In its final regular-season home game, the Auburn baseball team took a hard-fought, 9-7, win over Jacksonville State on Tuesday night, powered by Tony Caldwell’s eighth-inning pinch-hit, RBI single.

But was Tuesday’s game the last of the year at Plainsman Park, or could the 16th-ranked Tigers return in the postseason?

All of that is still up in the air, as the SEC West leading Tigers head to Ole Miss for their final SEC series of the season. The Rebels are one game back of Auburn as the three-game series begins Thursday in Oxford, Miss.

If Auburn were to win the Western Division, and play well at the SEC Tournament in Hoover at the end of the month, there is a possibility the
Tigers could host one of the 16 NCAA Regional series the first weekend in June.

It was reported Tuesday by the Mobile Press-Register that Auburn had already submitted its bid to host a regional. The NCAA will announce the host sites May 30.

In the meantime, Auburn (36-17 overall) did what it’s been doing all season — finding a way to win.

Hunter Morris and Trent Mummey each homered in Tuesday’s game, to go along with Caldwell’s clutch late-inning hit.

“I had an opportunity, and I really wanted to come through in the clutch after coming off the bench,” Caldwell said. “With one out, I was trying to drive the ball to the outfield. And when I got two strikes, I just spread out and battled.”

Austin Hubbard picked up his eighth save of the season and the 20th of his career by throwing a perfect ninth inning, striking out the leadoff hitter and then getting two ground outs. The save moves Hubbard into a three-way tie for third on Auburn’s career saves list with Colter Bean (
1997-00) and Gregg Olson (1986-88).

“The life of a short-reliever, you can pitch in three games in a weekend or not pitch at all,” Auburn head coach John Pawlowski said. “We were going to try and get him in, and it ended up being a perfect situation for him with us scoring and getting ahead and then we could put him to finish the deal.”

Zach Blatt, a former Opelika High standout, picked up his first win of the season, allowing just two hits, though he was tagged for three unearned runs in 1 2/3 innings.

Mummey hit his fifth home run in the last three games and his third first-inning home run in the same time span as Auburn took a 1-0 lead in the first.

Auburn went up 3-0 in the second when Casey McElroy walked and scored on a wild pitch, Dan Gamache hit an RBI single to score Ryan Jenkins and Justin Fradejas laid down a successful squeeze play to score Gamache.

Jacksonville State scored four times in the third to tie the game off of Ty Kelley, as Bert Smith, Jake Sharrock and Daniel Adamson each knocked in runs.

Auburn went up 6-4 in the bottom of the third on a McElroy RBI double and a Gamache RBI single.

Auburn held on to the two-run advantage until the seventh when Jacksonville State scored two runs on Mummey’s fielding error in center, only to have Auburn get a run back and go up, 7-6, as Morris led off the bottom of the seventh with his 20th home run of the season, becoming just the
sixth player in Auburn history to crack the 20 home run barrier in a season.

Jacksonville State tied it at 7-7 with another unearned run in the eighth, setting the stage for Caldwell’s game-winning hit.

Auburn’s first game against No. 17 Ole Miss is slated for 6:30 p.m. Thursday.