Coming off their best regular season in Northeastern baseball history, the Huskies on Friday play in their first NCAA baseball tournament matchup since 2003.

The Huskies, which finished the regular season at 33-17 under head coach Mike Glavine, gathered together on campus Monday to watch the NCAA selection show to find out if they’d receive an at-large bid. When the team got the good news, the room erupted in cheers and celebration.

“The day we found out was really, really exciting,” said Northeastern pitcher Brian Christian.

“We knew going into selection day that we had a fair shot, but seeing it there on the screen and getting to celebrate together was a special moment for us,” Christian said. The team watched selection night together on campus earlier this month.

Northeastern and three other teams—Auburn, North Carolina, and Army West Point—will compete in a double-elimination regional tournament that starts Friday for a chance to play in the College World Series.

On Friday, the Huskies take on the Auburn Tigers in the first round of their regional, held in Raleigh, North Carolina. All Raleigh Regional games will be streamed live on ESPN3 and will be available on mobile via the WatchESPN app.

“This is an exciting opportunity to come down and show people across the country what a team from the Northeast can do,” Christian said. Traditional collegiate baseball powers come from states where warmer weather means earlier playing seasons.

Northeastern is already familiar with Auburn, having met the Tigers in a three-game series in March. While the Huskies lost the series, they handed the Tigers their first loss of the season.

“We were so consistent throughout the season, just showing up each game and playing loose, playing confident, playing relaxed,” Christian said. “You just knew from the start of the season that this one was going to be special, and now we’re just going to put together our best nine innings at a time, and hopefully show up some teams that underestimated us.”