MSU baseball falls to Michigan in extra innings
Ann Arbor, Mich. - The Michigan State baseball team fell to No. 16 Michigan, 4-3, in 11 innings on Friday night in Ann Arbor. The Spartans fought back from an early 2-0 deficit to tie it up and did so again in the ninth to force extras, but the Wolverines prevailed in the 11th. The Spartans are now 28-11 on the season and 8-5 in the Big Ten.
Trailing 3-2 in the ninth, MSU put the tying runner on with a leadoff single by Zack McGuire. Dan Chmielewski pinch ran and was sacrificed into scoring position by pinch hitter Kory Young. Sophomore Brandon Hughes came up with the big hit and his second RBI of the night with a single up the middle.
"He's a competitor," said head coach Jake Boss. "I'll take him up with the tying run in scoring position any day. He's been in that situation before and he'll be in it again and we have a lot of faith in him."
With two on and two outs in the bottom of the 11th, Michigan's Ako Thomas shot a single into right for his second RBI of the game to give UM the victory.
Dakota Mekkes (2-1) took the loss despite allowing just two hits in four innings of relief. The righty struck out nine batters after a career-high 10 last weekend, giving him 19 Ks in his last 7.2 innings of work.
"He's got swing and miss stuff and you saw that again tonight," said Boss. "It was longer than we wanted to throw him, but that's what he does. He's a competitor and his stuff his outstanding."
Michigan (29-10, 9-3) scored runs in each of the first two innings to jump out to a 2-0 lead, but MSU minimized the damage. Starter Cam Vieaux stranded two runners in the first before being replaced by Walter Borkovich in the second with two Wolverines on base. Borkovich forced a sharp grounder to third where Justin Hovis stepped on the bag and threw to first to get out of the inning.
MSU, U-M face pivotal weekend Big Ten baseball series
Borkovich retired the first seven batters he faced and worked 5.1 innings in relief, allowing one run on three hits.
"Tough spot for him to come into the ball game," said Boss. "I give him a lot of credit. He got hot quickly and was really, really effective. He got us out of a jam and then cruised there for a while."
MSU got on the board in the fourth with a two-out rally started by Marty Bechina who reached on an infield single. Matt Byars followed with a double down the left field line before Kris Simonton plated Bechina on another infield single.
The Spartans picked up where they left off in the fifth with three consecutive hits to start the inning and tie the game up at 2-2. McGuire led off with a double that dropped just inside of the right field line and between the converging outfielder and first baseman. Royce Ando advanced McGuire to third with a single through the right side before Hughes came up with the RBI single.
The Wolverines regained the lead in the seventh on a sac fly that scored Dominic Jamett, who doubled to left field to start the inning and advanced to third on a sac bunt.
Matt Byars extended his hitting streak to 15 games.
The teams will head to East Lansing for game two of the weekend series tomorrow starting at 1:05 p.m at McLane Baseball Stadium. Ethan Landon (5-1, 2.01 ERA) is scheduled to face Michigan's Oliver Jaski (6-2, 3.10 ERA).
-MSU athletic communications