Auburn is headed to Raleigh.

After being snubbed for a top-16 seed and the right to host an NCAA Regional, Auburn was given the No. 2 seed in the Raleigh Regional for the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament, the NCAA selection committee announced Monday during its annual selection show.

"No talk; get to work," Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. "Get on a field, prepare and go play. It's nice to see a field revealed. No clue what's going to take place or where we were going to go, but now that's been revealed and it's time to probably get to work and prepare for this weekend."

Auburn (39-21), joins third-seeded Northeastern (36-19) and fourth-seeded Army (36-22) as the teams in the Raleigh Regional, where North Carolina State (40-16) is the No. 16 overall national seed. That means Auburn likely finished the year as the No. 17 overall team in the field of 64 in the eyes of the selection committee, making the Tigers the top No. 2 seed in the tournament.

NC State earned the final host site over Auburn. The Wolfpack finished the year with a the No. 20 RPI, No. 32 strength of schedule and a 9-8 record against RPI top-50 teams. By comparison, Auburn had the No. 14 RPI, No. 8 strength of schedule and a 19-19 record against RPI top-50 programs this season.

This year's regional marks a new postseason destination for Auburn, which will be making its first trip to Raleigh for an NCAA Regional. The Tigers have appeared in the postseason 20 times entering this year, with eight of those trips to Florida State's campus in Tallahassee, Fla.

Auburn will open up against third-seeded Northeastern, a team that ace Casey Mize no-hit back in March and that the Tigers took two of three from at Plainsman Park, with the one loss being Auburn's first of the season after starting the year 15-0. The game is set for 1 p.m. CT Friday.

Thompson has yet to announce a pitching rotation for the Regional but did not rule out Mize getting the nod on Friday against the Huskies again.

"We're not trying to go be second, and to be unconventional as long as there's calculated risk, whether it's Casey Mize, whether it's a catcher, whether it's a DH, it doesn't matter," Thompson said. "I think that's a little soul search. We're not going to play it safe to get less Twitter feedback or email feedback. We're going to try to win a Regional. If that means Casey Mize throwing Game 3 or throwing Game 1 or 2, those are things we have to set down. I think that might be one of 10 things that we need to analyze.

"I'm more interested in us taking calculated risks because I'm increasingly getting more interested in us finishing a tournament, to be standing on top."

Auburn's regional is paired up with the Gainesville Regional, where Florida is the top overall seed in the tournament. The other teams in Florida's regional include fourth-seeded Columbia, second-seeded Jacksonville and third-seeded Florida Atlantic.

In all, 10 teams from the SEC earned postseason bids, tying the conference record set back in 2014. Kentucky, which Auburn eliminated from the SEC Tournament last week, was one of the first four teams out of the field.

This postseason berth marks the first time since 2002-03 that Auburn has made a regional in back-to-back seasons.

"Back-to-back Regionals is definitely a step forward," Mize said. "It was expected, so it wasn't like an outrageous (reaction), extremely happy. It's good. I'm glad to be going somewhere different and I think we've got a chance to win a Regional so I like where we're at.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.