The No. 17 Tigers (20-4, 0-3 SEC) fell to No. 21 Mississippi State (22-3, 3-0 SEC) Monday night at Nusz Park, dropping the series finale 7-4 and kicking off conference play winless after one weekend of action.
Auburn held a four run advantage midway through the fourth inning, but the Bulldogs posted seven unanswered runs in the bottom of the inning to take game three and complete the series sweep.
The Tigers recorded 10 hits compared to Mississippi State’s seven, but stranded eight runners on base and were unable to extend the lead.
“We had opportunities early on to open up the game,” said Auburn co-head coach Chris Malveaux. “I thought we did well at the plate, but we didn’t capitalize on putting the game away.”
Sophomore catcher Kylie Brockman led the charge for Auburn, going 2-for-3 at the plate and driving in three of the Tigers’ four runs. Brockman hit RBI singles in back-to-back innings to give Auburn a 3-0 lead after three frames.
Senior infielder Nelia Peralta contributed a 2-for-4 effort with an RBI single to right field, bringing in Icess Tresvik to put the Tigers up 4-0 in the top of the fourth. However, this ended up being Auburn’s final run, as its bats went ice cold for the rest of the night.
Mississippi State caught fire in the home-half of the fourth, loading the bases twice and forcing two pitching changes. Starting pitcher Haley Rainey performed well for the Tigers, tossing three scoreless frames on four hits and one strikeout before the Bulldogs loaded the bases in the inning. Auburn gave the nod to Chelsea Clemmons in relief, but Clemmons was unable to record an out and allowed three runs. Clemmons suffered the loss to fall to 4-2 on the season.
The Bulldogs hit a grand slam later in the frame off Auburn’s third pitcher SJ Geurin, taking a 7-4 lead that remained unchanged for the final three innings.
“We just lost it in the circle,” Malveaux said. “It is very difficult to win in this league once that happens. We got to get better overall at responding when that happens. Once that big inning happened, that was it for us. We lost the rest of the fight that we had. We have to get back to playing as a team and responding.”
Auburn looks to rebound from its three-game skid with a trip to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech on Wednesday, March 13. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. CST on the ACC Network.
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Gunner is a freshman majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in the fall 2024.
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