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May 14, 2000
AUBURN- Auburn scored seven runs in the last three innings to come away with a 9-5 win over Mississippi State in coach Hal Baird's final regular-season game at Plainsman Park. Auburn improved to 40-16 and 17-13 in the SEC, finishing third in the Western Division. MSU dropped to 38-15 and 17-10 in the league.
Baird, who will retire at the conclusion of the 2000 season after 16 years at Auburn, was recognized in a pre-game ceremony. Auburn received a strong pitching performance from Hayden Gliemmo and the Tiger offense collected 12 hits, including a home run by Todd Faulkner, his 22nd of the season, which set a school record.
Gliemmo (4-1) picked up the win after allowing just five hits and one run while striking out a season-high seven batters in 6.0 innings of work. Freshman Brent Speigner earned his first career save after pitching three innings and giving up two runs and three hits.
Auburn grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third inning on three consecutive hits. Gabe Gross led off the inning with a double and was followed by a RBI double from Todd Faulkner. Faulkner scored on Brett Burnham's single to centerfield.
The Tigers scored four runs in the sixth to take a 6-0 advantage on three consecutive walks followed by three straight singles. Auburn's seven through nine batters each walked setting up singles from Dominic Rich, Mailon Kent and Gabe Gross.
Mississippi State cut the Auburn lead to 6-4 in the with three in the seventh and one in the eighth. The Bulldogs' Jon Knott led off the seventh with a solo home run to leftfield off Gliemmo. Following a pitching change, Tiger reliever Kevin Knorst walked Ty Martin and gave up a double to Jamie Rock. Martin scored on a fielding error by Dominic Rich and Rock scored on a wild pitch by Brent Speigner. MSU added a run in the eighth courtesy of a RBI single from Rock.
Auburn answered with three runs in the eighth. Gross drove in Mailon Kent with a single and Faulkner followed with a two-run home run off the scoreboard. The homer, his 22nd, broke the single season record of 21 held by Frank Thomas in 1987 and Josh Etheredge in 1998.
The Bulldogs scored one more run in the ninth when lead-off hitter Matthew Maniscalco belted a home run over the right center field wall. MSU pitcher Jeff Hunter (6-2) was charged with the loss after giving up two runs and six hits and striking out two in 4.1 innings of work.
Auburn will travel to Hoover, Ala., this coming week for the Southeastern Conference Tournament, May 17-21, at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. The Tigers will play on Wednesday, May 17 at 5 pm against fourth-seeded Florida. Airtime on the Auburn Network set for 4:45 pm. You can listen to Auburn Baseball live in our Live Audio section.
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