A late night on the Plains was in store for the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the 11th-ranked Auburn Tigers after a three-hour rain delay forced a late start for the Tigers and Bulldogs in game one of the three-game series.

Mississippi State came to Auburn in desperate need of a series win. The Bulldogs fell to 6-12 in SEC play after last week’s series loss to Florida at Dudy Noble Field and the midweek non-conference walk-off loss to Ole Miss in the Governor’s Cup in Pearl on Tuesday night.

With Pico Kohn on the mound tonight, the Bulldogs would have their knockout Friday night starter to give the Bulldogs a fighting chance while hoping the bats come alive at some point against Auburn. Pico finished his night in the bottom of the 7th after an impressive game despite giving up six runs on nine hits while striking out eight Auburn batters. Ben Davis would come in the bottom of the 7th with an Auburn runner on second with two outs on the board.

On the mound for the Auburn Tigers on Friday night, Samuel Dutton. Dutton was dominant in his start, allowing two runs with nine strikeouts while giving the Tigers six complete innings.

Mississippi State struck while the iron was hot in the top half of the 4th inning off the bat of Noah Sullivan, who jacked a two-run shot well over the left field wall at Auburn to give the Bulldogs an early 2-0 lead over the Tigers. Auburn would respond in the bottom of the 4th inning with timely hitting as the Tigers took a 4-2 lead over the Bulldogs. Auburn would add another run in the bottom of the 6th to make it 5-2 Tigers. Mississippi State catcher Joe Powell came up to the plate in the top half of the 7th inning with no outs and tied the game at five with a three-run shot over the Auburn monster in left field. Off an RBI double from Cooper McMurray, the Auburn Tigers jumped back ahead of Mississippi State 6-5 in the bottom of the 7th.

It was just another one of those games for Mississippi State. Pico positioned the Bulldogs to win with solid pitching while the bats scored five runs, but leaving Pico in too long once again cost the Bulldogs another game. As frustrating as it is, Mississippi State is right there from breaking through and delivering on the standard of Bulldogs baseball. With the loss, Mississippi State drops to 24-17 overall and 6-13 in Southeastern Conference play.

Mississippi State will try to even the series with 11th-ranked Auburn on Saturday. The first pitch is slated for 6:00 p.m. on the SEC Network Plus.

Cover photo credits- Auburn Baseball on X