The College World Series was jam-packed with SEC teams this year. Four squads — Auburn, Arkansas, Ole Miss and Texas A&M — were among the 8 to make it to Omaha.

But, only 1 team can win it all, and on Tuesday night, Auburn became the first SEC squad eliminated from the bracket, falling to Arkansas 11-1 in a Bracket 2 elimination game.

After the loss, coach Butch Thompson praised his team, but added that the Tigers ran into some tough pitching in important games (via 247Sports):

“My first thought is just an exceptional group of people that make up Auburn, especially this baseball team,” Thompson said. “I didn’t want this ride to end. I enjoyed getting up every morning and being fortunate enough to be with this group. I think the two losses we had, we scored one run in each game. That was going to be a challenge. Down the stretch, we had to tip our hat to too many starting pitchers.”

As for what’s next for the Auburn program, Thompson said he and his coaches will continue to work to make the Tigers the best they can be every single day:

“We just kind of work hard every day and try to make the right decisions every day. And we wake up and that’s the one thing you can do to make it stronger and better, such competitive space. I’m not sure I’m the judge of that. I’m part of it. So your head’s down. It has to be observed from somewhere else. These are always hard. I can just imagine in ’19 or in every season it’s like you need a minute. The first thing I had to do was meet with every coach and every player and then figure out where I’ve got to be in two days. And this was year 30. So Robert and I sit down, the future and coaching and what do you want to do.

“But I absolutely know you can look at pen to paper from the time we’ve been here to this second and see some growth and stair steps and continuing to be able to do that with our program. But I also think there’s some people out doing some amazing things that have left the program the last few years. So I’m thankful for it. But I’m part of it. I absolutely think we are on the cusp of doing amazing things consistently. And that will be the driving force to try to leave this program in a better place.”

This year’s team won’t soon be forgotten on The Plains. We’ll see if next year’s squad can continue that momentum and make another run at Omaha.