strike three, ending the season on a pitch that wasn’t even thrown. Avent was invisibly upset with the umpires in the immediate aftermath, but soon cooled his temper and congratulated Auburn head coach Butch Thompson on the win.

Prior to last week’s Selection Show, NC State announced that Avent would be retiring at the conclusion of the season. Avent, who turned 70-years-old on May 1, is the winningest head coach in program history. He had served at the helm since 1997, and led the Wolfpack to a 1,101-658 record in that span.

— On3’s Daniel Hager contributed to this report.