AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn fell behind in the middle innings, but this time failed to mount a comeback as the Tigers fell to Jacksonville State, 5-2, Tuesday night at Plainsman Park.
"We were really spread out and disconnected tonight on a great evening at Plainsman Park," head coach Butch Thompson said.
The game was played in front of a capacity crowd of 4,096, marking the second sellout of the season and the first sellout in a midweek game in program history.
"We had a great crowd tonight," Thompson added. "For some reason, there wasn't much 'get after it' in front of our home fans."
The Gamecocks (12-11) quickly put a run on the board with back-to-back doubles in the first inning but were unable to score again until the fifth inning.
The Tigers (17-7) began their scoring in the third when Kason Howell hit a one-out double and tied the game, 1-1, on a RBI single from Cam Hill.
In the fifth, Jacksonville State scored two more runs off a wild pitch and a double, taking the lead 3-1.
After a leadoff walk, the Tigers had two hard-hit balls in the bottom of the fifth, but diving defensive plays in the outfield hindered their scoring.
"Their center fielder ran down a couple balls that were hit hard," Thompson said. "When we hit it hard, it just found a glove tonight."
The Gamecocks threatened to continue their scoring in the sixth, but Rambusch and Moore ended the inning with defensive plays for the second and third outs.
In the bottom of the seventh, Rambusch reached first on a fielder's choice. Howell followed with a RBI double to cut the deficit to one, but Hill lined out to the shortstop to end the inning, leaving two Tigers stranded on bases.
Jacksonville State continued its scoring in the eighth inning after a walk and an infield error placed a runner in scoring position. The Gamecocks eventually scored two in the inning, extending their lead to 5-2.
"We made it 3-2 and hit a batter and had our one error of the game," Thompson said. "That cost us there."
DiChiara and Howell each collected multiple hits and combined for three doubles, pushing both of their season totals to 10. Blake Rambusch extended his hit streak to 15 games with a leadoff single in the ninth.
Sophomore Joseph Gonzalez entered in relief in the eighth inning, making his first appearance since Mar. 13, and retired all five batters he faced in just 13 pitches, 10 of which were strikes.
"He'll be ready to go now," Thompson said. "Maybe we could have gotten him in at a different time of the ballgame, but that looked like Joseph out there again. That was good."
Auburn will be on the road this weekend for a Thursday-Saturday series at No. 12 LSU (17-7, 3-3 SEC). Thursday's first pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network.