Starkville, MS- An adventure of a ballgame featuring two rain delays saw the Bulldogs top #17 Auburn 9-5 with a lights-out pitching performance from Preston Johnson.
Last week Chris Lemonis said that Preston Johnson had his best performance of the season, but the senior righty topped that tonight. After an hour-and-a-half delay to the ballgame, Johnson dominated the Auburn lineup for seven innings, striking out a career-high 12 batters and allowing just three hits and one unearned run.
"He stayed locked in all night," said Lemonis.
The Bulldog bats got off to a hot start getting two runs across on Auburn starter Trace Bright. Logan Tanner knocked in a run on a sac fly, and Hunter Hines drove one in on a single. Bright settled in and shut the Mississippi State offense for the next four innings but got into some trouble in the sixth and exited with the bases loaded. Auburn made the switch to Carson Swilling, and a double down the 3rd baseline by RJ Yeager put two runs across.
The Diamond Dawgs poured it on in the top of the seventh with a 3-run bomb from Brad Cumbest over the right-center wall, his tenth of the season, and a 2-run shot from Kamren James extended the lead to 9-1.
Johnson entered back in for the eighth inning despite sitting at 103 pitches and was a little fatigued walking the first batter and hitting the next. After allowing an RBI single to Auburn centerfielder Kason Howell, Johnson walked off to a standing ovation by the crowd of 12,346 fans.
"It was a blessing from the Lord," said Johnson
Drew Talley entered in relief of Johnson, and after a walk and two singles, Auburn had gotten two runs across. State made the switch to KC Hunt to blow out the fire, and while Auburn got another run across on an infield single by 2nd baseman Cole Foster, three strikeouts limited the damage and kept Mississippi State ahead 9-5.
Mississippi State got a pair of baserunners on in the bottom of the eighth, but the rain came pouring down, and the game would be delayed by about 45 minutes. The Bulldogs couldn't get a run across after the delay, and KC Hunt came back out for the ninth and shut the Tigers down to clinch the series.
