STARKVILLE, Miss. – Chase Fralick hit a solo home run to start the ninth inning and lead No. 5 Auburn to a 5-4 win and even the series at No. 10 Mississippi State Friday night at Dudy Noble Field.
After Mississippi State (38-13, 15-11 SEC) scored four unanswered runs in the fifth through eighth innings to tie the game, 4-4, Fralick stepped to the plate to start the ninth and hit a two-strike fastball 396 feet to right center to give Auburn (34-15, 15-11 SEC) its lead back.
“It just shows resilience,” Fralick said. “We can bounce back from any game, whether teams are making a comeback or if we’re on the ropes, this team can do anything.
“We’ve done a great job controlling our composure,” Fralick added. “We know what we have to do when we go out there on the field and the gameplan we have when we go against a pitcher. If we execute, we have faith we’re going to be on the good side of the result.”
Going back out for his fifth inning of work in the ninth, Jackson Sanders (4-1) retired the Bulldogs’ three, four and five hitters in order to end the game and earn the win.
“At the end of the day, it’s just me and (Fralick) out there competing. It’s the man in the arena,” Sanders said of finishing a game on the road in front of 13,000 fans. “That’s what we’ve talked about all weekend. Just try to be the man in the arena. Don’t worry about who’s on the outside, but just compete and get it done.”
The win marked Auburn’s sixth this season when trailing or tied after the eighth inning, including its second in its last three Southeastern Conference road series.
“It wasn’t our cleanest game, but it was one of our best spirits,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “They’ve done that time and time again. I get to where I can’t see the way we’re going to do it, but (Andreas) Alvarez gets us off to good, competitive starts, and I think it’s as much of his spirit.
“What a crazy ballgame and a lot going on,” Thompson added. “We just stayed in there and kept fighting. I think the spirit got us through and got us back to even in this series.”
Andreas Alvarez worked around a pair of leadoff baserunners with a pair of strikeouts in the first, and the Tigers threatened early in the top of the second. Chris Rembert and Ethin Bingaman started the inning with back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners, but Mississippi State escaped the jam with a pair of strikeouts and runner caught stealing on a first-and-third play.
The Tigers kept the pressure on the Bulldogs by loading the bases with one out in the third and started the scoring on a sacrifice fly from Fralick. Rembert came to the plate for a second time and recorded his second hit with a two-out single back up the middle to double the lead.
Mississippi State threatened to respond by loading the bases in the bottom of the inning, but a ground ball to second was fielded by Rembert, who stepped on second to end the threat.
Leading 2-0 with runners on second and third and one out, Rembert hit a ground ball to short to score Mason McCraine, his second RBI of the game, and Bingaman delivered his second hit of the game, a two-out single to make it 4-0 and end starting pitcher Duke Stone’s night.
Alvarez nearly worked around a leadoff double in the fifth with a pair of strikeouts, but his last pitch of the night was a changeup that was hit for a two-run home run to cut Mississippi State’s deficit to two.
Sanders entered in relief of Alvarez to get the final out of the fifth and worked a scoreless sixth before Mississippi State put the first two batters of the seventh aboard. Sanders got a strikeout and fielder’s choice to nearly avoid damage, but a two-out single made it a one-run game.
Auburn threatened to answer after putting the first two batters of the eighth aboard on a single and hit-by-pitch, but the Tigers failed to get a sacrifice bunt down on three attempts and Bulldog reliever Ben Davis ended the inning with back-to-back swinging strikeouts.
Mississippi State scored for the third time in a four-inning stretch with a two-out single from Ace Reese to tie the game in the eight, setting the stage for Fralick to immediately answer to start the ninth.
“Knowing myself and knowing how I’ve been pitched to all weekend. I’ve been seeing a lot of fastballs with two strikes, and I wasn’t going to miss another one,” Fralick added.
With Alex Petrovic taking the mound, the rubber game between Auburn and Mississippi State is set for Saturday at 3 p.m. CT on SEC Network.