MSU roundup: Minnesota beats Spartan hockey, clinches Big Ten title

Lansing State Journal, Lansing
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A pair of first-period goals were enough to push No. 5 Minnesota past the Michigan State hockey team, 4-0, on Friday night at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis. Defenseman Jake Sadek scored twice for the Gophers as they clinched the Big Ten regular-season title.

“I thought we struggled at times in our own end of the rink covering them defensively,” MSU head coach Tom Anastos said. “I thought we gave up too many point shots, obviously.”

Sadek’s first goal came just seconds after the Spartans extinguished the first Gopher power play of the night. With the puck still in the MSU end, Sadek let a shot go from the right point that got through traffic and beat John Lethemon on the far side with 12:08 to go in the period.

Another Sadek shot, from nearly the same spot, got past Lethemon with 3:24 to play in the first to make it 2-0.

The Spartans (7-23-3, 3-14-2) created a handful of chances, including a pair off tipped pucks, and finished the first 20 minutes with same amount of shots as Minnesota – eight.

Lethemon stopped all 14 Minnesota shots in a second period that did not see either team create many quality-scoring chances.

With the Spartans on their second power-play opportunity of the game with just over 12 minutes to play in the third, Lethemon made his best save of the night as he stoned Tyler Sheehy on a shorthanded breakaway.

“We couldn’t get anything going on the power play when we had the opportunity and we just couldn’t find the back of the net to get that first goal and get some momentum,” Anastos said.

The Gophers (23-10-2, 14-5) eventually pushed their lead to 3-0 with 8:29 to play as Darian Romanko finished off a 2-on-1.

Defenseman Ryan Collins capped the scoring with a shot from the point with 48 seconds to play.

In his third straight start in goal, Lethemon made 24 saves for the Spartans. Minnesota’s Eric Schierhorn also made 24 stops in recording a shutout.

MSU went 0-for-3 on the power play, while Minnesota went 0-for-2.

“That’s a good team; I like how hard we competed,” Anastos said. “We have to come back with a lot of energy and compete tomorrow night.”

Track & Field

Ehrhardt finishes fourth at the NCAA indoor championships

Redshirt junior Tim Ehrhardt took fourth in the men’s pole vault as he represented Michigan State at the 2017 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday at the Gillman Indoor Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M in College Station, Texas.

“I’m happy with how Tim performed,” said assistant coach Ceith Creekmur. “What Tim does really well is get into championship meets and he just competes. He is less concerned with how high the bar is and more concerned with staying in the fight.”

Ehrhardt was seeded No. 11 in the men’s pole vault prior to the championships and out of 16 competitors, he took fourth place. His best jump of the evening was clearing 5.50-meters, which was a career-best.

Ehrhardt was one of only four competitors to clear 5.50-meters, while six scratched at 5.45-meters, three at 5.35-meters, and the rest at 5.25-meters or below.

Chris Nilsen of South Dakota won the men’s pole vault championships clearing 5.70-meters, Audie Wyatt of Texas A&M took second on a best jump of 5.55-meters, and Matthew Ludwig of Akron took third also clearing 5.50-meters.

WRESTLING

Three set to compete at the NCAA championships

Michigan State wrestling will be represented by three wrestlers at the NCAA Wrestling National Championships next weekend at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, March 16-18.

Redshirt junior 141-pounder Javier Gasca will be representing the Spartans' for the second straight year. Redshirt sophomore 133-pounder Austin Eicher will also be making his second trip to the NCAAs, but first for MSU after transferring from Northern Illinois last summer. At 165 pounds, Drew Hughes will be making the rare NCAA appearance as a freshman. 

The three Spartans qualifying for the NCAA National Championships is the most since 2013, when MSU sent four to the NCAAs. Hughes is the first Spartan freshman to qualify since Sean McMurray in 2011.

Gasca earned a No. 13 seed at 141 pounds and will face Jimmy Gulibon of Penn State, in what will be a rematch from the Big Ten Championships quarterfinal bout that Gasca pinned Gulibon at the 6:20 mark. Gulibon finished eighth at the Big Ten Championships and has a 14-10 record on the season.

Hughes also earned a national seed at No. 15 and will face  Keilan Torres of Northern Colorado, who has a 28-14 record after finishing third at the Big XII Championships.

In the first round, Eicher will face Chris Debien of Tennessee at Chattanooga, who has a 17-9 record after winning the Southern Conference Championship last weekend.

Swimming & Diving

Sewell becomes first female MSU diver to compete in NCAA championships

Senior Madeline Sewell led Michigan State on the final day of the NCAA Division Zone C Diving Championships on Friday. Sewell finished fifth overall in the 1-meter dive and will now compete in the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships on March 16.

Sewell will be the first Spartan on the Michigan State women’s swimming & diving team to ever compete in the NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving Championships. In the preliminary rounds of the 1-meter dive, Sewell nabbed a score of 288.30 after six dives to qualify for the finals in fourth place. In the finals, she picked up a score of 273.70 to finish fifth overall with a combined final score of 562.00. 

“It was fantastic, she did a terrific job,” said swimming and diving coach Eric Best. “She didn’t miss a single dive. She had 12 really, really good dives today. It’s been a really rough year for her. She’s been dealing with some sickness issues all year long so we’ve really had to limit her training this year and it was great to see her finish the regular season this way.”

Sophomore Julia Oppedisano was the next top-finisher for MSU in the preliminary rounds with a final score of 233.45, a 30th-place finish. Sophomores Heidi Surdyk and Morgan Wellenzohn rounded out the MSU competitors with final scores in the preliminaries of 226.30 and 197.20, respectively.

SOFTBALL

Spartans takewalkoff win over ETSU

Michigan State got a walkoff victory over East Tennessee State in the bottom of the seventh inning Friday afternoon to kick off the Kennesaw State Owl Challenge.

MSU, which trailed by four runs in the first inning, took an 8-6 lead in the fifth, but saw ETSU rally for a pair in the top of the seventh to tie the game. Lea Foerster's bases-clearing triple in the fifth gave MSU its first lead of the day after trailing by as many as four runs in the first inning. In the seventh, a leadoff walk to Kelcey Carrasco and single by Kelly Zackrison put the Spartans in a good position with none out, and Melanie Baccay brought home Carrasco with the winning run when the second baseman bobbled her hit up the middle for an error.

Bridgette Rainey earned the win, her seventh of the season, after coming in with the bases loaded and none out in the top of the seventh. She allowed the tying runs on a walk and a wild pitch, but struck out two.

In a cruel twist of fate, the Spartans lost the second game of the day on a walkoff single in the bottom of the seventh to Kennesaw, 9-8. 

MSU is now 15-5 on the year.

The Spartans got homers from Kaitlyn Eveland and Foerster, a triple from Ebonee Echols, and a nine-strikeout performance from starter Rainey, which tied her career best. The host Owls became just the third team to register double-digit hits against the Spartans this season, as KSU got 15, the most surrendered by MSU in a game this year. MSU stranded eight runners, while KSU left 12 on the basepaths.

Kennesaw starter Alley Cutting went the distance, striking out six and walking two. Rainey threw her third complete game of the year and threw a career-high 156 pitches in the contest. She falls to 7-4 on the season, walking four.

The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Spartans.

Men's Tennis

Spartans top Boise State

The Michigan State men's tennis team defeated Boise State 5-2 on Friday at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility. After the victory, Michigan State improved to 9-5 on the year, while Boise State dropped to 2-14.

"It was a very competitive type match and we knew it would be," said head coach Gene Orlando. "We were coming off of two losses on the road and we knew we were going to have to get after it to get this win. The guys dug deep in tough situations and they came up big."

The Spartans started the night off with a doubles point victory to take the early 1-0 lead. Despite an MSU loss at the No. 1 doubles, sophomore Billy Shisler and Doug Francken battled at No. 2 doubles to a 6-3 win to knot up the doubles point. Sophomore Alexander Kim and junior Brett Forman sealed the point at the No. 3 doubles with a 6-4 win against Morgan Stone and Greg Wischer.

In singles play, junior Jasper Koenen fell first at No. 2 singles to Jack Heslin 6-2, 6-2. Shisler also fell at No. 6 singles 6-1, 6-4 to put them down 2-1, but back-to-back Spartan wins helped them regain the lead 3-2. Forman started it off with a 6-3, 7-5 win at No. 1 singles and sophomore Ivan Rakic helped take the lead after a 6-1, 7-6 victory at No. 5 singles against Boise State's Morgan Stone.

In a three-set battle, junior Michael Dube sealed the victory for the Spartans and defeated Brian Tran at No. 3 singles 6-4, 2-6, 7-5. Kim rounded out the evening's competition with a 7-6, 6-7, 1-0 victory at No. 4 singles to give the Spartans the 5-2 victory.

"It was a gritty win," said Orlando. "I know that we can play better. It's all about where you are in the season and you have to try to find ways to win. They were hungry for a win and we were hungry for a win and some team has to win and I'm glad it was us and we came out on top."

- MSU Athletic Communications