Jacksonville State will open its 62nd season of baseball on Tuesday by traveling to face the Auburn Tigers, in a rematch of the 2010 NCAA Regional opening game for both teams.

The Gamecocks will send junior RHP Daniel Watts to the mound, while Auburn (2-1) will pitch RHP Will Irvin.

Despite not having a preseason All-OVC selection, the coaches still believed Jacksonville State is one of the top teams in the Ohio Valley Conference and was picked to win the league again in 2011. It marks the fourth time the Gamecocks have been picked to win the title and the third in the last four years.

After finishing 1.5 games out of first place in the regular season in 2010, JSU swept through the OVC Tournament, including besting regular season champion Tennessee Tech twice on its way to its third OVC Championship (2004, 2006, 2010) since joining the league in 2004.

The Gamecocks did lose five positional starters from that team (three who were All-OVC selections), including second baseman Bert Smith, who finished his career as the all-time hits and games played leader in OVC history, and second round Major League draft pick Todd Cunningham. Jax State had four players drafted in 2010 and five players that signed with major league teams last year.

This season head coach Jim Case, who enters his 10th season with the team, will look to returning players Kyle Bluestein (.290, 12 home runs), Sam Eberle (.277, 16 home runs, 60 RBI) and Blake Seguin (.318, 11 stolen bases) to take on bigger roles this season.

The team also has a very talented group of freshman and junior college signees that should make an immediate impact, including freshman Coty Blanchard and junior Ben Waldrip, who were both drafted in the first-year Major League Baseball Draft last summer.

The game will be carried live on the Gamecock Sports Network with Mike Parris at 2:45 p.m., and will be streamed live at JSUGamecockSports.com.