The Mississippi State Diamond Dawgs treated a large Super Bulldog Weekend crowd to some good baseball, taking two out of three games from the Auburn Tigers.
Friday
In the opening game of the Super Bulldog Weekend baseball series versus the Tigers, Mississippi State senior pitcher Alan Johnson pitched an eight-inning gem to lead the Dawgs to a 4-1 victory.
Johnson allowed only six hits and one earned run to go with his six-strikeout performance. The win was his second of the year, ending a three-decision losing streak.
“A.J. did what you had to do against a fine Auburn ball club,” Bulldog head coach Ron Polk said. “He got some strikeouts and some big ground balls.”
Johnson was aided in his victory by a balanced Bulldog offensive attack led by a multi-hit effort by Ed Easley and RBI’s by Thomas Berkery, Brad Jones and Brian LaNinfa.
LaNinfa batted in the opening run of the contest on an infield groundout to score Jones in the second. Auburn answered in the fourth with a Karl Amonite home run, the sixth of the year for the SEC’s RBI leader.
However, the Bulldogs were able to put the Tigers away for good in the sixth on Jones’s infield groundout for the team’s second run of the game.
After a wild pitch and a Berkery sac fly, the Bulldogs led by three. That was all Johnson needed as he made the lead stand up to the end.
Saturday
Saturday’s warm weather added a pop to the bats of both teams with Mississippi State coming up on the shallow end of an 8-7 decision.
MSU starter Todd Doolittle gave up three home runs in the opening frame, putting the Diamond Dawgs behind in the contest 5-0 before they ever got to the plate.
The Tigers would extend the lead in the second inning, scoring two runs after a throwing error by second baseman Jeffery Rae.
The Bulldogs declined the opportunity to play dead for the final eight innings, rather rallying from the 7-0 deficit with a two run single by Ed Easley in the second, followed by another two run single in the fourth by All-American outfielder Brad Corley.
Auburn answered the Bulldog rally in the fifth, adding their eighth run on a Clete Thomas grounder that was bobbled by Jones for an error.
The run would prove to be the last of the day for the Tigers, and the Dawgs erupted for another rally in the seventh. The Dawgs benefited from two crucial Tiger errors, scoring three runs on three hits to bring them to within one run.
Highly touted Auburn relief pitcher Michael Nix silenced the Bulldog attack in the eighth, leaving the Bulldogs with three outs in the ninth to get a run against the SEC leader in saves to force extra innings.
Nix forced the Dawgs into two quick outs to begin the ninth, but missed a chance to end the game when Brian LaNinfa reached first on a throwing error by the shortstop.
Freshman Bunky Kateon took full advantage of the extra at bat, singling through the right side, but ended the game when he tried to stretch the hit into a double and was easily thrown out at second.
“We gave them a scare,” Polk said. “I’d like to have the opportunity to have (Easley) bat, but kids are going to make mistakes. That’s the game.”
Sunday
For a Bulldog team in need of a win to take a crucial home series, Sunday prayers were answered in the form of Jon Crosby.
Crosby, a sophomore for the maroon and white, threw a complete game shutout to defeat the Tigers by a score of 4-0 and clinch the series.
“This was a big win for our team,” Crosby said. “We felt bad about letting Saturday get away. I wanted to throw strikes and give my team a chance.”
Crosby struck out seven and walked none in his fifth win of the campaign.
The gem was the first nine-inning complete game by a Bulldog starter this season, and just the third complete game for the staff overall. The previous two both occurred last weekend in seven inning affairs against the Tennessee Volunteers.
“Jon pumped a lot of strikes through the zone,” Polk said. “He had good control of all of his pitches. We had some timely hitting and it turned into a big weekend for our ball club.”
Timely hitting had been a problem for Polk’s squad, having stranded over 20 baserunners in a five game stretch earlier this month.
Sunday, however, the Diamond Dawgs scored four runs on eight hits and were led by multi-hit performances by both Jones and Berkery.
The win leaves the Bulldogs, 20-8 overall and 6-5 in the SEC, in sole possession of third place in the SEC West and only 1.5 games behind first place Alabama.
“We really needed to win this game,” Berkery said. “It would make things hard to lose a conference series at home. Our backs were against the wall after yesterday. It was a big win.”
The Bulldogs will return to action tonight against Louisiana-Monroe, and will conclude midweek play tomorrow night against Samford before traveling to Georgia on Friday for an SEC series against the Bulldogs.