AUBURN – No. 11 Auburn baseball secured its fifth conference series win over the weekend at Plainsman Park, winning two of three games over Mississippi State to improve to 30-14 on the season and 11-10 in SEC play.
The Tigers picked up a 6-5 win in the opener on Friday, dropped game two 12-7 on Saturday and won the rubber match 14-8 on Sunday
Here is a recap of the Tigers’ weekend:
Game one
After a three-hour weather delay, No. 11 Auburn picked up a 6-5 win over Mississippi State in the series opener on Friday night at Plainsman Park.
Auburn took a sizable lead into the seventh inning but the Bulldogs clapped back with their second longball of the night to tie the game at five. That’s when Cooper McMurray responded with a two-out double in the home half of the inning, scoring Eric Snow from first to give the Tigers a one-run lead they would hold onto for the rest of the night.
“Not having the weekend we wanted to have in Austin last week, and even Tuesday, a win is a win, but from the offensive point of view, we left a lot of guys on base,” McMurray said. “So being able to come back today with a fresh mindset, facing a really good Friday night guy in the SEC, we put pitches in him and finally got the dam to break. It was just an overall great win for us and our camaraderie in the locker room, all the way around.”
Samuel Dutton turned in another efficient night on the mound in the start for the Tigers, matching his season-high of nine strikeouts in six innings of work. He struck out six of the first eight batters he faced and held the Bulldogs scoreless for the first three frames.
“I thought Sam Dutton was absolutely good again,” said Auburn head coach Butch Thompson “He is just so consistent, and we believe we are going to have success with him on the mound.
Regardless of who is on the other side, we think we have a chance to win that ballgame, and that proved again tonight.”
Mississippi State started the scoring in the fourth with a two-run home run by Noah Sullivan, but Auburn responded four runs in the bottom half. The Tigers put the first three runners on board in the inning, and Chase Fralick got things started with a single to left. Eric Guevara tied the game with a sacrifice fly to center and Chris Rembert – who ended his night 4-for-4 – ripped a two-run double down the left field line to give the Tigers the lead.
The Tigers extended their lead to 5-2 as Guevara punched a two-out single through the right side to give him his second RBI of the night.
Carson Myers entered in relief of Dutton to start the seventh and gave up the three-run home run to tie the game in the seventh. Ryan Hetzler took over and tossed a scoreless last two innings for his fifth save of the year.
Game two
Trailing by nine in the fifth inning after giving up a pair of big innings in the early goings, No. 11 Auburn launched four solo-home runs in the fifth through the seventh innings, but it’s comeback efforts fell short as it ultimately dropped a 12-7 contest to Mississippi State on Saturday at Plainsman Park.
The Tigers sent the tying run to the plate with two runners on in the eighth, but pinch hitter Eric Snow grounded into an inning-ending double play.
“It seemed like the eighth was our one chance after being so far behind,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “We hit the solo home runs, but we finally got some baserunners with the two balls that fell. We wound up having a good at-bat to load the bases. That was our shot. The double play was our biggest threat. If we were going to make that possible, I thought that was the at-bat of the game to try to come back.”
Cade Fisher got the nod for Auburn on Saturday and gave up two two-run shots in the first inning, ending his night after one inning of work and putting the Tigers in a deep hole early.
Auburn got one back in the third on a Bub Terrell double down the right field line, but the Tigers left two runners stranded in scoring position an at-bat later when Ike Irish lined out to shortstop.
Mississippi State answered in the top of the fourth with a six-run inning 11 to the plate, recording six hits to extend its lead to 10-1.
Abe Chancellor made his first conference appearance of the season in relief of Ben Schorr and turned in a pair of scoreless innings.
After four solo-home runs, Auburn trailed 11-5 in the eighth after the Bulldogs added a solo-shot of their own. But the Tigers scored two runs on a Lucas Steele single to make it a four-run game, but that’s where Auburn’s scoring efforts would stall as it ended the eighth on a double play.
Mississippi State capped off the scoring in the game after a one-out error in the ninth.
Game Three
No. 11 Auburn baseball scored eight runs in the first two frames en route to a X-X win to take the series against Mississippi State on Sunday evening at Plainsman Park.
An RBI-double and RBI-single off the bats of Ike Irish and Eric Guevara, respectively, gave the Tigers a two-run cushion after the first. Auburn tallied a pair of longballs in the second frame after Chase Fralick drove in the first run of the inning. Chris Rembert continued his hot streak at the plate this weekend with his second home run of the series, and McMurray followed two at-bats later with a three-run shot over the wall in right.
The Tigers put together another multi-run inning in the fourth with a two-RBI single in a bases-loaded situation off the bat of Lucas Steele, and a sacrifice fly by Cade Belyeu an at-bat later to clear the bases.
Mississippi State kept chipping away at the Tigers’ lead throughout, scoring in six innings. The Bulldogs put up two runs in the second and fifth frames with a quartet of one-run innings in third, sixth, seventh and ninth.
But the Tigers added a trio of insurance runs in the eighth as Steele singled to center field, scoring McMurray who previously doubled – giving Steele his third-straight game with an RBI. Fralick doubled two at-bats later to score Steele and Belyeu – who reached on a hit-by-pitch.
Cam Tilly got the start for the Tigers and went four innings, giving up three runs on three hits and three walks. Dylan Watts entered on his heels and gave up three runs on three hits in one inning of work, giving way to Parker Carlson who gave up a run on two hits. Carson Myers closed it out for the Tigers, relinquishing just one run on a hit to pick up his second win of the season.
The Tigers will be back in action for a midweek game on Tuesday against Samford at the Hoover Met. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
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