MSU roundup: Spartans softball sweep Friday games
A pair of seventh-inning home runs by Ebonee Echols and Kelcey Carrasco helped open up a tight 3-1 game as Michigan State improved to 4-1 with a 7-1 victory over Villanova on Friday afternoon in Mediera Beach, Florida. In the second game, Bridgette Rainey struck out a career-high nine batters and Lea Foerster hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning as the Spartan softball team beat UAB 3-1.
Villanova fell to 1-1 on the season; the Wildcats committed four errors and had seven hits on the day. UAB falls to 0-5 on the season.
Against Villanova, Freshman pitcher Jordan Watson improved to 2-0 on the year, going five innings and scattering seven hits, turning the game over to Rainey with a 3-1 lead. Rainey didn't allow a hit in two innings, striking out the side in the seventh to earn the save.
Echols went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI on her seventh-inning round-tripper, while Sarah Gutknecht (two RBI) and Kaitlyn Eveland each had a pair of hits.
In the nightcap, the Blazers jumped out in the top of the first inning, scoring on a wild pitch - but Rainey was masterful, scattering five hits and keeping the Spartans in the game until Foerster's shot in the sixth gave MSU the lead for good. Both Foerster and freshman Melanie Baccay had two hits in the game, as the Spartans had seven hits in the contest. MSU did have two errors, but none inflicted any damage and the Spartans won both of their games on the day.
Rainey improved her record to 3-1 on the season.
Wrestling
Spartans fall to No. 18 Wisconsin in regular-season finale
Michigan State wrestling got pins from Drew Barnes and Javier Gasca but couldn't overtake No. 18 Wisconsin, as the Spartans fell to the Badgers, 26-12, Friday night at the UW Field House in MSU's regular-season finale.
MSU will now prepare for the Big Ten Championships March 4-5 in Bloomington, Indiana.
"I think up and down the line, all our guys competed hard and they'll continue to compete hard," MSU head coach Roger Chandler said. "We just lost the swing matches tonight, matches that could easily have gone the either way. We lost 125, 133, 149 and 157, and those were bouts that we were looking at going into tonight's match that we thought could go our way, but they won all of those. We've just got to get better for two weeks from now, turn around those small margins and turn those losses into victories."
The Spartans got victories from Barnes, a senior 174-pounder in his final regular-season dual match, and Gasca, a redshirt junior at 141 pounds.
Barnes pinned Wisconsin's Santonio Cathery in 3:35 for first fall in a dual this season, but his fourth fall overall this season. It was Barnes' eighth win of the season.
Gasca pinned the Badgers' Eli Stickley at 5:41, controlling the match by opening a 13-2 lead before finally recording the fall. It was Gasca's seventh fall this season, improving to 24-7 overall and 10-5 in duals. Gasca extends his team lead in overall wins, while now tying freshman teammate Drew Hughes for the team lead with 10 dual wins. Gasca's seven falls also ties Hughes for second on the team in falls. Now with 41 dual points, Gasca also overtakes Hughes for the team lead in that category.
Men's Tennis
Spartans on five-match win streak after topping Air Force
Michigan State men’s tennis team stretched its win streak to five after defeating Air Force 6-1 in the opening match of the Presidents’ Weekend on Friday.
MSU improved to 7-3 on the season, while Air Force fell to 3-4.
“Winning a very competitive doubles point was a great start to the match and then we took the momentum after a couple singles,” said head coach Gene Orlando. “A big credit to Air Force they kept us on our toes and they made it tough matches. It was a hard fought 6-1 win.”
MSU hockey has late goal disallowed, falls to Buckeyes
Junior Brett Forman and sophomore Alexander Kim fell 6-1 at No. 3 doubles to Isaac Perez and Mack Galvin. The Spartans quickly battled back with a 6-2 victory in the No. 2 doubles from sophomore Billy Shisler and freshman Doug Francken. MSU’s juniors Michael Dube and Jasper Koenen rounded out doubles play and pushed their No. 1 doubles win streak to three with a 7-5 match victory.
Koenen pushed his match-win streak to five with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Max Olson at No. 2 singles. Sophomore Ivan Rakic gave MSU the 3-1 lead with a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 5 singles. Junior Brett Forman sealed the match with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Lucas Fumgalli at the No. 1 position. After tonight Forman has five consecutive wins at the No. 1 singles position.
Shisler fell at No. 6 singles to Mack Galvin 7-5, 6-4, before sophomore Ivan Rakic and Dube closed out the meet with victories at No. 5 and No. 2 singles, respectively.
Michigan State will turn around to face Army at 2 p.m. Saturday at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility.
Women's swimming and diving
Bukowski earns top marks onsecond day of Big Ten Championships
On Thursday, Junior Racheal Bukowski became the first Spartan to make the top-eight and compete in the finals of a Big Ten Women's Swimming & Diving Championship event since Carly Weiden in 2002. In the 50-yard free, Bukowski swam a time of 22.54 and finished eighth to advance to the finals. In the finals, Bukowski raced to a seventh-place finish with a time of 22.51, a hundredth of a second from the school record she set earlier this season.
“Overall I thought we had some pretty good swims, and I thought we had a pretty good day,” said head coach Matt Gianiodis. “Racheal put on a great performance, and I’m really happy for her too. She got right out of the 50 free and anchored our medley relay which was a school record by almost two seconds so I’m extremely happy about that.”
MSU’s biggest success came at the end of the evening in the final event, the 400-yard medley relay, as the Spartans garnered their first school record of the weekend at the B1G Championships. Sophomore Cathryn Armstrong led off for MSU, seniors Kennedy Cutler and Sarah Love were the second and third swimmers of the relay and Bukowski rounded it out to finish with a time of 3:41.27 and a 12th-place finish.
Senior Madeline Sewell and freshman Rosalie Yockey added to the Spartans’ success on day two with finishes in the C-Finals of the one-meter dive. Sewell nabbed 22nd with a final score of 252.65, while Surdyk finished 24th on a score of 252.00.
Earlier in the day, MSU had athletes compete in both the 500-yard freestyle and the 200-yard individual medley. Junior Haley Kornburger led the Spartan pack in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:56.76, while freshman Rosalie Yockey finished right behind Kornburger with a time of 4:57.20.
- MSU Athletic Communications