Baseball Pounds Eastern Michigan, 14-2 and 8-2
3/28/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 28, 2001
YPSILANTI, Mich. - The Michigan State baseball team (12-8 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) extended its winning streak to four straight games Wednesday (March 28), taking both ends of a doubleheader from Eastern Michigan, 14-2 and 8-2. The Spartans have now swept all four doubleheaders they have played this season.
In the front end of the twinbill, the Spartans took a 1-0 lead in the first and then built on their edge in the second inning when Jared Koutnik (Jr., Miliwaukee, Wis.) hit a three-run homer to left-center. Rick Court (Sr., Grosse Pointe) led off the third inning with a solo home run to right center to extend State's lead to 5-0.
Justin Hesse put EMU on the board in the fourth inning with a solo home run and then added another in the sixth to make the score 5-2.
MSU put the game out of reach in the seventh, scoring nine runs. The first two runs scored off wild pitches. Kyle Geswein (Jr., Dayton, Ohio) then hit a two-run homer to right-center to put State up 9-2. Koutnik hit his second homer of the game later in the inning to make the final score 14-2. Eastern Michigan used five pitchers in the seventh.
Brett Wattles (So., Rochester) went 4-for-5 for MSU with two doubles while Koutnik went 3-for-5 with a game-high five RBI.
Starting pitcher John Huizinga (Jr., Wayland) pitched six complete innings, giving up seven hits and striking out four on his way to his second win of the season. Derrick Peterson took the loss for the Eagles.
In the second game, MSU took an early three-run lead when five of the first six Spartan batters safely reaching base. The first inning was highlighted by RBI singles by Scott Koerber (Fr., Grosse Pointe), Bob Malek (So., Canton) and Koutnik. EMU answered with a solo home run the bottom of the first by Nick Soliz.
After the Spartans added two more runs in the second, the Eagles struck back in the fourth with another solo homer to make the score 5-2. MSU added one run in the fifth and another in the sixth to make the final score 8-2. Koerber went 3-for-4 in the second game with two RBI.
Scott Brandell (Sr., DeWitt) started his first game since March 2 and picked up his first win of the year. He pitched four innings, gave up three hits and struck out two.
The Spartans play their first home series of the year this weekend (March 30-April 1) against Purdue. First pitch at Kobs Field Friday is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Game 1
Michigan State 14, Eastern Michigan 2WP- Huizinga (2-1)LP- Peterson (0-2)
Score By Innings R H EMichigan State 131 000 9 14 13 0Eastern Michigan 000 101 0 2 7 3
Game 2
Michigan State 8, Eastern Michigan 2WP- Brandell (1-1)LP- Winiemko (0-2)
Score By Innings R H EMichigan State 320 011 0 8 13 1Eastern Michigan 100 100 0 2 4 0
