CORVALLIS, Ore. – When Blake Burkhalter struck out a UCLA batter for the final out of Auburn's NCAA regional sweep, assistant coach Gabe Gross glanced at shortstop Brody Moore and flashed back 23 years.
Like Moore, Gross grew up loving Auburn, the son of an Auburn student-athlete.
"Watching those guys after it was over, how happy they were, it was a little bit of the same thing, taking myself back there," said Gross, an Auburn freshman in 1999, the last time the Tigers won a regional at Plainsman Park. "Watching the fans respond the way they did and the atmosphere they created, it was all very similar."
In 1999, Auburn hosted a regional for the first time, the culmination of more than a decade of determination from head coach Hal Baird to upgrade facilities so the Tigers would be considered worthy of hosting.
"There was so much anticipation that year," Gross recalled. "Doing it at Auburn was something we all wanted to do. That was on everybody's mind throughout the big picture of the year. When it happened, it was special. That team wanted to make that happen."
Making it happen would not come easily. Interestingly, even though Auburn hosted, the Tigers were the No. 2 seed. Tulane, with a power-hitting lineup, came to the Plains as the No. 1 seed but lost to fourth-seeded Winthrop in the opening round.
Auburn beat North Carolina State and Winthrop to remain in the winner's bracket before losing to Tulane, setting up a winner-take-all championship rematch vs. the Green Wave.
"We ran them out of pitching and hammered them a little bit that last game," Gross said. "It was a release, a lot of joy and happiness. We wanted to host that regional and once we did, we had to win it.
"Coach Baird fought so hard for that stadium because he wanted to host regionals. You couldn't get one and then lose it. That was the whole point: how much easier they were to win when you were hosting and so when we hosted one, we had to win it."'Very similar': Auburn celebrates its first home regional championship since 1999
Nearly a quarter century later, members of the 1999 Tigers tuned in to watch their alma mater outscore regional opponents 51-18.
"For us to be able to do that and for those kids to be able to experience that, that's something they won't forget," said former Auburn pitcher Colter Bean, who followed the regional while on a family vacation in New England. "To be able to do it in the home park too, and to beat Florida State. We got to go there like fifty years in a row so I'm glad they came to Auburn."
"I think I watched almost all the games," said Mailon Kent, a sophomore outfielder in 1999. "It's nice to able to watch them on ESPN now. We didn't get that back in the day. It's nice that you can watch them anywhere. They sure did score a lot of runs this regional. It's always great to click at the end of the season."
Former Auburn catcher Casey Dunn, an All-American in 1999, paid extra attention. Dunn, now the head coach at UAB, recruited and coached Auburn's Sonny DiChiara, Brooks Carlson and Chase Isbell at Samford.
"Those three guys are special to me," Dunn said. "I watched more Auburn baseball this year than any year since I played there. If we weren't playing, chances are I was watching.
"They were a part of something special we built there. You can see how much Sonny enjoys baseball and just loves to play. Brooks is not scared of the big environment. Those guys are used to being targeted and the guy people go after."
Gross sees similarities between the 1999 and 2022 Auburn teams, especially senior leadership. Dunn and his fellow upperclassmen showed younger players like Gross, a freshman in '99, how to play the Auburn way.
"We had great leadership in Casey Dunn behind the plate for us," Kent said. "It was obviously exciting to win it and move on to a super regional. We had some good older guys who really led us."
"We had a lot of seniors who had been a part of Omaha early and were in leadership roles early on," remembered Dunn, a sophomore on Auburn's 1997 College World Series team. "A really cohesive group of guys. We had some really strong relationships in that locker room, bonds that you remember.
"It's the people that made that experience, the people I played with and for. That's the connection I took away."
"We had really good chemistry in the clubhouse," said Bean, who made it to the big leagues with the New York Yankees in 2005-07. "We had a lot of good relationships among each other. We all got along, we had fun. Coach Baird made it easy to do that. He ran the team like a major league manager would. He gave us flexibility to go and play."
Ranked as high as No. 2, the 1999 Tigers stumbled in a series in Baton Rouge, getting swept by LSU. When Auburn dropped the opener the following weekend vs. Kentucky, the team leaders called a meeting.
"We're not letting this season nosedive on us," Gross recalled the seniors saying. "We're not going to let it happen."
Auburn responded, winning the Kentucky series and sweeping Georgia the following week to take a five-game win streak to the postseason. Auburn's 18 SEC victories convinced the NCAA Tournament selection committee that Auburn deserved to host a regional.
"It was very much in doubt with three weeks left, and those older guys weren't going to let it happen," said Gross, who applied the lessons he learned that season throughout his Auburn career and into professional baseball.
"I learned from (Auburn coaches) Steve Renfroe, Tommy Slater and Hal Baird, but I learned a ton from the older guys on that team about the standard of Auburn baseball, how we were going to play, how we were going to conduct ourselves," Gross said. "That was special to me, and that's what I'll always remember about '99."'Something they won't forget': Regional MVP Brody Moore leads Auburn on a gratitude lap at Plainsman Park
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
