Michigan State University
SIU-Edwardsville
Spartan Baseball Tops SIU-Edwardsville, 12-6
3/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 5, 2011
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Michigan State baseball team produced its best offensive output of the season in slugging out 20 hits to defeat SIU-Edwardsville, 12-6, Saturday afternoon in the Bethune-Cookman Invitational at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. The 12 runs and 20 hits marked season highs for the Spartans, who are now 7-1 for the first time in 19 years. In the nightcap, Michigan State returns to action to face host Bethune-Cookman Saturday night.
Trailing 5-3 heading into the bottom of the fifth, the Spartans scored nine times in the final five innings to put away SIU-Edwardsville (1-9). Sophomore left fielder Jordan Keur led MSU with a career-high four hits, while Torsten Boss, Jeff Holm and Andrew Carpenter each collected three hits.
Tony Wieber allowed just one run on four hits in the final four innings of the game to pick up his first win of the season. He relieved starter Andrew Waszak, who gave up five runs, two earned, on eight hits in the first five innings.
Michigan State jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead as Boss hit a two-run homer, his first of the season, in the bottom of the first.
The Cougars scored one run in the second and two in the fourth and fifth, however, to take a 5-3 advantage.
MSU bounced back with a run in the fifth and four in the sixth to reclaim the lead at 8-5. In the four-run sixth, Brandon Eckerle delivered a two-run single, Holm had a RBI single, and Joel Fisher had a sacrifice fly. Eckerle went 2-for-6, extending his hitting streak to 16 games, dating back to last season.
Carpenter, who went 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored, hit a solo homer to left field in the seventh, and Ryan Jones also had a sacrifice fly in the inning. Joel Fisher drove in his third of the game with a single in the eighth, followed by a Carpenter sacrifice fly that finished the scoring for Michigan State.
