Auburn fell short 6-5 against No. 4 Mississippi State in the first game of a three-game series Friday at Plainsman Park.
“Another tough, tough game where we battled to the end," said head coach Butch Thompson. "We came from behind and tied the ballgame, and then pretty unfortunate how we wound up giving up the winning run to Mississippi State tonight.”
The Bulldogs struck first by scoring one unearned run in the second inning after loading the bases against Cody Greenhill. Greenhill was able to get out of the pinch and left the Bulldogs with three men on base.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Tigers came alive as both Rankin Woley and Bryson Ware slugged solo home runs. Those home runs gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead going into the fifth inning.
Mississippi State fired back in the fifth inning, hitting back-to-back home runs. Tanner Allen hit a two-RBI home run, and Kamren James' solo shot made it 4-2 in favor of the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs added to their lead after the Tigers' brought in Richard Fitts, scoring another run in the seventh inning. Fitts was able to regain control and retired the next three batters.
Auburn rallied in the bottom of the seventh after Kason Howell and Ryan Dyal were walked and Judd Ward singled to load the bases. Tyler Miller hit a two-RBI single, pushing in Howell and Dyal for runs, and Brody Moore reached first on an error allowing Ward to score another run.
The Tigers left the inning with the bases loaded after Steven Williams struck out swinging and went into the eighth with the game tied at 5-5.
In the eighth inning, Tanner Leggett scored a run on a wild pitch, putting the Bulldogs ahead by one.
Auburn was unable to score in the bottom of the eighth or ninth, and Mississippi State came away with the 6-5 victory.
Auburn will look to even the series up in game two as they face the Bulldogs on Saturday at 2 p.m. CST.
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Kristen is a sophomore majoring in journalism with a minor in business. She is also the host of our sports podcast, Page 8, that can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and SoundCloud.
Twitter: @kristencarrau
