Auburn fell 3-1 to Southern Mississippi Sunday in the final game at the Cox Invitational in Pensacola, Florida. Auburn (6-6) lost to Troy on Friday and Michigan State on Saturday.
Despite the loss, junior right-handed pitcher Cole Lipscomb had a strong outing. Lipscomb (1-1) allowed just two hits and two earned runs in his 6.2 innings pitched. He struck out a season-high eight batters.
"It was good to see Cole perform today," said Auburn coach Butch Thompson. "He stayed in there a little longer than maybe we wanted, but he really wanted the baseball. They only had two hits for the entire game and that is something to build off of."
Thompson said the team's pitching "really showed us something this weekend."
Senior Jordan Ebert also had a solid game for the Tigers, and he led the team with his three hits.
"Jordan is leading us in every way," Thompson said. "He had the three hits and made a couple nice plays defensively."
One of Ebert's hits was an RBI single that drove in Anfernee Grier to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead in the third inning. With his single in the third, Grier extended his hitting streak to 13 games, dating back to the 2015 season.
A pair of walks and an error helped Southern Mississippi score its first run in the fourth. Nick Dawson had a sac fly to right field that scored Daniel Keating in the seventh, extending the Golden Eagles' lead to 2-1. Storme Cooper walked with the bases loaded in the eighth, scoring Tim Lynch and extending the lead to the final score of 3-1.
The Tigers return to Plainsman Park for their next game Tuesday, as they host No. 13 Georgia Tech. The game starts at 4:30 p.m. CT and will be televised on the SEC Network.
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