Mississippi State can't hold off Auburn to drop another series

Bulldogs use six pitchers, but early hole was simply too deep to chip their way out

Mississippi State Bulldogs Ace Reese at the plate in game against Florida. | MSU Athletics

AUBURN, Ala. — Mississippi State took the bats with them on a road trip to face No. 11 Auburn with a chance of getting some momentum at the end of the season.

In a series with 52 total runs scored (the Tigers had a 27-25 edge there) both teams were running thin on pitching Sunday. Auburn ended up having enough to pull out a 14-8 win and take the series.

"We didn’t make pitches, but we didn’t defend well early either," Bulldogs coach Chris Lemonis said on radio after it was over. "That’s a bad combination."

The Tigers jumped out with two runs in the first inning before Mississippi State answered to tie things up heading to the bottom of the second.

That's when the bottom fell out with Auburn putting up six in the bottom half of the inning, then adding three in the fourth for an 11-3 lead. It was a hole the Bulldogs chipped at getting out of, but never could put together a run big enough to threaten anything.

Two for the day, three for the weekend, sixteen for the season#HailState🐶 https://t.co/4IoFwyozGi pic.twitter.com/1xgus0afnR

— Mississippi State Baseball (@HailStateBB) April 27, 2025

Mississippi State's Ace Reese, Hunter Hines and Bryce Chance were all 2-for-4 at the plate, but they were scattered. Six Bulldogs' pitchers also had problems getting people out, making matters even worse.

Auburn had more hits (14-9) and got the big hits with runners on the bases. Mississippi State was just 4-fo-13 with runners on, the Tigers finished the game 10-of-21 with 6-of-14 when runners were in scoring position.

The loss dropped the Bulldogs to 14th in the SEC standings with three weeks left. Mississippi State will have to win at least six of the final nine games with seven more wins for the postseason. That's a tall hill to climb for this team.

After a midweek game at home against Memphis on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Then Kentucky comes in on Super Bulldog weekend for a series starting Friday at 6 p.m.