Auburn Overcomes Early MSU Lead, Takes Series Opener 9-4
April 14, 2006 | Baseball
* Official Statistics
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AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn erupted for four runs in the fourth inningFriday night and relief pitcher Paul Burnside blanked State over thefinal 4-2/3 innings as the Tigers (17-20, 5-8 SEC) claimed aseries-opening 9-4 win over No. 8 Mississippi State at Plainsman Park.
The Tigers overcame 3-0 and 4-3 leads and scored six unanswered runs tohand MSU its fourth straight loss.
Burnside (2-0) blanked MSU with two-hit pitching, walking one andstriking out four to earn the win in relief of Brett Butts. Butts gaveup all four MSU runs during his 4-1/3 inning stint, all on home runs.
Luke Greinke went 3-for4 and drove in two runs as Auburn piled up 15hits, the most allowed by Bulldog pitching this season. All ninestarters in the Auburn batting order hit safely, with five Tigersnotching multi-hit games.
Jeffrey Rea went 3-for-5 with a home run and two doubles and ThomasBerkery went 2-for-3 with two home runs and three RBI. Berkery continuedhis hitting spree for the Bulldogs, extending his hitting streak to 30games, fifth-longest in SEC history.
The Bulldogs used its long ball power to take an early 3-0 lead offAuburn starter Brett Butts. Lead-off Jeffrey Rea launched his first homerun of the year over the right field wall at Plainsman Park. EdwardEasley beat out an infield single and Thomas Berkery followed with histhird home run of the campaign, a towering shot over the 30-foot highleft field wall.
Auburn answered promptly with a three-run burst in the bottom of thefirst, helped along by a missed pick-off play at first base. TylerJohnson greeted starter Brooks Dunn with a single up the middle. Johnsonwas retired at second base on Jeff Boutwell's infield groundout . Dunnretired Mike Bianucci on a pop-up, then balked Boutwell over to secondand walked Josh Donaldson. The Bulldogs appeared to have aninning-ending third out in hand when Donaldson wandered too far off thebag at first base. But Edward Easley's pick-off throw was low andbounced away, allowing the two base-runners to advance. Andy Bennettthen singled in one run and Luke Greinke followed with a game-tyingtwo-run single to left.
State regained the lead at 4-3 in the third inning on Berkery's secondhome run of the game, a two-out solo shot off the stadium scoreboard.
But Dunn was unable to hold the lead, as Auburn struck for four runs asthe first five Tigers singled to open the fourth inning. Justin Bristowsingled in one run, Jonathan Rasberry reached on a bunt single to endDunn's stay ion the game, and Tyler Johnson greeted Bulldog reliefpitcher Brett Cleveland with a two-run single to left. Bianucci drove inthe fourth run with a sacrifice fly to right.
Mississippi State had an opportunity to close the gap in the fifth whenthe Bulldogs loaded the bases. Jeffrey Rea ripped a double into theleft-center gap and Easley was struck by a pitch, the last thrown byBrett Butts. Relief pitcher Paul Burnside threw a wild pitch and thenwalked Thomas Berkery to load the bases. But he retired Moreland on apop-up behind first base and Joseph Hunter grounded into a fielder'schoice to end the rally.
Rea gave MSU another scoring threat in the seventh with a one-outdouble. But Burnside retired Easley on a groundout and struck outBerkery to douse the MSU threat.
Auburn added two insurance runs in the seven. Boutwell and Bianuccisingled sharply to open the inning and Joseph Donaldson followed with abunt single. Brett Cleveland's attempt to throw out Boutwell at thirdbase sailed down the left field foul area, allowing one run to score andadvancing the runners to second and third. Bennett then lofted a flyball to right that scored sent Bianucci home with Auburn's ninth run.
Dunn lasted just three innings, allowing seven runs (six earned) on ninehits with one walk and two strikeouts. it was the shortest outing for aBulldog starter this season. Brett Cleveland worked a career-longestfive innings, scattering six hits and allow two runs (one earned) withtwo walks.
