Seventh-Inning Burst Lifts Auburn Past State 8-5
April 12, 2003 | Baseball
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Fifth-ranked Auburn (28-8, 10-4) scored three runs in the top of the seventh, two on a home run by first baseman Karl Amonite, lifting the Tigers to an 8-5 win over No. 6 Mississippi State (25-6-1, 10-3) Saturday before a season-high 11,763 fans at Dudy Noble Field. The deciding third game of the series is set for 1:30 p.m. Sunday and will be televised regionally on Comcast Sports Southeast. The Bulldogs enter Sunday's series finale with a percentage points lead over LSU (23-11-1, 10-3-1) and a half-game lead over Auburn in the overall conference standings.
The teams struck for four runs each in the third inning, knocking both starting pitchers out of the game. Tug Hulett tripled in one run, Amonite doubled in another and Scott Schade singled in two more as the Tigers plated four runs on four hits off MSU starter Alan Johnson. Johnson gave up four runs on six hits with one strikeout in his season-shortest three-inning start.
The Bulldogs batted around in the bottom and tied the score with four runs in the bottom of the third. Matthew Maniscalco opened the inning with his fifth home run of the season. The Bulldogs then loaded the bases when Brad Corley doubled, Matthew Brinson reached on a walk, and Craig Tatum singled to right. Thomas Berkery followed with a sacrifice fly to right to plate one run and J.B. Tucker knotted the score with a two-run single to left field. Auburn starter Arnold Hughey allowed four runs on seven hits during his 2-2/3 inning start.
The score remained deadlocked until the seventh inning when the Tigers struck for three runs. Pinch-hitter Doug Vines drew a walk from Jamie Gant, advanced on a sacrifice bunt, and raced home on Tug Hulett's single up the middle off relief man Brian Owens. Amonite then capped a 3-for-4, 3-RBI performance with a two-run blast that advanced the Auburn lead to 7-4.worked the final 1-2/3 innings and earned his SEC-leading 11th save.
The Bulldogs loaded the bases but failed to score in the sixth, stranding 14 base runners in the game, eight of them in scoring position.
Steve Gendron paced State at the plate with three hits, including his eighth double of the year. Maniscalco and Corley had two hits each.
Amonite and Hulett, the SEC's hitting leader, combined for six of Auburn's 14 hits and drove in five of the Tigers' eight runs.
Auburn relief pitchers Levale Speigner, Cory Dueitt and Steven Register blanked the Bulldogs until the ninth inning when Brent Lewis belted a one-out solo home run, his third roundtripper of the year.
Dueitt (6-1) picked up the win with 1-2/3 innings of one-hit shutout pitching, while Register earned his SEC-leading 11th save with 1-2/3 innings of game-closing relief work.
AUBURN 8, MISSISSIPPI STATE 5
AU 004 000 301 -- 8-14-2MSU 004 000 001 -- 5-12-0
WP -- Cory Dueitt (6-1). LP -- Jamie Gant (1-1). SV -- Steven Register (11). HR -- MSU: Matthew Maniscalco (5), Brent Lewis (3); AUB: Karl Amonite (5). T -- 3:07. ATT -- * 11,763 (paid), 11,316 (actual). * 7th-largest attendance at Dudy Noble Field
Alan Johnson, Jamie Gant (4), Brian Owens (7), Jeff Lacher (8) and J.B. Tucker. Arnold Hughey, Levale Speigner (4), Cory Dueitt (6), Steven Register (8) and Josh Bell.
