Long Ball Carries Spartans Past Rutgers, 10-4

Friday, April 17

Piscataway, N.J.

3:00 PM

Michigan State University

20-16, 5-5

Rutgers

12-24-1, 5-8

Michigan State

Rutgers

4/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 17, 2015

Box Score

Piscataway, New Jersey - The Michigan State baseball team won its series opener at Rutgers on Friday afternoon, topping the Scarlet Knights, 10-4, at Baiton Field in Piscataway, New Jersey. Chad Roskelly homered twice, while Mark Weist sealed the game with a three-run blast in the eighth inning to up the Spartans' record to 20-16 overall and 5-5 in the Big Ten.

The top three hitters in the Spartans' order - Cam Gibson, Ryan Krill and Weist - combined to go 6-for-12 and drove in seven of MSU's 10 runs.

"Those guys did their jobs today. Cam got on base, Ryan is still swinging a hot bat and Mark had a couple good at-bats and ran into one there in the eighth," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "Those guys are at the top of the order for a reason and they really got us off and running in the first inning."

Michigan State got on the board with two runs in each of the first two innings.

In the first, Krill drilled the first pitch he saw to deep left field where the ball tipped off the glove of RU's Vinny Zarrillo, allowing Gibson to score and Krill to cruise into second base. Weist made it 2-0 with an RBI double down the right field line.

Krill did all the Spartans' damage in the second inning as his two-out single through the left side plated two more runs to give the Green and White a 4-0 lead.

Rutgers (12-24-1, 5-8) made it a one-run game in the bottom of the third, scoring three runs off three hits and one MSU error.

MSU responded immediately to Rutgers getting on the scoreboard as Roskelly led off the top of the fourth with his first of two home runs on the afternoon.

Later in the inning, Krill made it 6-3 with his third RBI of the day on a single to right field that scored Alex Troop. The RBI single ended RU starting pitcher Mark McCoy's day as the lefty was charged with six runs (five earned) off eight hits in 3.1 innings.

Roskelly hit his second home of the game in the top of the fifth, going deep on consecutive at-bats to push the MSU advantage to 7-3.

"Chad's got some power and he's doing a heck of a job behind the plate for us," Boss said. "When he gets his barrel on the ball he can get it out of the park. For a redshirt freshman to come in and do the job he's doing is tremendous."

The Scarlet Knights got a run back in the sixth before Weist's three-run blast to cap the scoring in the top of the eighth.

Spartan starting pitcher Cam Vieaux improved to 3-4 with the win. Vieaux went seven complete innings, allowing four runs (three earned) off eight hits.

Reliever Walter Borkovich finished the job on the hill, retiring six of the seven batters he faced to close the game.

The Spartans and Scarlet Knights will play game two of the series on Saturday at 1 p.m. with senior right-hander Mick VanVossen slated to take the mound for MSU.