Michigan State University
Indiana
Baseball Wins Regular-Season Finale, 7-3
5/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 16, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Freshman Tony Bucciferro tied a career high with nine strikeouts and Eric Roof hit a two-run homer as the MSU baseball team downed Indiana, 7-3, on Saturday (May 16) afternoon in the final game of the regular season.
Michigan State (23-29, 13-11) will be the fifth seed in this year's Big Ten Tournament and will face fourth-seeded Illinois at 12:05 p.m. on Wednesday (May 20) in Columbus, Ohio.
"It was good to get ourselves back on track," said MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. "I'm proud of our guys, they played hard for nine innings. It is good to get a win over a very good IU team. It was nice to play well today and end on high note heading into the tournament."
MSU capitalized off a leadoff walk, throwing error and hit-by-pitch to load the bases in the first and then scored - also without a hit - when IU starter Blake Monar threw a wild pitch, allowing Eli Boike to cross home for the first run of the game.
Bucciferro gave up his first hit of the game in the bottom of the third - a double by Vince Gonzalez and then Jake Dunning followed with a two-run homer to give IU the lead, 2-1.
Two singles and a walk packed the bases again for MSU in the fourth inning and another Hoosiers miscue, this time a hit batter, brought Eric Roof home and tied the game at two. The Spartans then took the lead when Brandon Eckerle grounded into an inning-ending fielder's choice but Jonathan Roof scored before the force out was made at second base.
The MSU lead was again short lived when IU's Dickerson tied the game at three with a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth.
A single by Jeff Holm in the sixth scored Jonathan Roof and gave MSU the lead back for good, and with two outs in the seventh, Eric Roof hit a two-run home to right field to extend the lead to 6-3. It was Eric Roof's fifth home run of the season.
Pitching with a three-run lead, Bucciferro (5-2) retired the next four batters he faced before giving way to Max Miller with one out in the eighth. Bucciferro's nine Ks in the game give him 59 on the year and with no walks on Saturday, his strikeout-to-walk ratio now stands at nearly 6-to-1.
"Tony was very good today," Boss said. "He threw strikes early in the count and was effective all day and shutdown a very explosive offensive team."
With the help of another IU error, MSU tacked on one more run in the top of the ninth and Miller kept the Hoosiers off the board in the bottom of the inning to preserve the 7-3 Spartan win.
The Spartans appearance in the conference tournament is their first since 2004 and eighth all-time.
