Baseball Experiences Tough Weekend at Illinois
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 29, 1999
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State baseball squad dropped four games to defending Big Ten Champion Illinois this weekend in Champaign, Ill. The Spartans drop to 9-11 on the season, 0-4 in the Big Ten.
The series opened on Friday with Illinois defeating Michigan State 6-0 behind the 12 strikeout effort of Fighting Illini starter Jason Anderson.
Saturday saw the two teams play a doubleheader. In game one, the Illini received another solid pitching performance from starter Tim Lavery and closer Jimmy Journell in a 7-4.
In Saturday's second game, MSU appeared ready to capture their first conference victory, jumping out to a 5-3 lead after four innings behind two RBI from Joe Kalczynski and Kyle Geswein. Illinois would not quit, however, and scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh and would take a 6-5 win on Todd McClure's solo home run in the eighth.
The series finale proved to be a slugfest. Michigan State jumped out to a 15-2 lead through five innings. Mike Wagner hit two home runs while Tom Hartley and Don Watchowski also added round trippers. Once again, though, the Fighting Illini would answer with 17 runs over the final three innings. Todd McClure was the hero for the second straight game with a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth, giving Illinois a 19-15 win.
MSU will return to action on Tuesday against Grand Valley State at 2 pm at Kobs Field in East Lansing. This weekend the Spartans will host Iowa in a four-game Big Ten series.
