Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
14-14
Oregon
18-14
Spartans Too Much for No. 23 Oregon
4/4/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
EUGENE, Oregon - The Michigan State baseball team won its second straight over No. 23 Oregon with a 9-4 victory on Saturday at PK Park in Eugene, Oregon. The Spartans got two-run homers from Ryan Krill, Mark Weist and Cam Gibson in the win, while starting pitcher Cam Vieaux picked up his second straight victory.
The win evened the Spartans' overall record at 14-14. Oregon is now 18-14.
"We hit some balls hard today and really played very well for nine innings," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "Cam Vieaux did a nice job and gout out of trouble when he needed to and the bullpen was really good."
The Spartans trailed 2-0 and tied the game in the top the third inning before going ahead for good with a four-run fifth inning. MSU added two more runs in the eighth inning and a solo run in the ninth.
"We kept plugging away and all of a sudden we had nine runs on the board," Boss said.
Krill tied the game at two in the top of the third with a two-out homer to right field.
The Spartans broke the 2-2 stalemate by sending all nine hitters to the plate in the top of the fifth inning. Weist started things with a two-run blast to center field. Anthony Cheky and Brandon Hughes both added RBI singles later in the inning.
The Ducks got solo runs back in the bottom of the fifth and seventh innings to close the Spartan advantage to 6-4.
With two outs in the top of the eighth, the Spartans got two big at-bats to help extend their lead. Alex Troop pinch hit for Kory Young and belted a double to right-center field. Gibson then followed with a home run to right field to up the MSU lead to 8-4.
"Those were big runs," Boss said. "They were chipping away and got some momentum and those were much needed insurance runs and kind of took the edge off in the dugout."
Hughes tacked on a sacrifice fly in the ninth to close the scoring and make it 9-4.
Vieaux allowed three runs on six hits, walked five batters and struck out seven in improving to 2-4.
Anthony Misiewicz (1.1 innings) and Walter Borkovich (1.2 innings) combined to hold the Ducks to three hits over the final three innings.
Sunday's series finale will start at 3 p.m. ET.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Vieaux, Cam (2-4)
L: Stiles, C (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Troop, Alex 1
HR: Gibson, Cam 1 ; Krill, Ryan 1 ; Weist, Mark 1
RBI: Gibson, Cam 2 ; Krill, Ryan 2 ; Weist, Mark 2 ; Cheky, Anthony 1 ; Hughes, Brandon 2
SF: Hughes, Brandon 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gibson, Cam 3 ; Krill, Ryan 1 ; Weist, Mark 1 ; Salter, Blaise 1 ; Richardson, Ryan 1 ; Roskelly, Chad 1 ; Nate, Johnny 1
SB: Cheky, Anthony 1
HBP: Krill, Ryan 1 ; Weist, Mark 1 ; Salter, Blaise 1 ; Richardson, Ryan 1
Batting:
2B: Heineman, S 1
RBI: Eureste, M 1 ; St. Louis 1 ; Heineman, S 2
SH: Karaviotis 1 ; Grebeck, A 2
SF: Heineman, S 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Eureste, M 1 ; Karaviotis 1 ; St. Louis 1 ; Chase, S 1
SB: Heineman, S 1
PO: Catalano, N 1
