State Hangs On To Upset #23 Tigers, Tie Series
May 25, 2016 | Softball
Official Game Statistics
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Homestanding Mississippi State rallied for four runs behind outstanding pitching performance from a pair of its pitchers and held off a late rally by 23rd-ranked Auburn to even up its series with the visiting Tigers on a 4-3 upset victory in the second half of a series-opening doubleheader Saturday afternoon at the MSU Softball Field.
The win for the Bulldogs (24-17, 6-8 SEC) marks their third over a top 25 opponent this week and kept the Maroon and White alive in the race for a spot in both the conference and NCAA postseason. The victory also put the Maroon and White in a position for its third consecutive league series victory when it faces Auburn (35-10, 9-4) in the rubber match on Sunday afternoon.
MSU rookie Courtney Bures homered for the 11th time this season and crossed the plate twice to highlight a 2-for-2 hitting line, while Tanelda McDonald singled twice in three trips to the plate to extend her career-long hitting streak out to eight games. Auburn got a pair of multi-hit tallies from Kristina McCain and Paige Jones in the setback.
MSU starter Kelli Miller (9-5) captured victory for the fifth time in seven appearances over the last eight days, striking out three and scattering seven hits over her 13th complete game of the campaign to pick up the win. Ragan Blake, who has more than proven her worth this week as well, came on in relief of Miller in the sixth and surrendered just one hit while striking out three Tigers to pick up her fourth save of the season. Holly Currie (14-6) saddled the loss for the visitors, allowing four runs on seven hits to offset 10 strikeouts.
"I thought it was a big win for us," said Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller. "It keeps us in the race for the SEC and the NCAA Tournament. We want to win every series we play in. If you don't win at least one today, you don't have a chance to win the series on Sunday. Our challenge now is to come out tomorrow and play strong and finish them off."
State lit up the scoreboard first, utilizing an Auburn error to get leadoff hitter Katie Cooley aboard in the first. Lindsay Hunley moved the runner into position with the next at-bat to set the table for Bures, who laced a ball into rightfield to give MSU a 1-0 lead heading into the second.
MSU struck again in the third, getting a one out single from Hunley to pave the way for Bures again as the rookie smacked a 2-and-2 offering from Currie over the fence and under the scoreboard in left field. Auburn answered with its own rally in the bottom of the frame, getting a leadoff triple from Sara Dean and a RBI double from Paige Jones to cut the MSU lead to just a pair, 3-1, heading into the fifth.
State went to work with aggressive baserunning in the bottom of the fifth to plate an insurance run they would eventually need. The Bulldogs used a single and a walk to put its first two runners of the frame aboard, then used a double steal to put the pressure on the Auburn defense. Tiger catcher Sara Dean came up firing to third and, after her throw sailed over the glove of the third baseman McCain, Bures trotted home easily to make the score 4-1.
Auburn strung together a trio of hits in the sixth and got a little help from the MState defense in scoring a pair of runs before Blake came on to shut the door. The Missouri City, Texas, native would go on to strike out three of the final four Auburn batters.
Mississippi State and Auburn will close out their weekend series on Sunday afternoon when the two meet again in the 1 p.m. series finale at the MSU Softball Field. Sunday's series bookend will be broadcast live by WMSV 91.1 FM with Anthony Craven calling all the balls and strikes, while the game has also been scheduled to be televised regionally by Fox Sports Net South as part of their SEC-TV package. Admission to all 2005 MSU Softball home games is free.
