MADISON- College baseball will return to Toyota Field.

The home of the Rocket City Trash Pandas will give way to college baseball as the Southeastern Conference returns next spring as the Auburn Tigers will play host to the North Alabama Lions on Tuesday, Feb. 21. The Tigers defeated Tennessee Tech 4-3 in the first SEC game played at Toyota Field earlier this year.

“We’re looking forward to playing at Toyota Field again this season, said Butch Thompson head coach of Auburn. “The Trash Pandas were a great host and the Auburn fans in the Huntsville area were engaged in the game from start to finish. We have no doubt it’ll be more of the same, come February.”

Auburn enters the 2023 season after an incredible run to the College World Series in 2022 finishing the season with an overall record of 43-22 including 16-13 in SEC play. Under the direction of Thompson, the Tigers have reached the College World Series two of the last three years.

North Alabama is now a D-1 program playing in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Jad Prachniak will be in his first season as head coach of the Lions’ program after longtime baseball coach Mike Keehn retired in May. Keehn spent 34 years with the UNA program, last 14 as head coach, but decided to hang up his coaching cleats.

Last season, the Lions were 12-41 overall and 5-15 in conference play. One statistic of note from the 2022 season is the fact the Lions were 1-28 in away games.

First pitch for the Feb. 21 game is set for 6:00 p.m. with gates at Toyota Field opening at 4:30 p.m. Full ticket information will be released soon. Trash Pandas season ticket holders will have the first priority to purchase their own seats for the game. Auburn season ticket holders will then have an opportunity to purchase tickets before the general public. Fans interested in a general public pre-sale opportunity can fill out a form to receive early access to purchase tickets at www.trashpandasbaseball.com/Auburn.

Parking is available through Clutch! For $6.75 in advance. Parking increases to $10 on the day of the game and is available upon entry to the Toyota Field parking lot.

All concessions at Toyota Field will be open for the game and alcohol beverages will be available as well. Toyota Field is a cashless venue and a clear-bag policy will be in effect. Full game information will be available at the listed website.

During the contest between the Tigers and Lions, exciting contests and promotions between innings will occur similar to what are held during Trash Pandas’ games.

In the event of inclement weather on Feb. 21, the game will be postponed to the next evening, Feb. 22.