Michigan State University
West Virginia
Baseball Rallies to Defeat West Virginia, 6-4
3/19/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 19, 2000
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Senior rightfielder Mike Pisani (Rochester, Mich.) and freshman centerfielder Bob Malek (Canton, Mich.) each had an RBI single in the ninth inning to lift the Michigan State baseball team over West Virginia, 6-4, Sunday afternoon in Morgantown, W.V. The Spartans improve to 3-12 overall, while the Mountaineers fall to 7-12.
West Virginia started the scoring in the bottm of the second when Tim Neumark tripled to drive in Josh Cisneros and give the Mountaineers a 1-0 lead. MSU went scoreles in its next two at-bats, then Neumark upped the Mountaineer lead to 4-0 with a bases-loaded double in the bottom of the fourth.
Michigan State promptly answered with a four-run outburst in the top of the fifth. Sophomore third baseman Troy Bergman (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) singled to start the inning and advanced to second on a sacrifice, followed by an intentional walk to pinch-hitter Rick Court (Grosse Pointe, Mich.). After senior second baseman Ted Demetral (Sterling Heights, Mich.) moved the runners up with a groundout to second base, Pisani singled home Bergman with the go-ahead run.
The Spartans added an insurance run on Malek's two-out single and took a 6-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth. Sophomore Domanick Squires (Rochester Hills, Mich.) allowed a single to Nate Reeser with one out, but induced a fly-out and a grounder to shortstop to close out the Mountaineers.
Squires got the win for MSU, allowing no runs and only Reeser's base hit while pitching the final three innings in relief, and Josh Nelson was credited with the loss for West Virginia.
Pisani finished the game 3-5, with a double and three RBI, while Bergman went 3-4 for MSU.
The Spartans return to East Lansing this week to open the home portion of their schedule, facing Eastern Michigan at 2 p.m. on March 21 at Kobs Field.
