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Jacksonville State 6, Auburn 1: Bad loss dents Tigers' NCAA hopes

Auburn gave up six early runs to the Gamecocks in a surprising loss on the heels of two big series wins.

Daniel Koger didn't have it against Jacksonville State.
Daniel Koger didn't have it against Jacksonville State.
Todd Van Emst photo

Trying to close the regular season strong and make a push for the NCAA Tournament, Auburn fell flat Tuesday night in a 6-1 loss to Jacksonville State at Plainsman Park.

After Rocky McCord went two perfect innings in his first career start, Daniel Koger gave up five runs on three hits and three walks in an inning-plus. The Tigers' offense didn't muster anything until a solitary run in the eighth.

Perhaps buoyed by his alma mater's appearance over the weekend in the Alabama state baseball finals, Pelham alum Michael Bishop launched a two-out, two-run homer in the third off Koger for the game's first runs. After a walk, Koger got a pickoff to end the inning, but more trouble was brewing for the Tigers in the fourth. After two walks to open his second frame, Koger gave up an RBI double to Paschal Petrongolo and got the hook, responsible for the two runners still on, both of whom scored on Andrew Bishop's two-run double. An RBI groundout scored Bishop before the inning was over, and the Gamecocks led 6-0.

Auburn (31-21, 11-16 SEC) managed to equal JSU in hits with five, but the Tigers couldn't put together any rallies. The bases were left loaded in the sixth when SEC freshman of the week Jordan Ebert struck out swinging against reliever Ben Haynes. They loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, but an Ebert sac fly was all that could be mustered, as Ryan Tella struck out to end the inning.

JSU starter Ben Polk gave up just two hits to his 23 batters faced in 5 2/3 innings and picked up the win. Auburn will host No. 11 Arkansas this weekend in the final regular-season series before next week's SEC Tournament.

Box score, via auburntigers.com

Jacksonville State 6 (30-23)

Player ab r h rbi bb so po a lob avg
Michael Bishop cf 4 1 1 2 0 0 6 0 0 .352
Adam Miller 1b 2 0 0 0 2 1 8 0 0 .279
Griff Gordon rf 3 1 1 0 1 0 3 0 0 .343
Coty Blanchard 2b 3 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 1 .309
Paschal Petrongolo dh 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 .264
Andrew Bishop ss 4 1 1 2 0 1 0 3 0 .184
Chase Silvani lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 .263
Gavin Golsan 3b 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 .223
Cal Lambert c 3 1 1 0 0 1 6 0 0 .173
Adam Polk p 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 -
Ben Haynes p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Michael Barber p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Cody Ponder p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Travis Stout p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Totals 30 6 5 6 4 5 27 6 1

Auburn 1 (31-21)

Player ab r h rbi bb so po a lob avg
Hunter Kelley rf 5 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 .224
Cullen Wacker lf 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 .324
Garrett Cooper 1b 2 0 0 0 1 1 12 1 2 .360
Patrick Savage dh 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .287
Dan Glevenyak ss 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 5 1 .227
Jordan Ebert 2b 3 0 0 1 0 1 1 2 3 .297
Ryan Tella cf 4 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 2 .271
Damek Tomscha 3b 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 0 .276
Sam Gillikin pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .159
Blake Austin c 4 0 1 0 0 1 6 0 1 .290
Rocky McCord p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Daniel Koger p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 -
Trey Cochran-Gill p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Trey Wingenter p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Totals 32 1 5 1 2 6 27 13 11

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Jacksonville State.. 002 400 000 -  6  5  2
Auburn.............. 000 000 010 -  1  5  0
-------------------------------------------
E - GOLSAN,Gavi(4); LAMBERT,Cal(3). DP - Auburn 1. LOB - JSU 1; Auburn 11. 2B - PETRONGOLO,P(5); BISHOP,Andre(8); Savage, P.(7); Tomscha, D.(12). HR - BISHOP,Micha(4). HBP - Cooper, G. 2; Glevenyak, D. SF - Ebert, J.(3). Reached on CI - Wacker, C..

Jacksonville State ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go np era
Adam Polk W,4-6 5.2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 19 23 9 6 97 5.07
Ben Haynes 1.1 2 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 6 6 1 1 34 4.15
Michael Barber 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 3 0 1 9 6.43
Cody Ponder 1.1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 5 6 3 0 16 3.41
Travis Stout 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 4 1.52
Auburn ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb ab bf fo go np era
Rocky McCord 2.0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 6 6 2 1 28 3.96
Daniel Koger L,0-3 1.0 3 5 5 3 0 0 0 0 0 5 8 1 1 42 5.01
Trey Cochran-Gill 4.0 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 14 14 2 9 49 2.55
Trey Wingenter 2.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 5 6 3 1 25 3.68

Win - POLK,Adam (4-6). Loss - Koger, D. (0-3). Save - None. HBP - by POLK,Adam (Cooper, G.); by BARBER,Micha (Cooper, G.); by BARBER,Micha (Glevenyak, D). CI - LAMBERT,Cal. Inherited runners/scored: HAYNES,Ben 3/0; BARBER,Micha 1/0; PONDER,Cody 3/1; STOUT,Travis 2/0; Cochran-Gill 2/2. Pitches/strikes: POLK,Adam 97/61; HAYNES,Ben 34/24; BARBER,Micha 9/6; PONDER,Cody 16/14; STOUT,Travis 4/3; McCord, R. 28/17; Koger, D. 42/23; Cochran-Gill 49/31; Wingenter, T 25/15.

Umpires - HP: Vic Correll 1B: Danny Everett 3B: Randy Watkins
Start: 6:00 Time: 2:41 Attendance: 2406
Weather: Sunny; 78; WSW 5 MPH
Koger, D. faced 3 batters in the 4th.
HAYNES,Ben faced 1 batter in the 8th.