AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn scored seven runs on seven hits and put the tying run at third base in the bottom of the ninth inning but ultimately lost the middle game vs. Mississippi State 11-10 Saturday at Plainsman Park.
"The will is good. It's the execution, kind of the same thing from the pitching side," head coach Butch Thompson said. "We got within striking distance, still fighting, and there's still an opportunity to win a series tomorrow, which is very important for us."
Trailing 11-3 entering the bottom of the ninth, Kason Howell started the inning with a solo home run to right field, his fourth of the season. After a strikeout for the first out of the frame, five straight batters reached and the lead was cut to four on RBI hits from Cole Foster, Bobby Peirce and Ike Irish. A popup to second was secured for the second out, but a walk loaded the bases to bring the tying run to the plate. Howell came back around for the second time in the inning and cleared the bases with a triple off the wall in left field. Ryan Dyal came to the plate and narrowly missed a game-tying double down the right-field line before a strikeout ended the game with Howell 90 feet away.
"We just had lock-down and committed at-bats," Thompson added. "We got their best closer and Kason's big swing and a couple of those were really good at-bats. It was a pretty tall order, but pretty impressive to see our guys fight to finish the ballgame."
Christian Herberholz made his second straight SEC start and worked around a leadoff hit batter and in a scoreless first with a strikeout, flyout and groundout before retiring the Bulldogs in order with a pair of strikeouts in the second.
For the second straight day, Cooper McMurray got the scoring started with a two-run home run in the second inning. The redshirt sophomore first baseman swung on a 1-2 fastball up and in and lifted it high, deep and off the hitting facility in right field. It marked his eighth homer of the year and his third straight game with a long ball this week.
Herberholz turned in a season-high 5.0 scoreless innings and matched a season high with four strikeouts. He retired Mississippi State in order in two of his five frames and faced just three batters over the minimum.
The Tigers (22-16-1, 6-11 SEC) went to the bullpen to start the sixth, and Mississippi State (23-16, 6-11 SEC) took advantage of the new pitchers with six runs on a hit batter, two walks and three hits, including a three-run homer and two-run homer.
Drew Nelson entered and worked a scoreless seventh inning, and Auburn chipped away with a run on back-to-back two-out singles in the bottom of the frame. Foster drove in the run on the first pitch he saw from KC Hunt to score Howell.
However, Mississippi State hit a solo home run to start the eighth and pushed its lead back to four. The next four Bulldogs reached on two walks and two hits to make it a 9-3 ballgame.
Chase Allsup retired five straight batters with four strikeouts to end the eighth and start the ninth, but Mississippi State added a pair of runs with a two-out walk and two-run homer to extend its lead to 11-3 before Auburn's furious rally in the bottom of the ninth came up just short.
Auburn managed two hits in the first six innings, but exploded for 10 hits between the seventh and ninth innings to come within one. Howell led the way with three hits and four RBI, finishing a double shy of the cycle.
The rubber game between the Tigers and Bulldogs is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.
Furious ninth inning rally falls short in middle game vs. Mississippi State
