Baseball Sweeps Indiana
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State baseball team swept Indiana in a Saturday afternoon doubleheader at Sembower Field in Bloomington, Ind. In game one, sophomore right-hander Scott Brandell (DeWitt, Mich.) threw a complete game, one-hit shutout in a 3-0 Spartan victory. In game two, Michigan State improved its record to 11-1 in one-run games with a 5-4 win. With the two wins the Spartans raise their record to 19-14, 6-7 in the Big Ten, while Indiana drops to 26-8, 5-5 in conference.
Game one started out as a pitching battle as Brandell and Indiana's James Torres held both teams scoreless through five innings. The Spartans would finally break through in the top half of the sixth inning. Ted Demetral (Sterling Heights, Mich.) led off with a single. Mike Wagner (Cincinnati, Ohio) attempted to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but Torres threw the ball to second base. The throw, however, was wild and both Spartans were safe. After Carlos Fernandez (East Lansing, Mich.) was hit by a pitch, Tom Hartley (White Lake, Mich.) stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. He would respond with a bases-clearing double to left-center giving Brandell the only run support he would need.
Brandell improved to 4-2 on the season with a masterful performance. He had a no-hitter through five innings until Indiana's Jason Williams led off the sixth inning with a single. Only two other Hoosiers would reach base, one by walk and one hit-batsman. No one would reach third-base as Brandell faced the minimum 21 batters, striking out seven. Torres took the loss for Indiana to drop to 3-1.
"I did a good job of keeping the ball low and mixing up my pitches," said Brandell. "This allowed me to keep the hitters off balance. The defense also played really well behind me."
In game two, the Spartans would win for the ninth time in their last at-bat. Trailing 2-0 entering the fourth, Michigan State would scratch out a run as a Kyle Geswein (Dayton, Ohio) single scored Carlos Fernandez. In the fifth inning, Michigan State would take a 3-2 lead on a two-run home run by Mike Wagner to left-center field. Another Geswein RBI in the sixth would give MSU a 4-2 lead, but Indiana would answer by scoring twice in the sixth to tie the score at 4.
Like they had all year, the Spartans found a way to win the close game. With two outs, Mike Wagner was on first base after a fielder's choice. Wagner then stole second to get himself in scoring position. Carlos Fernandez would follow with a RBI single to center field giving MSU a 5-4 lead.
Josh Axelson (Brooklyn, Mich.) pitched the final one and a third innings to earn the win, improving to 1-3 on the season. Chad Smith took the loss, dropping to 4-5.
Michigan State and Indiana will wrap up their four-game series with a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon, beginning at 1 p.m.
