No. 6 Auburn Evens Series After Ninth-Inning HR
May 08, 2026 | Baseball
STARKVILLE - No. 11 Mississippi State made a late push Friday night, but No. 6 Auburn had the final answer.
Chase Fralick homered to right-center field to lead off the ninth inning, lifting Auburn to a 5-4 win over the Diamond Dawgs at Dudy Noble Field. The Tigers held off MSU after State erased a four-run deficit with runs in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings.
Mississippi State could not complete the comeback after pulling even with a run in the eighth. Both teams finished with 10 hits apiece and each stranded 10 runners.
Ace Reese led the Bulldogs at the plate, going 4-for-5 with two doubles, two runs scored and an RBI. Reed Stallman added a two-run homer, while Bryce Chance drove in a run for State.
Auburn (34-15, 15-11) grabbed control in the third inning. Lucas Steele walked, Mason McCraine singled and Eric Guevara walked to load the bases. Fralick brought in the first run with a sacrifice fly, and Cooper Rembert followed with an RBI single to put the Tigers ahead 2-0.
The Tigers stretched the lead to 4-0 in the fifth. McCraine singled and Guevara was hit by a pitch before Rembert's groundout scored one run. Eric Bingaman then singled up the middle to bring home another.
Mississippi State answered in the bottom half. Reese doubled down the first-base line, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when Stallman launched a two-run homer down the left-field line, cutting Auburn's lead in half.
The Diamond Dawgs kept chipping away in the seventh. Reese doubled again and later scored on Chance's two-out single through the left side, trimming the deficit to 4-3.
MSU tied things up in the eighth after Kevin Milewski walked and moved to second on Ryder Woodson's sacrifice bunt. Reese then singled to right field to score Milewski knotting the score 4-4.
Fralick quickly swung momentum back to Auburn in the ninth, leading off the inning with a solo shot against Ben Davis for the game's decisive run.
Duke Stone started for Mississippi State and allowed four runs on seven hits over 4 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out seven. Maddox Miller followed with 1 1/3 scoreless innings, and Davis took the loss after giving up one run on two hits with five strikeouts over three innings.
Auburn reliever Jackson Sanders earned the win, allowing two runs on four hits over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out four and walked two after taking over for starter Andreas Alvarez, who gave up two runs on six hits with seven strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.
The series rubber match is scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. on SEC Network. Sophomore right-hander Ryan McPherson (3-0, 2.45 ERA) returns to the mound to start for MSU while the Tigers go with redshirt sophomore righty Alex Petrovic (7-2, 3.14 ERA).
McPherson has not pitched since leaving his start against Vanderbilt with an injury on March 20.
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