A sequence of mistakes in the ninth inning cost Auburn (23-11, 7-6 SEC) a series-opening win on Thursday night, as the No. 17 Tigers gave up a one-run lead and suffered a 7-6 loss to Mississippi State (20-15, 5-8 SEC).
Having won three consecutive SEC series to give it a 9-3 record away from home this season, Auburn came into Starkville with confidence, but came up just short in a back-and-forth contest that was competitive all the way through.
"We've played this game over and over and have found a way, just not tonight," said Auburn head coach Butch Thompson.
Command was the key issue for Auburn’s pitchers, beginning with starter Hayden Mullins. Five pitches into his outing, Mullins walked the lead-off hitter. Four pitches later, he had walked another.
Then, Mullins allowed two straight singles, the latter of which scored a run. A sacrifice fly scored a second run for the Bulldogs in the inning. Both walks had come home and Auburn had an early 2-0 deficit.
Mississippi State starter Brandon Smith had Auburn hitting ground balls during his entire five-inning outing. Of the 15 outs Smith recorded, 12 were groundouts. Two more were recorded on a ground-ball double play. The Tigers struggled to get anything in the air.
In the third inning, Nate LaRue changed that. Not only did LaRue hit a fly ball, but he hit it 423 feet into left field for his third home run of the season. Auburn’s deficit was cut in half, and it now only trailed by one run.
The Bulldogs got the run back in the bottom of the frame when another walk came home to score on an RBI single. Auburn then trailed 3-1, with all three of Mississippi State’s runs reaching base via a walk.
Auburn responded in the fifth inning when Cole Foster hit a lead-off double and came home to score after back-to-back groundouts advanced him. Once again, Auburn manufactured a run and was down just 3-2.
The Tigers broke through for a big inning in the sixth. A walk to Brody Moore, an error that allowed Bobby Peirce to reach and a Foster single loaded the bases for LaRue. LaRue’s patient approach at the plate paid off, and he was rewarded with a walk and his second RBI of the game.
With two outs, and the bases still loaded, Blake Rambusch singled to right field. The 2-run single scored Peirce and Foster to give Auburn its first lead of the game, 5-3.
With Auburn ahead, the Tigers elected to go to the bullpen and called upon Carson Skipper. The sixth inning went by without trouble, as Skipper got two flyouts and a strikeout to keep the Tigers ahead.
Skipper’s seventh inning was more of a struggle.
On the first pitch of the inning, Mississippi State’s Brad Cumbest hit a solo home run to cut the lead to one. Later in the inning, RJ Yeager launched another solo homer, also on the first pitch, to tie the game at five a piece.
The two solo homers in the seventh were the Bulldog’s only earned runs that did not come as a result of a walk.
The tie did not last long, as Foster hit a home run to left field, putting the Tigers up 6-5 in the eighth inning. It was Foster’s fifth homer of the season, the second-highest mark on the team.
With Auburn up by one, closer Blake Burkhalter came on to attempt a two-inning save. Burkhalter, who entered the game with seven saves, is no stranger to multiple-inning appearances.
Burkhalter’s first frame went by without any trouble. Burkhalter induced a groundout and struck out two to keep the lead with one inning to go.
In the Auburn ninth, after a two-out single by Sonny DiChiara and a walk to Brooks Carlson, Auburn had a prime opportunity to pad its lead. Instead, a popout ended the frame with no damage done. The two stranded runners were among eight left on base by the Tigers. Auburn was up one with just three outs left for the Bulldogs.
It was an ominous sign of things to come when Burkhalter walked the lead-off hitter, Kellum Clark. Burkhalter had only walked two batters all season, but in the ninth inning of a one-run game, lead-off walks often prove to be costly.
Then, in perhaps the biggest mistake of the inning, Burkhalter induced a ground ball that should have been a double play. Instead, Foster booted it, committing Auburn’s only error of the game, and everyone reached base safely.
As opposed to no runners on base and two outs, as it should have been, there were two on with no outs.
After a perfectly-executed sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third, a wild pitch allowed the tying run to score from third. The lead-off walk had indeed come back to haunt Burkhalter.
After the wild pitch, Burkhalter intentionally walked Kamren James, hoping to set up a double play. However, the free pass also loaded the bases, giving the Tigers no margin for error.
The final batter, Luke Hancock, worked the count full. On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Burkhalter missed below the strike zone to walk in the winning run.
Auburn allowed Mississippi State to score twice in the ninth inning without a hit. Burkhalter, after walking two batters all season prior to Thursday, walked four in the ninth inning of Thursday’s game alone. Both runs were unearned.
It was an unusual ninth-inning collapse for the Tigers, who were 8-4 in games decided by two runs or less before Thursday.
Burkhalter, who suffered his first loss of the season, now has a record of 3-1. The ninth-inning struggle seems, to Thompson, to be an anomaly to what the Tigers have accomplished in late-game situations this season.
"If we had to do it all over again, there's not a lot I'd like to change,” Thompson said. "It wasn't totally clean, but we hung in there."
Auburn held the Bulldogs to six hits, but Mullins and Burkhalter combined to issue nine walks. Of the Bulldogs’ seven runs, four reached base via walk, while a fifth reached on the ninth-inning error.
Though Auburn is down in the series, it is not out. The Tigers have the opportunity to even the series on Friday, when right-hander Trace Bright takes the mound for the Tigers. Mississippi State will counter with right-hander Preston Johnson.
"It's the first game of the series and we have to find a way to win a ballgame tomorrow,” Thompson said.
The first pitch from Dudy Noble Field will be at 6 p.m. CST for Friday’s contest that will be streamed on SEC Network+.
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Matthew is a senior from Huntsville, Alabama, majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in fall 2021.
Twitter: @mattwallaceAU
