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May 13, 2000
AUBURN- No. 7 Mississippi State rallied from a five-run deficit and scored on a suicide squeeze play in the ninth to defeat No. 14 Auburn, 10-9, at Plainsman Park today. The Bulldogs improved to 38-14 overall and 17-9 in the Southeastern Conference while Auburn fell to 39-16 and 16-13 in the conference.
Matthew Maniscalco's suicide squeeze with one out in the ninth with the Auburn infield in, worked to perfection scoring Darron Wright from third, for the game winning run. Wright led off the inning with a bloop double down the left-field line and was sacrificed to third by Ryan McGrath.
Auburn seemingly had the game in hand early, scoring three runs in the third and five in the fourth to take a 9-4 advantage. Ahead 9-5 in the fifth, the Tigers had the bases loaded with one out, however Gabe Gross grounded into a force play at home and Todd Faulkner flew out to right, leaving all three runners stranded.
Mississippi State reliever Josh Wooten (3-0) picked up the victory, allowing just two hits and no runs in 4.2 innings of work. Wooten worked out of the bases loaded jam in the fifth and was solid the remainder of the way.
Colter Bean (9-4) was credited with the loss for Auburn. Bean allowed one run and four hits in 3.0 innings of work. Starter Chris Bootcheck has his shortest conference outing of the season, lasting 5.0 innings allowing five runs (three earned) on seven hits.
The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the second behind back-to-back solo home runs by Jon Knott and Ty Martin. Auburn answered with a Bobby Huddleston solo homer in the third before scoring eight over the next two innings.
Todd Faulkner hit a two-run home run in the third and Auburn had seven consecutive hits in the five-run fourth. Faulkner's homer was his 21st of the season, tying a school single-season record held by Josh Etheredge and Frank Thomas.
The two teams will square off in the series finale tomorrow beginning at 1:30 pm CT. Sunday's regular-season finale will be Hal Baird Day at Plainsman Park. The long-time Auburn coach will be retiring at the conclusion of the 2000 season after 16 years on the Plains. Airtime on the Auburn Network set for 1:15 pm. You can listen to Auburn Baseball live in our Live Audio section.
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