AUBURN – The Jacksonville State baseball team dropped a 10-1 decision to Auburn on Wednesday afternoon at Plainsman Park on the Auburn campus.

The midweek contest, originally scheduled for February 21, but due to rain the in-state duel was moved to Wednesday.  With the loss, the Gamecocks (8-8) split the midweek set with a win over Samford the setback to Auburn (14-5).  Jax State (8-8) returns to action this weekend, hosting the Panthers of Eastern Illinois in the first Ohio Valley Conference home series.  The three-game series will get underway on Friday, March 17 at 6 p.m. at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Alabama.  The series will continue on Saturday and Sunday matinees beginning at 1 p.m.

JSU, looking to make it two in a row against a team from the Southeastern Conference after a 2-1 extra-inning win at Alabama, took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning, but the Tigers combined for nine runs over three innings to break open the contest.

Junior Trent Simpson started the second inning with a double down the left field line and after moving up a bag on a wild pitch, Simpson scored on freshman Chase Robinson's ground ball RBI.

JSU senior right hander Michael McCreless made his second career start against the Tigers and breezed through the first six batters.  The Huntsville, Alabama native would last three-plus innings and match his career high in strikeouts with four.  AU's Will Holland was the first Tiger to record one of three hits off of McCreless with a leadoff triple to begin the third.  Daniel Robert's solo home run just inside the right field foul pole gave AU a 2-1 lead and the momentum in to the next inning.  The Tigers sent 13 batters to the plate and string together six hits and took advantage of three walks in the frame to break open the contest at 9-1.  AU's Conor Davis drove in a pair of runs on a single and Damon Heckler plated two runs on a single to highlight the lengthy inning.

JSU touched AU starter Christian Camacho for four hits in the first five innings, but the Tiger bullpen held the Gamecocks to three hits over the final four innings. 

Freshman Andrew Naismith, playing in his hometown of Auburn was a highlight of the Gamecock offense with a pair of hits in his return to his stomping grounds.  Naismith reached on a fielder's choice in his first plate appearance and had base hits in the JSU fifth and seventh.  Junior catcher Hayden White joined Naismith with a multiple hit game with two hits.  Taylor Hawthorne and Josh Bobo also collected hits in the setback.