Early Lead, Miscues Key Auburn Past State In Series Opener, 7-3
Bulldogs Strand 10 In Loss
STARKVILLE, Miss. --? Auburn (20-23, 8-11 SEC) took advantage of shaky pitching and early miscues to build an early lead, then fought off a handful of Mississippi State (27-16, 7-9) rallies to defeat the Bulldogs, 7-3, in the opener of a three-game series Saturday evening at the Mississippi State Softball Field.
Junior Krystal Tillman paced MSU after scoring twice on a 2-for-3 tally with a solo homer, while all-American Iyhia McMichael stretched her career-long hitting streak to 23 games on a 1-for-3 tally and a walk to pace five other Bulldogs with base hits in the game. Auburn shortstop Ashley Griffin drove in three runs and scored twice to lead the Tiger attack.
Mississippi State starter Jennifer Nelson (6-5) allowed four runs on three hits and a pair of walks in one and one-thirds innings of work before giving way to Courtney Frank in the second. Frank allowed three runs on five hits and a walk, striking out three, in five and two-thirds innings of work. Auburn's Kristin Keyes (6-11) took the win for the Tigers, despite walking six and surrendering seven hits. Keyes also struck out seven.
Auburn used two Mississippi State errors in the first to their advantage, plating a run with timely hitting and taking a quick 1-0 lead. MSU matched the score in the bottom half of the first when Kate Jaspers scored on a wild pitch, but Auburn rallied for five unanswered runs in the next two innings to dig the Bulldogs a deeper hole.
The Tigers stretched their lead out to 7-1 on Jodi Van Ooyen's groundout in the fourth, before MSU finally answered the scoring on Jennifer Nelson's RBI triple in the bottom of the inning. Tillman's homer in the sixth brought the Bulldogs to within four, but MSU could not get any closer.
AUBURN 7, MISSISSIPPI STATE 3Auburn 132 100 0 - 7 8 1 Mississippi State 100 101 0 - 3 7 2
Keyes and Zeigler; J. Nelson, Frank (2) and Waterman. W ? Keyes (6-11). L ? J. Nelson (6-5). Save ? None. 2B AUB, Dean. 3B MSU, J. Nelson. HR AUB, Griffin. MSU, Tillman.