Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
27-17
Eastern Michigan
17-27
Spartans Top EMU, 13-4, For Fourth Straight Win
4/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Following a 12-inning victory over Notre Dame on Tuesday night, the Michigan State baseball team defeated in-state foe Eastern Michigan by a score of 13-4 on Wednesday afternoon at McLane Stadium. The Spartans improve to 27-17 on the year with the win and have won four straight games and eight of their last nine. The loss drops the Eagles to 17-27.
MSU jumped out to an early lead with a run on two hits in the bottom of the first inning. Ryan Krill got things started with a one-out triple to right center and Mark Weist followed with an RBI double to left for a 1-0 lead.
The Spartans plated six more runs in the bottom of the third with the help of four straight hits to begin the frame. Dan Durkin led off with a double to center and came around to score on a double to right center by Cam Gibson, who would score MSU's third run on a single to center by Krill. After singles by Weist and Ryan Richardson, the Spartans went up 5-0 on a two-run single by Brandon Hughes. MSU plated its final two runs of the inning on a two-out single to right by Anthony Cheky for a 7-0 advantage.
The Spartans tacked on their eighth run in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Gibson.
EMU cut the deficit in half with four unearned runs in the top of the seventh inning against MSU reliever Andrew Gonzalez.
The Spartans answered with five runs of their own in the bottom half of the seventh, highlighted by a three-run double with two outs by freshman Kory Young.
The early lead was more than enough for MSU starter Keegan Baar (1-0). The freshman left-hander struck out three and walked one over six shutout innings to earn his first career win. The six-inning outing was his longest of the season.
"Keegan's got a bright future ahead of him here at Michigan State. He continues to get better and better," said MSU Head Coach Jake Boss Jr. "He threw well. There were a lot of bright spots. There were some things he needs to work on and get better at. Bottom line is he went out there and threw up a bunch of zeros. That's what we needed him to do. This is a great opportunity for him to showcase what he can do and he's done a nice job."
The Spartans finished with 14 hits for the game, led by Gibson with three hits and three RBIs. Eight other MSU hitters recorded at least one hit, including two apiece for Krill, Weist and Richardson. Young added a career-high three RBIs, while Cheky and Hughes each knocked in two runs.
"We got some big at-bats when we needed them; that's good to see. The offense keeps rolling along," added Boss.
Michigan State will open a three-game weekend series with Purdue on Friday, May 1. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network, with first pitch set for 2:05 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Baar, Keegan (1-0)
L: MATTSON (1-2)
Batting:
RBI: PETERSON, J. 1 ; MCGEEIN 1 ; MIODUSZEWSKI 1
SF: MCGEEIN 1
Base Running:
RUNS: PETERSON, J. 1 ; RUBINO, J. 1 ; MARTIN 1 ; LETT 1
SB: RUBINO, J. 2
CS: PETERSON, J. 1
HBP: MARTIN 1 ; LETT 1
Batting:
2B: Gibson, Cam 1 ; Weist, Mark 1 ; Durkin, Dan 1 ; Young, Kory 1
3B: Krill, Ryan 1
RBI: Gibson, Cam 3 ; Krill, Ryan 1 ; Weist, Mark 1 ; Hughes, Brandon 2 ; Roskelly, Chad 1 ; Cheky, Anthony 2 ; Young, Kory 3
SF: Gibson, Cam 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gibson, Cam 1 ; Krill, Ryan 2 ; Weist, Mark 1 ; Richardson, Ryan 2 ; Hughes, Brandon 2 ; Roskelly, Chad 1 ; Toth, Chase 2 ; Durkin, Dan 1 ; Young, Kory 1
SB: Gibson, Cam 1
HBP: Krill, Ryan 1 ; Hughes, Brandon 1
