AUBURN | Auburn remains a work in progress.

The Tigers committed a key late-inning error and had two costly base-running mistakes in a 6-5 loss to Southern University Sunday afternoon at Plainsman Park.

Auburn went into Sunday’s game with a chance for a sweep but came away with a tough loss to a Southern team that was out-scored by the Tigers 25-6 the first two games.

Auburn had a chance to jump on Southern early getting two runners on with one out in the bottom of the first inning. Niko Buentello drove a line drive off the top of the Green Monster in left field, but Joshua Palacios held up and only advanced from second to third base.

Jordan Ebert was looking to go first to third on the play but got caught up between second and third when Palacios held up.

“We had the base-running deal in the first inning that wound up scoring no runs,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “It’s our park and our wall. For the back runner to run up on the lead runner there was unfortunate.”

Auburn would make two more costly mistakes in the eighth.

Leading 5-4, Southern was able to stretch its lead when a ground ball went under the legs of third baseman Damon Haecker, which allowed Dondrayas Harris to score from second and put the Jaguars up 6-4.

The Tigers cut it to 6-5 in the bottom of the eighth when pinch-hitter Jackson Burgreen hit a one-out double, moved to third on a single and scored on a balk by Jaguar reliever Troy Lewis.

Palacios followed with a single to left field but Grier was nailed for the final out of the inning trying to go to third.

“That was tough. That was the difference in the ballgame,” Thompson said. “We trust Anfernee to make that decision because he’s running from first to third. He thought he could get it, the guy made a perfect throw. It was the third out of the inning, kind go the cardinal sin of baseball but I have trouble finding fault with the aggressiveness of the play.

“They scored the one run there that wound up being the difference-maker. Maybe we don’t get an out there but 100 percent I think we all know we’ve got to keep the baseball in front of us and failed to do that. That’s why I’m standing here talking about a defeat instead of a victory.”

Southern jumped on Auburn starter Gabe Klobosits early. John Pope hit a three-run home run over the Green Monster in left field in the second and Javeayan Williams drove home two more with a double in the fourth.

Klobosits (0-1) allowed five runs on seven hits and two walk in 3.1 innings.

True freshman Casey Mize gave Auburn 5.2 strong innings out of the bullpen allowing an unearned run on three hits with three strikeouts and no walks.

“I thought Casey did a tremendous job of coming in there and finishing up the game and giving us a chance to win,” Thompson said. “That’s all we could ask for but it didn’t happen. We came up just short.”

Auburn scored a run in the third on an RBI double by Palacios, one in the fifth on an RBI single by Buentello, one in the sixth on an RBI groundout by Damon Haecker and another in the seventh on a solo home run by Buentello to cut the Jaguars’ lead to 5-4.

Palacios and Buentello had three hits apiece, Buentello two RBI. Daniel Robert and Cody Nulph both had two hits.

Southern reliever Justin Franklin (1-0) earned the win holding Auburn to three runs on four hits in 2.2 innings. Troy Lewis had two hits as the starting shortstop and then came in for the final 1.2 innings to earn the save allowing just two hits.

Southern improves to 1-5 on the season while Auburn falls to 4-3.

“That one will resonate for us a little bit, but I just told them we win and lose together and the definition of positive is a proper response,” Thompson said. “It’s pretty easy to check out or be mad but everyone of us has this uniform on and I expect the proper response from everybody that cares about this deal.”

Auburn returns to action Tuesday and Wednesday against Alabama A&M. Both games are scheduled for 3 p.m. CT at Plainsman Park.