It was a quiet showing at the plate, full of missed opportunities for No. 4 Auburn against No. 24 Jacksonville State on Tuesday night at Rudy Abbot Field, as the Tigers suffered their second loss of the season to the Gamecocks, 4-1.
Chris Rembert tallied Auburn’s first two hits of the night through four frames, and only four came afterward. Auburn’s pitching staff combined to hold JSU to as many hits, but issued three four-pitch walks, two of which led off both innings in which the Gamecocks scored.
Rembert’s two-hit night marked his third consecutive multi-hit outing. Bub Terrell, Ethin Bingaman, Brandon McCraine and Eddie Madrigal each tallied a hit apiece, with McCraine driving in the Tigers’ lone run.
The Tigers left seven men stranded and posted a 1-of-7 mark at the plate with runners in scoring position.
After leading off the seventh with three consecutive singles, Auburn scored just one run off the bat of McCraine, who sent it back to the pitcher. He stole second to give Auburn a pair in scoring position, but a pair of strikeouts and a groundout ended the Tigers’ golden opportunity to cut into JSU’s lead.
Again in the eighth, Auburn put runners on the corners with one out, but grounded into an inning-ending double play, leaving one runner stranded.
In its last chance to avoid the season sweep against the Gamecocks, Auburn went down in order for the fourth time in the game.
After JSU starter Ryan Geraghty retired the side to start the game, Griffin Graves – in his fourth start of the season for the Tigers – issued a four-pitch walk to Jaxon Pate to lead off the Gamecocks’ half of the first. The miscue proved costly after consecutive two-out singles allowed Pate to score from second.
Auburn threatened in the second with two runners in scoring position with as many outs, but an inning-ending strikeout left them stranded.
Rembert led off the Tigers’ half of the fourth with a one-out single to left, but was left stranded once again after a flyout and a groundout into the shift off the bat of Eddie Madrigal ended the inning.
JSU sent eight to the plate and extended its lead to 4-0 after Auburn pitchers combined for two hit batters and as many walks in the fourth. After retiring seven in a row, Graves issued his second four-pitch lead-off walk, with a single and a hit batter giving the Gamecocks a runner on every base. JSU plated a run on a sacrifice fly and followed with an RBI safety squeeze.
Graves gave way to Abe Chancellor, but he hit the first batter he faced before issuing a walk that led to a 4-0 JSU lead.
Auburn responded with a 1-2-3 inning at the plate in the fifth and connected on one hit in the sixth before scoring its only run in the seventh on the aforementioned RBI infield single from McCraine.
Graves suffered his first loss of the season in 3.1 innings of work with three strikeouts and four runs given up on three hits. Chancellor, Marcel Kulik and Garrett Brewer combined to hold the Gamecocks scoreless in 4.2 innings.
After eight straight games on the road, Auburn will return to Plainsman Park this weekend to wrap up its regular season with a three-game series against Georgia, beginning on Thursday at 7 p.m. on SECN+.
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