Four Auburn pitchers worked together to hold Mississippi State to one run in the series opener.
The Auburn Tigers (22-15-1, 6-10 SEC) picked up a 2-1 victory over the Mississippi State Bulldogs (22-16, 5-11 SEC) to get the series started.
"We've been working at this for a long time and it's only one night," said Auburn head coach Butch Thompson. "We won the first game at Florida, we won the first game at Alabama. We've been here before and need the group to stay focused and be the best team on the field tomorrow."
Graduate left-hander Tommy Vail got the start for Auburn and gave up no runs on three hits, walked three batters and struck out 10 in five innings of work. Sophomore right-hander John Armstrong allowed the only Bulldog run of the game off of one hit, walked one batter and struck out three in 1.2 innings. Junior left-hander Tanner Bauman provided 1.1 more innings of relief and walked two batters and struck out one. Sophomore right-hander Will Cannon earned the save for the Tigers in the ninth inning, only allowing one runner on base by a walk.
"We knew we had to get back on track and last week was a step in the right direction," Vail said. "Obviously this week it's a whole new challenge. So getting that first one out of the way and understanding it's not a one-game series. We've got to come out tomorrow with the same energy and same attitude and get it done tomorrow and Sunday too.
Junior right-hander Cade Smith got the start for Mississippi State and pitched six innings, allowed one run off of three hits, walked three batters and struck out six. Sophomore right-hander Nate Dohm pitched two innings and allowed one run off of one hit, walked one batter and struck out three.
Auburn struck first offensively when redshirt sophomore Cooper McMurray hit a solo home run to right-center in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Mississippi State evened the score in the top of the seventh inning when freshman shortstop David Mershon reached on an infield single to drive in junior second baseman Amani Larry.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, freshman left fielder Chris Stanfield advanced from first base to third on a tag-up from a pop-up to the catcher in foul territory by junior shortstop Cole Foster. This put Stanfield in position to score on a sacrifice fly to center field by redshirt senior right fielder Bobby Peirce. The Tigers held on to win the first game of the series 2-1.
"My instincts told me to go, so I went," Stanfield said. "I just put myself into scoring position to try and take the game into my own hands and I knew Bobby (Peirce) was coming up and he got the job done."
The second game of the series is set for Saturday at 2:00 p.m. CDT. The game will be broadcasted on SEC Network+.
"That was a high-level Southeastern Conference game one," Thompson said. "That's more like what I remember, I hope we can do more of this because the game is fun like this.
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Daniel Locke, junior in journalism, is the community editor for The Auburn Plainsman.
Twitter: @danieljlocke
