Baseball Downs Toledo, 5-1

Friday, March 6

Myrtle Beach, S.C.

11:00 AM

Michigan State University

4-6

Toledo

3-8

Michigan State

TOLEDO

Mick VanVossen will take the hill for the Spartans in the Big Ten opener against Ohio State.

3/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 6, 2015

Box Score

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - The Michigan State baseball team defeated Toledo, 5-1 in the first game of the Coastal Carolina Invitational on Friday afternoon to improve to 4-6 on the year. The Spartans jumped out to a lead with a three-run first inning, allowing starter Mick VanVossen to cruise to his first win of the season.

Cam Gibson set the tone for the day, leading off with a bunt single and the immediately stealing second base. Ryan Richardson then singled him home to give the Spartans a 1-0 advantage just two batters into the game. MSU stole four bases in the opening frame and put up three runs, with additional RBIs from Chad Roskelly and Johnny Nate.

VanVossen retired the first five batters he faced to settle in, and went on to pitch a season-high seven innings. The senior starter allowed just three hits in the game and struck out five in his best start of the season.

"I just wanted to go out there and throw good, clean ball with a lot of strikes," said VanVossen. "My command has been a little bit of an issue, but everything felt pretty good today. The first couple innings have been shaky for me this year, so really getting into a good groove helped the game go smoothly."

Toledo threatened with it put two runners on with just one out in the fourth on back-to-back singles, but then VanVossen went on to retire 11 consecutive batters in commanding fashion to end his day.

"Mick got back on track today," said head coach Jake Boss. "I thought he was really, really good. Even when he was missing, they were in the right places. It was good to see and that's what we expect out of him and what he is capable of. Hopefully, that will continue."

MSU continued to put pressure on Toledo on the base paths with small ball, as the Spartans would put the leadoff man on in three of the first four innings, all of who came around to score. Michigan State stole five bases on the day in six attempts to go along with three sacrifice hits.

"We try to base our offense around pressure and Gibby (Cam Gibson) did that right away with a bunt for a base hit," said Boss. "Then it took off from there. We were able to get a couple of stolen bases in the inning and put pressure on them. We tried to create some offense after we struggled last weekend, so guys answered the bell and responded accordingly."

The top four hitters in the Spartans lineup all scored runs in the game and combined for five hits.

"The guys in the top and middle of the order have to be the guys that lead you," said Boss. "They had good days today. We were a little disappointed in the way we finished the game offensively, but give their guys out of the bullpen credit, they threw well. We are still waiting to put together nine complete innings, but good start today."

Walter Borkovich came on in relief to close out the final two innings, giving up one run on two hits.

"When you play eight games in 11 days, it is important to get some wins early," said Boss. "We don't really have a goal of winning a certain number of games on the trip; it is just about playing well.

We have to try and become more consistent and play good baseball and see what happens. It was a good start today. The challenge is now to do it again tomorrow. We play two games tomorrow and double headers are tough and we need to try and repeat our performance."

Michigan State returns to action tomorrow with a doubleheader vs. Akron at 11 a.m. and UMBC at 3 p.m.