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Cowbell Corner

Mississippi State builds big lead, holds it to beat Auburn

The Bulldogs broke away from their normal routine and held off a late comeback attempt by the Tigers, giving their postseason hopes a boost.
Taylor Hodges|
Mississippi State Bulldogs' Ace Reese (3) celebrates his home run against the Auburn Tigers at Plainsman Park in Auburn, Ala.
Mississippi State Bulldogs' Ace Reese (3) celebrates his home run against the Auburn Tigers at Plainsman Park in Auburn, Ala. | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Usually comebacks are surprising, unexpected events, but not against Mississippi State. It’s basically expected an opposing team will go on a scoring run.

Sure enough, it happened again Saturday night. Mississippi State built a 10-1 lead after four innings and Evan Siary left the game after six innings with the Bulldogs leading 10-3. You don’t need to Nostradamus to guess what happened next.

Auburn scored two runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth, cutting Mississippi State’s lead to 11-7. The Tigers could tie the game with one swing of the bat, if the right situation presents itself.

And of course it did.

The Tigers loaded the bases after Lucas Steele’ two-run single and back-to-back walks, giving pinch-hitter Eric Snow (five home runs this season) a chance to tie the game with one swing.

However, Snow would hit a sharp ground ball the Bulldogs turned into an inning-ending double play. Mississippi State would add a run in the ninth inning, taking away the one-swing threat, and get a crucial 12-7 win.

Why is it crucial? Sure, it helps the Bulldogs’ NCAA Tournament resume, but SEC Tournament seeding is important.

Before today’s games, Florida and Mississippi State share identical 7-13 conference records. Texas A&M is one game ahead (8-12) but is playing No. 1 Texas. Kentucky is at 9-11, which gives the SEC a four-team cluster.

Based on the current standings, the Bulldogs would be the No. 14 seed in the SEC Tournament and face Kentucky in the first round. Not the worst situation, but it could be better. Auburn would get to play Missouri in the first round, which is about as close to a guaranteed win you can get.

Saturday’s win keeps the Bulldogs on pace with the other four teams in the cluster and actually closes the gap to the next tier of SEC teams that includes Auburn. Another win (combined with potential losses by Florida and Texas A&M) would put the Bulldogs ahead of the Gators in the SEC standings and tied with Texas A&M (Mississippi State would win the tiebreaker based on its better overall record).

So, instead of playing Kentucky, Mississippi State would face Texas A&M. OK, maybe that’s not much of an improvement. It’s a good thing then there are still three more weeks until the SEC Tournament.

Mississippi State and Auburn will wrap up their weekend series Sunday at Plainsman Park at 2 p.m. on SECN+.

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Taylor Hodges
TAYLOR HODGES

Award-winning sports editor, writer, columnist, and photographer with 15 years’ experience offering his opinion and insight about the sports world in Mississippi and Texas, but he was taken to Razorback pep rallies at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth before he could walk. Taylor has covered all levels of sports, from small high schools in the Mississippi Delta to NFL games. Follow Taylor on Twitter and Facebook.

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