Bulldogs score late, beat Auburn 6-5
Apr. 10—AUBURN, Ala. — Mississippi State gave Landon Sims a late lead, and the star closer slammed the door shut against Auburn Friday night.
No. 5-ranked Mississippi State beat Auburn, 6-5, at Plainsman Park. The Bulldogs scored the game-winning run in the top of the eighth inning on a wild pitch and Sims pitched two perfect innings in the eighth and ninth innings to secure the Game one win.
Game two will be on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Mississippi State (22-7, 6-4 SEC), which led 5-2 midway through the game, blew a three-run lead in the bottom of the seventh inning but quickly gained the lead back.
Tanner Leggett, starting at second base in place of Scotty Dubrule, hit a one-out double in the top of the eighth inning to give Mississippi State a runner in scoring position. He popped up to the infield, but the Auburn first baseman lost the ball in the sky and it dropped in the infield.'
Leggett hustled out of the box and beat the throw to second base.
Brayland Skinner then advanced the runner to third base on a groundout and Leggett scored on a wild pitch with two outs to give Mississippi State a 6-5 lead.
Sims then entered the game and retired all six batters he faced. He forced a pop up for the first out, then struck out four straight batters and ended the game with a fly out to left field.
Sims earned his third save of the year and improved his season era to 0.42. He has allowed one earned run in 21.1 innings and struck out 43 batters this year.
