Junior pitcher Jake Peppers established a new career mark for innings pitched and sophomore Brennen Norton tallied three hits, but a four-run seventh inning lifted 11th-ranked Auburn to a 6-3 win over Jacksonville State in from of the second-largest crowd at Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium on Wednesday night.
The announced crowd of 1,988 saw pitchers duel between Jax State’s Peppers and AU’s Konnor Copeland. The two pitchers matched each other with no runs given up. Peppers went 5.1 innings, which is a new career mark for the Geraldine, Alabama right hander. His previous mark was 4.0 innings last weekend against Bradley. Peppers scattered four Tiger hits and collected five strikeouts. Copeland, from the left side, went 5.0 innings and allowed a pair of Gamecock hits in the outing.
Norton’s night was a bight spot for a Jax State lineup that was limited to seven hits in the setback. The Cullman, Alabama third baseman was back in the lineup with his first contest with multiple hits. Norton had one of the JSU hits off Copeland with a single to start the third inning. He added a one-out single in the seventh and capped the night off with an RBI double in the Gamecocks’ comeback attempt.
The Gamecocks broke the scoreless deadlock in the sixth inning with the assistance of an AU miscue to start the frame. Junior Javon Hernandez reached on a throwing error to start the inning and moved to second base on a wild pitch. Junior Mason Maners picked a perfect time to extend his on-base streak to 24 straight games and his current hitting streak to 11 consecutive games with a double down the right field line. Jax State had a chance for more runs after senior T.J. Reeves reached base on the first of two walks in the contest for the Gamecock centerfielder, but AU’s Chase Isbell fanned the final two outs to squash the big inning. Reeves was held without a hit for just the third time this season. With his two walks, he has reached base in all 13 games. Isbell went one inning to record the win before Will Cannon was able to fend off a Jax State rally in the ninth inning.
The Tigers answered Jax State’s scoring frame with four runs with two outs in the seventh inning. After an RBI single from Cole Foster to equalize, Justin Kirby and Ike Irish registered back-to-back doubles for the big inning. AU did more damage with two outs in the ninth inning with a two-run single to pad the lead before Jax State made it interesting in the last at bat with Norton’s RBI double and Will Fincher’s two-out double. Freshman Bear Madliak added a pinch hit double in the ninth inning for JSU.
Fincher joined Norton with multiple hits in the game. The designated hitter from Powder Springs, Georgia had a great two games during the midweek with five hits combined against Alabama State and AU.
The Gamecocks will host South Alabama in the final non-conference weekend series before ASUN action begins next weekend. The series begins on Friday, March 10 at 6 p.m. and will continue on Saturday with another evening start time (6 p.m.) before wrapping up the three-game set on Sunday at 1 p.m. Tickets for the series are available online at JSUGamecockSports.com. All Jax State students and fans 18 years old and younger are admitted free to all Gamecock home baseball games. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+ and carried on the Gamecock Sports Network.
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