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April 2, 2012

AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn baseball team, 17-11 overall and ranked No. 23 by Baseball America this week, will put its two-game winning streak on the line at 6pm on Tuesday when it plays host to Jacksonville State (10-17) at Plainsman Park. The game is Two-For-Tuesday where fans can buy one ticket and get one free.

TUESDAY, APRIL 3 • 6PM CT • PLAINSMAN PARK • WKKR-FM 97.7 • AUBURNTIGERS.COM LIVE AUDIO & VIDEO
RHP Bradley Raulston (0-2, 5.55) vs. RHP Jon Luke Jacobs (4-0, 2.08)

Auburn has gone 6-1 in midweek games this year, outscoring teams 68-17 in the process. Auburn has been led by Jon Luke Jacobs, who is 4-0 with a 2.08 ERA and a .192 batting average against, eighth and third in the SEC, respectively. As a whole the tem is hitting .351, led by Creede Simpson's .500, while the pitching staff has a combined 2.45 ERA.

Auburn leads the all-time series against Jacksonville State, 18-13, and has won three of the last four meetings between the two teams.

AUBURN ALL-TIME VS. JACKSONVILLE STATE
Auburn is playing Jacksonville State in consecutive seasons for the first time since the two teams met in three straight years from 1992-94 ... Over the last two seasons the two teams have met a total of four times, three in the regular season and once in the 2010 NCAA Regional hosted by Auburn ... Auburn is 3-1 in the last four meetings and leads the series 18-13 overall ... This is the only previously scheduled meeting between the two this season.

Jon Luke Jacobs: Has faced Jacksonville State once before, throwing 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief in the 9-4 win on Feb. 22, 2011 ... Struck out six and surrendered just two hits, at one point retiring eight in a row ... Finished the game and earned the win.

Creede Simpson: Has the most career at bats (nine) against Jacksonville State of anyone on the roster ... Was 5-for-9 (.556) in two games in 2011 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored ... Was 3-for-5 with a double, two runs scored and a RBI in the 9-4 win on Feb. 22 and then 2-for-4 with a RBI in the loss at JSU.

RIDING THE PITCHING
Auburn's pitching staff leads the SEC in ERA in league games, owning a 2.33 staff ERA, with LSU second in the league at 3.23 ... Auburn's starting pitching has been a big reason for that as the trio of Derek Varnadore (2.25), Will Kendall (4.15) and Daniel Koger (1.89) have a combined 2.72 ERA while the bullpen is even better at a combined 1.46 ERA in 24 2/3 innings from a combined six relievers.

THREE STRAIGHT
Auburn won its first three SEC series for the first time since 2003 and will try to win a fourth straight to open the conference slate for the first time since that same season when the team started the year with five straight series wins and an 11-4 mark en route to an 18-12 league finish ... The last time Auburn claimed four straight SEC series wins was in 2010 when it won its final five series (Kentucky, at Arkansas, Mississippi State, Tennessee, at Ole Miss).

AUBURN VS THE SEC WEST
Auburn will be playing its fourth straight series against a SEC Western Division team this weekend when it visits Alabama ... Since the start of the 2010 season Auburn has gone a combined 27-16 (.628) against the West (5-4 vs. Alabama, 4-2 vs. Arkansas, 6-3 vs. LSU, 7-3 vs. Ole Miss and 5-4 vs. Mississippi State) and has finished in the top two in the division each of the last two years.

JON LUKE IN THE MIDWEEK
Jon Luke Jacobs will be making his sixth midweek start of the season on Tuesday and will be looking to bounce back from his first rough outing of the year last week at Samford ... Teams are hitting .294 (15-51) with seven runs scored against Jacobs in the first three innings of games and just .094 (5-53) without a run from the fourth inning on ... His four wins are tied for sixth in the SEC, his 2.08 ERA is eighth and his .192 batting average against is third.

THE POWER OF JB
Auburn went a combined 25-5 when Justin Bryant was in the starting lineup between 2010-11 and has gone 6-4 with him in the lineup this year ... Making his first start in the field (at third base) last Sunday against Mississippi State, he responded with a 3-for-5 day, driving in two runs as Auburn claimed the series victory.

WINNING IN THE MIDWEEK
Auburn has gone 6-1 in midweek games this year, outscoring teams 68-17 ... Auburn has been led by Jon Luke Jacobs, who is 4-0 with a 2.08 ERA and a .192 batting average against, eighth and third in the SEC, respectively, to go along with his staff-high 33 strike outs in 30 1/3 innings ... As a whole the team is hitting a blustery .351 (led by Creede Simpson's .500 [13-26]) while the entire pitching staff has a combined 2.45 ERA ... Last year Auburn finished at .500 overall (29-29) and was just 6-7 in midweek contests.

TELLA ME ABOUT IT
Ryan Tella enters the week among the SEC leaders in batting average (.396, 3rd), on base percentage (.496, 2nd), hits (42, 4th), triples (2, t-5th), walks (20, 6th) and steals (8, 5th).

COOP-A-LOOP!
Junior first baseman Garrett Cooper has not only been getting it done in the field, where he has a .996 fielding percentage on 242 chances, but the junior has also reached base safely in 26 of the 27 games he has played in this year, including his first 22, and he has a .441 on base percentage, second on the team and just outside of the SEC leaders.

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