Auburn earns series-opening win over Mississippi State

Courtesy of Auburn Athletics

AUBURN, Ala. – Tommy Vail turned in his second straight scoreless start and Auburn ultimately defeated Mississippi State 2-1 in the series opener in front of a sold out crowd at Plainsman Park Friday night.

“We’re pitching a little better. It started last weekend,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “This gives us a chance. If we can pitch competitively, that defense is ready to play. We pitched with better sequences and took the sting out of the swing.”

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Tied 1-1 heading to the bottom of the eighth inning, Chris Stanfield started the frame with a single, marking his second hit of the game. As a sacrifice bunt was popped into foul territory and caught by the Mississippi State catcher sliding toward the backstop, Stanfield made a heads-up tag to advance to second and moved to third as the throw got away. Two pitches later, Bobby Peirce lined one to left center field, and Stanfield tagged from third to score the game-winning run.

“I’m just happy to get the win,” Stanfield said. “I saw it go up in the air and saw his back to me. I said, ‘Let me take a chance’ and it ended up working out. I was just trying to take the game into my own hands. It was a close game, and I knew Bobby was coming. I had full trust that Bobby would get the job done. I was just happy to be a part of it.”

Making his sixth straight SEC start, Vail struck out five of the first nine batters he faced and fanned a season-high nine batters through his first four innings of work. He recorded his career-best 10th strikeout to strand a pair of runners in scoring position to end the fifth and his outing, marking his second straight scoreless SEC start.

“What’s important is having the same spirit, the same attitude, and just getting ready to get another win,” Vail said. “Early in the game, I’m expecting them to be pretty patient. I knew I could attack in the zone early and then expand later on.”

“This needs to be embraced,” Thompson added. “We have been hunting for this. We have been searching for this. We have been meeting more and adjusting and turning ourselves inside out. This night needs to be lifted up. We’ve got to stay focused on tomorrow, but this just didn’t happen tonight. This has been worked on for a period of time by a bunch of guys that have hung in there for us.”

Auburn (22-15-1, 6-10 SEC) got the scoring started in the bottom of the fifth when Cooper McMurray sent the first pitch he saw into the student section beyond the fence in right center field. The home run was McMurray’s seventh of the season, including his fourth of conference play.

John Armstrong entered in relief of Vail and pitched a clean sixth with a pair of strikeouts. The sophomore right-hander then struck out the first batter in the seventh, but a one-out walk, balk and two-out infield single to second tied the game. Tanner Bauman (3-1) entered in relief of Armstrong and walked the first batter to move the go-ahead run into scoring position, but the junior lefty registered the Tigers’ 14th strikeout of the game to end the frame.

After Mississippi State (22-16, 5-11 SEC) drew a leadoff walk in the eighth, Bauman induced a double play to erase the baserunner before a fly ball to right ended the top of the inning.

Stanfield then set the table to start the bottom of the frame before coming around to score the game-winning run in the aforementioned fashion.

Will Cannon took the mound to start the ninth inning, and Mississippi State drew a one-out walk to put the potential tying run aboard. However, Cannon induced an ground ball to short and Cole Foster made a nice stab before stepping on the bag and firing to first to end the game.

Auburn’s quartet of pitchers matched a season high with 14 strikeouts and tied the season-low by allowing just one run in the game.

Game two between the two teams is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. CT.