Baseball Stays Alive In Big Ten Tournament

May 27, 2004

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State baseball team (33-25) used some early offense, strong relief pitching and big defensive plays en route to an 8-7 victory over Penn State (28-29) on Thursday afternoon at the 2004 Big Ten Tournament at Siebert Field in Minneapolis. The Spartans used a four-run first inning, a three-run seventh, solid relief pitching from Dan Noble (So., Troy) and two Nittany Lion runners thrown out at home plate by rightfielder Travis Gulick (Jr., East Lansing) to stay alive in an elimination game. MSU will return to action on Friday at 1:05 p.m. EDT against a yet to be determined opponent.

"We have played 20-25 games like today's," said MSU head coach Ted Mahan. "Fortunately for us today, this one worked to our advantage. Our defense is what got us here today and it proved that with two plays at the plate and staying strong through nine innings.

"We live for another day. We are going to take the time to give our guys the rest that they need and hopefully tomorrow we can come away with another win."

As the visiting team in Thursday's contest, the Spartans wanted to score early. Erik Morris (Jr., Orchard Lake) and Oliver Wolcott (So., Plymouth) opened the first inning with back-to-back singles. A Gulick walk loaded the bases for James Moreno (Sr., Holt), who earned a RBI when he was hit by a pitch from Penn State starter Aaron Tressler. Scott Koerber (Sr., Harper Woods) followed by grounding into a double play, with Wolcott scoring on the play. With two outs and one on, the MSU offense was not satisfied. Back-to-back RBI doubles from Ryan Basham (Fr., Lowell, Ind.) and David Miller (Sr., Whitehall) increased MSU's lead to 4-0.

Penn State answered with one run in the bottom of the first off Spartan lefthander John Dwan (Libertyville, Ill.). The Nittany Lions added two more runs in the second on a two-run shot by second baseman Colin Runt, the first of the sophomore's career. Michigan State increased its lead to 5-3 in the top of the third on a solo home run for Koerber.

The bottom of the third proved to be one of the key moments in the game. Penn State opened the frame with a walk and a single, placing runners at first and second base. Clint Eury then lined the ball off Dwan's arm. The ball deflected towards the first baseline, where Dwan picked it up and threw wildly to first base as the ball ended up in foul territory in right field, allowing one run to score. Gulick raced over to the ball and fired it home, nailing a second Penn State runner trying to tie the game. Dwan was then forced out of the game with an injury, bringing Noble into the contest. After recording the second out of the inning, Noble allowed a single to Aaron Greenfield. Eury attempted to score from second base, but Gulick charged the ball in right field and rifled it home in plenty of time for Morris to apply the tag at the plate and preserve MSU's 5-4 lead.

After that inning, Noble got into a groove on the mound, holding the Nittany Lions without a run over the next four innings. Meanwhile, MSU's offense added three runs in the seventh inning. The Spartans loaded the bases with one out before Moreno drove in one run with his first hit of the tournament. Koerber followed with another single, plating another run and chasing Tressler from the game. Craig Clark entered the game for the Nittany Lions and walked Basham to give MSU an 8-4 lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, Penn State scored one run and threatened to score more. Having already cut MSU's lead to 8-5, the Nittany Lions had runners on second and third base. Mike Milliron grounded the ball up the middle off closer Adam White (Sr., Jenison). Spartan shortstop Troy Krider (Fr., Coldwater) went to his left, going to his knees to make the stop. He then spun around, hopped to his feet and threw out Milliron at first base, ending the inning.

The Nittany Lions mounted one last ditch effort to stay alive in the bottom of the ninth. White retired the first batter on a fly ball and induced the second batter to ground the ball to second, but Wolcott misplayed the ball, allowing the batter to reach first safely. The next batter doubled, placing runners on second and third. White followed by forcing another groundout, except Moreno's throw from third base pulled Koerber off the base and allowed a run to score. The Spartans should have been out of the inning, but instead Penn State had pulled to within 8-6 and had two runners on base with just one out. After a walk loaded the bases, a sacrifice fly cut MSU's lead to 8-7. Runt stepped to the plate for PSU, having already homered in addition to belting two doubles. He just missed winning the game with a hit down the right field line that was ruled just foul. On a full count, White earned his sixth save of the year by getting Runt to pop up to Koerber in foul territory.

Noble earned the win to improve to 2-0 on the year. In 5.0 innings, he allowed just one run on five hits and two walks, striking out three. White picked up the save, allowing two runs, one earned, in 1.2 innings. Tressler took the loss to fall to 4-4, allowing eight runs in 6.1 innings on eight hits and four walks.

Moreno, Koerber and Basham each drove in two runs for the Spartans. After recording just one extra base hit against Purdue on Wednesday, MSU had five on Thursday, including two doubles from Basham.