Michigan State University
Michigan
Spartan Baseball Dominates Michigan, 12-3
4/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 18, 2003
LANSING, Mich. - Junior Bryan Gale (Decatur) improved his lifetime record to 3-0 vs. Michigan as he threw a seven-hit complete game on seven strikeouts to lead Michigan State past the Wolverines, 12-3, Friday night (April 18) at Oldsmobile Park. MSU improved to 11-21 (4-7 Big Ten) for the season, while Michigan fell to 16-16 (4-7 BT). The Spartans have now won nine of their last 13 games against their archrival from Ann Arbor.
The Spartan offense gave Gale a comfortable cushion for most of the game as MSU racked up an 8-0 lead after four innings. Michigan State scored 12 runs - the most for MSU against Michigan since 1993 - and collected 13 hits in the nine-run rout. Every Spartan starter notched a hit, including Scott Koerber (Jr., Harper Woods), who went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.
Gale (5-4) didn't allow a hit until the fifth and kept the Michigan hitters off balance all night. He struck out seven and only walked one in his fifth complete game of the season.
"I felt real good through the first six innings," said Gale. "It was real nice to work with a lead, and I had some of the best stuff I've had all season. This was a real important win for us tonight."
MSU rocked Wolverine starter Michael Penn for eight runs and nine hits during his 3 1/3 innings of work. David Miller (Jr., Whitehall) started the scoring with an RBI single in the second and Brett Wattles (Sr., Rochester) walked with the bases loaded in the same inning.
In the third, Koerber drove in the first of his two runs and Erik Morris (So., Orchard Lake) added a two-run single to left field. MSU continued to pounce on Penn in the fourth as Brady Burrill (Sr., Valencia, Calif.) drilled a double to center that plated Charlie Braun (Sr., Grosse Pointe). Alan Cattrysse (Fr., Chatham, Ontario) and Travis Gulick (So., East Lansing), who each registered two hits, also scored in the inning.
Koerber brought in another run to make it 9-1 after six innings before Cattrysse, Wattles and Gulick all hit run-scoring singles in the seventh.
Michigan scored one run in the fifth and Jake Fox hit a two-run homer in the eighth for the Wolverines.
MSU returns to action for a doubleheader tomorrow (Saturday, April 19) at Ray Fisher Stadium in Ann Arbor beginning at 1 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY R H EMICH 000 010 020- 3 7 3MSU 023 301 30x- 12 13 1
WP: Gale-MSU (5-4)LP: Penn-MICH (1-6)
