Baseball Falls to Houston Baptist, 3-1

Friday, February 20

Arlington, Texas

12:00 PM

Michigan State University

2-2

Houston Baptist

3-1

Michigan State

Houston Baptist

Ryan Krill knocked in his third RBI of the season.

2/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 20, 2015

Box Score

ARLINGTON, Texas - The Michigan State baseball team lost to Houston Baptist, 3-1 on Friday afternoon in the first of three games this weekend on the campus of UT Arlington. The Spartans held Houston Baptist at bay for most of the afternoon, but a three spot on the board in the first inning would be all the Huskies needed to come away with the victory.

It took most of the afternoon for the Spartans to get the bats going, as Houston Baptist pitcher Taylor Wright held the Spartans without a hit through 6 1/3 innings, allowing just two baserunners to reach on errors. With the middle of the order due up in the seventh, MSU showed signs of life after Brandon Hughes and Blaise Salter both got on to start the inning. Ryan Krill then roped a single to left to bring home Hughes and cut the lead to 3-1, forcing Wright out of the game. Ryan Richardson was hit the very next at-bat to load the bases with just one out, but Chris Garza got the Huskies out of the jam with a strikeout and fly out to center, ending the Spartans' best chance of the afternoon.

"Their guy did a nice job," said head coach Jake Boss. "I think he only walked one or two guys. He came right at us. Our effort offensively was poor at best and you're not going to beat many people when you swing the bat how we did today. Give their guy a lot of credit because he put the ball where he needed to and we weren't able to do a whole lot with it."

The only runners to score for Houston Baptist in the game were the first three hitters it sent to the plate. Two walks bookended a single to load the bases with nobody out to start the game, followed by a wild pitch to bring home the first run. The Huskies would bring around the other two runners with a sac fly and groundout, resulting in their only three runs of the game.

VanVossen settled in after the first, not allowing a hit for the next five innings. The Huskies tried to add some insurance runs in the seventh, but Walter Borkovich entered the game in relief and got a strikeout, stranding runners on second and third.

"Outside of the first inning, I thought Mick was pretty good," said Boss. "Unfortunately it was a rough first inning. He walked the first batter on four pitches and it kind of snow-balled from there. After that, he really settled into it, but we need to be ready to go right at the start of the game.

"The good thing is we don't have to sit on it for a week and we get a chance to play tomorrow. We need to have a better approach at the plate and put more pressure on our opponents so that we can give ourselves some opportunities to score."

The Spartans return to action tomorrow when they take on the host, Texas Arlington, at 4 p.m. ET.