As was the case all season long, Auburn asked its pitchers to be perfect for too long while its offense failed to deliver in critical spots.

That virtually nonexistent margin of error caught up to Auburn on Saturday as its season came to an end with a 3-2 loss to Jacksonville State in an elimination game of an NCAA Regional at JoAnne Graff Stadium in Tallahassee.

It was just the second win over Auburn in 19 meetings for Jacksonville State (35-24), which advances to face Florida State (49-10) in the Regional final on Sunday and will need to win twice to reach a Super Regional. The last time the Gamecocks defeated the Tigers was March 11, 1997, a span that included 14 straight Auburn wins.

Auburn (41-17) fails to reach an Super Regional for the first time in four years and falls to 9-16 all-time as the No. 2 seed in an NCAA Regional.

The Tigers struck first in the second inning as Courtney Shea led off with a single and two batters later Alyssa Rivera hit an RBI single to center to score pinch runner Brittany Maresette.

Makayla Martin struck out four of the first six JSU batters and kept the Gamecocks off the board until the bottom of the fifth. Jacksonville State got three straight singles from Leila Chambers, Ryann Luna and Hayley Sims, who dropped a bunt single that allowed pinch runner Hannahstaysia Weaver to score the tying run.

JSU had the go-ahead run at third with nobody out but Martin got out of the jam with a strikeout, fielder's choice groundout and ground out to third to keep the game tied at 1 after five.

With two outs and nobody on in the top of the sixth, Rivera smacked a 3-1 pitch over the wall in left-center to give Auburn the lead again.

But it wasn't enough as JSU got to Martin in the bottom of the frame via a leadoff walk, single and two-run double by Alexus Jimmerson that gave the Gamecocks their first lead of the game and they held on behind the sophomore left-hander, who allowed two runs, one earned, on six hits and three walks in the stunning win.

Martin (15-7) allowed three runs on six hits and a walk with five strikeouts over five innings. It was the most runs allowed by the junior right-hander since she gave up six, five earned, to Long Beach State on Feb. 24.

But pitching wasn't the issue for Auburn, which fell to 4-9 in one-run games this season. The Tigers were just 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, leaving six on base, and 1 for 10 combined with their 2-1 loss to Florida State earlier on Saturday.

"Just too many wasted at-bats in the beginning of the game," Auburn coach Mickey Dean said. "I'm not sure how many runners we left on base, but we just didn't have good at-bats, to be quite honest. And not taking anything away from that young lady (Jimmerson). She battled, she did her job. But we didn't take advantage of things."

James Crepea is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @JamesCrepea.