GREEN & WHITE

MSU baseball falls to OSU, gets 2nd shot Sunday

Chris Webb
Special to the Detroit Free Press
Spartans pitcher Jake Lowery pitches in relief during the loss to Ohio State in the Big Ten Baseball Tournament at TD Ameritrade Park.

OMAHA, Neb. — A pair of evenly matched teams played a game true to the numbers.

Before Michigan State looked to take down Ohio State and advance to the Big Ten Tournament championship game, the Spartans entered with a 2.69 team ERA, best in the Big Ten. Attempting to stave off elimination, OSU countered with a 3.05 mark, the second-lowest, but also owned a conference-high 55 home runs. In a battle of pitching, an OSU home run in the 10th was the difference in a 3-2 Ohio State victory.

“It was a good ball game, credit Ohio State,” Michigan State head coach Jake Boss said. “We missed taking advantage on a few opportunities, they capitalized late and we lose a one-run ball game.

Michigan State (36-19) will again play Ohio State (41-18-1) Sunday morning at 10 a.m., with a spot in the tournament championship game on the line, an opportunity Boss is eager to take on. “I’m proud of the way our kids competed, our guys will be ready to play tomorrow.”

OSU started the scoring with a manufactured run in the second. Back-to-back singles were followed by a sacrifice bunt and run-scoring grounder for third-seeded OSU. It was an early lead that was short-lived.

Kris Simonton singled with one out in the bottom of the second, reaching scoring position on a walk drawn by Marty Bechina. The two runners reached in scoring position, advancing a base on a double steal. After a strikeout, shortstop Kory Young laid a perfect grass-hugging bunt down the third base line, a suicide squeeze bringing home Simonton and leveling the score.

“That’s what we wanted to do,” Boss said of Michigan State’s aggressive approach. “We tied it on a great bunt in a tight ball game with two good clubs, you try to get momentum however you can.”

An inning later, the Spartans stole the Ohio State script in manufacturing a run.

Jordan Zimmerman singled through the left side, in front of Dan Durkin laying down a sacrifice bunt. Matt Byars put the seventh-seeded Spartans in front with a liner to right field. It too was a short lived lead, another one countered with a dose of small ball.

It's win or go home for MSU at Big Ten baseball tourney

OSU started the fourth with back-to-back singles, putting two runners in scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Another productive out on a grounder to Durkin at second base tied the game, 2-2, but MSU starter Andrew Gonzalez stranded the runner at third to escape the inning and limit the damage.

The middle innings saw a battle of bullpens, each team putting zeros on the scoreboard in innings five through ninth —a clean eighth inning for MSU the most impressive.

Facing Spartan reliever Jake Lowery, Ohio State left fielder Ronnie Dawson pulled a leadoff double down the right field line. In the next at-bat, Lowery induced a pop out to keep Dawson at second. After issuing a walk to put two on base, Lowery responded with back-to-back swinging strikeouts, escaping the jam.

The Spartans were unable to ride the momentum, though in prime position to walk off with a win.

A single to the right center gap from Bechina opened the ninth. After a sacrifice bunt put Bechina at second, a comebacker to OSU reliever Seth Kinker caught Bechina in a rundown between second and third, after Bechina was tagged out, Young was tagged out trying to reach second, ending the inning.

The next player to step to the plate, Dawson homered to right center for the game-winning run. Dawson’s double and home run were the lone extra-base hits on the night, in a game of 17 hits and five sacrifice bunts.

BIG TEN TOURNAMENT

No. 7 MSU vs. No. 4 Ohio State

When: 10 a.m. Today

Where: TD Ameritrade Park,

Omaha, Nebraska

TV: Big Ten Network

Online: SpartanSportsNetwork.com

Up next: MSU (2-1) will face Ohio State with the winner advancing to play No. 8 Iowa in the championship game at 2 p.m. today.