Mississippi State climbed back down from a 4-0 hole Friday night but fell just shy of taking Game 2 of its SEC series against Auburn in a 5-4 loss.
After trailing for seven innings, The No. 11 Bulldogs (38-13, 15-11) got an RBI single down the third-base line by Ace Reese in the eighth to knot the game at 4-4. The No. 6 Tigers (34-15, 15-11) responded in the top of the ninth with a solo homer by Chase Fralick to pull ahead for good.
After Thursday’s starter Tomas Valincius chewed through the Tigers’ lineup with 13 strikeouts, Friday starter Duke Stone struggled early on in Game 2 and let the Tigers take command early. In the third inning, he issued a walk then gave up a single to Brandon McCraine to get two runners on base. Fralick got the Tigers on the board with a sacrifice fly, and Chris Rembert smacked another single to score McCraine.
Auburn tacked on two more scores in the fifth after Stone gave up his second walk and hit Eric Guevara at the plate. A groundout by Chris Rembert and a single up the middle brought home the runners. After fanning seven Tigers and giving up all four hits, Stone was taken off the mound with just one out left in the inning for freshman Maddox Miller, who got the final out.
The Bulldogs’ comeback began in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run blast to left field by Reed Stallman – his 11th homer of the season. The sequence resulted in Auburn taking Alvarez, who fanned seven and six hits, off the mound for Jackson Sanders. State pulled within one in the seventh on an RBI single by Bryce Chance for his first hit of the game.
State had its moments where the stars seemed to be aligning to tack on some runs or break the game open. In the third inning Gehrig Frei singled, Noah Sullivan doubled and Reed Stallman was walked to load the bases and set the stage for Bryce Chance, who hit a Grand Slam against Texas last week and another on Thursday for his two homers of the season – but he couldn’t pull out the magic and grounded into an out to close the inning. The Bulldogs left two runners on in the first, second and sixth innings.
Both teams finished with 10 hits each with Reese leading the Bulldogs with four.
The series comes down to Saturday’s Game 3, which begins at 3 p.m.
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