Michigan State University
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Five-Run Seventh Powers Spartans Past Islanders
2/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The Michigan State baseball team used a five-run seventh inning to break a tie with Texas A&M Corpus Christi and earn their fifth straight win to start the season. Sophomore Alex Troop came on in relief and earned his second win of the season in a 9-3 victory that saw contributions from up and down the MSU lineup.
"A lot of guys contributed," said head coach Jake Boss Jr. "We got 12 hits on the day and three guys with multiple hits. Everybody pitched in and everybody helped out. There's a lot of guys that are feeling pretty good in the lineup and swinging the bat really well."
Junior Dan Durkin set the tone for the big seventh inning with a monster leadoff home run that sailed over the MSU bullpen in right field. Durkin's first career homer sparked an inning that saw 11 Spartans come to the plate.
Before the fans could sit back down, Royce Ando hit a triple into the right field corner to chase Islander's starter Devin Skapura who held MSU to just one earned run before then.
"The first pitch I laid off of it and the second pitch I put a good swing on it and tried to hit the ball hard and it just took off," said Durkin. "The guys were up and ready to go and then Ando comes up the next at bat and hits a triple. We just poured it on after that."
After a Matt Byars sac fly scored Ando, MSU got back-to-back singles from Kris Simonton and Marty Bechina. Both scored on a single up the middle by Brandon Hughes, who then took second in the chaos of the big inning. That allowed a Justin Hovis single to cap off the five-run inning that sealed the win.
For the second Saturday in a row, Troop came in from first base to pitch in a tie game with a runner in scoring position. Again, he worked out of the inning before going on to earn the win. With a runner on second in the bottom of the sixth, Troop stuck out the first batter he saw to preserve the tie, setting up the big inning in the Spartans next at bat.
Starter Ethan Landon threw 5.2 innings of five-hit ball, allowing two runs, both of which were unearned. Troop went 3.1 innings and struck out six. MSU had four errors in the game.
"We didn't help Ethan out at all," said Boss. "He competed and did a nice job keeping it close and overcoming our miscues defensively. Alex came in a big situation again and got out of it. He kind of cruised there until the ninth, but I thought he threw really well, so I'm happy with how both of those guys pitched."
The Islanders took the lead two different times early in the game, but MSU responded each time to tie it back up. After A&M went up 2-1 in the fifth, MSU answered in its next at bat. Jordan Zimmerman started things off with a leadoff double into the left field corner. A perfect sac bunt by Hughes set up Troop to take care of business and push the runner across with a groundout.
"I think we've got a bunch of grinders out here," said Durkin. "We get down, we're coming right back at you in the next inning and the next pitch. We're limiting our innings when we're giving up runs and we're just ready to compete out there. It's a fun team to play for and a fun team to be around."
Hughes finished with three RBIs while Troop and Durkin each had two.
Michigan State closes out the weekend tomorrow vs. UCF at 12 p.m. ET.
