Spartans Fall in Walkoff, 9-8

March 10, 2017

SPARTAN SYNOPSIS

In a 29-hit slugfest, MIchigan State fell to host Kennesaw State, 9-8, on a walkoff single in the bottom of the seventh. MSU is now 15-5 on the year, and the Owls improve to 17-5 overall.

The Spartans got homers from Kaitlyn Eveland and Lea Foerster, a triple from Ebonee Echols, and a nine-strikeout performance from starter Bridgette Rainey, which tied her career best. The host Owls became just the third team to register double-digit hits against the Spartans this season, as KSU got 15, the most surrendered by MSU in a game this year. MSU stranded eight runners, while KSU left 12 on the basepaths.

Kennesaw starter Alley Cutting went the distance, striking out six and walking two. Rainey'threw her third complete game of the year and threw a career-high 156 pitches in the contest. She falls to 7-4 on the season, walking four.

This was the fourth walkoff game for the Spartans this season - MSU also lost in a walkoff, 4-3, last Saturday to No. 16 Georgia, and has won two walkoff games - on Feb. 11 vs. NC State and earlier on Friday vs. ETSU, 9-8.

The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Spartans, who face Kennesaw State again on Saturday at 5:30 after taking on Tennessee Tech. at 12:30 in the opener.

TOP PERFORMERS

McKenzie Long led the Spartans with three hits, one of four players with multiple hits in the game.
Ebonee Echols smacked her sixth triple of the season in the fourth inning.
Lea Foerster and Kaitlyn Eveland each had a two-run homer in the fifth.
Bridgette Rainey threw 6.1 innings, struck out nine, and walked four.

QUOTABLE:
"We gave up a lot of hits today, and faced some adversity in having to come back to tie the game or pull ahead. While never an ideal situation, the lessons we learned today in sticking to the game plan and learning how to come back from adversity will probably really benefit us in the long run. You have to develop confidence in your next pitch, your next at-bat, the next ground ball hit to you. Over the two games, we did have a lot of hits - so there's positives in things other than the `life lessons' you learn through adversity, too. We are playing a lot of games over five days in a row and will need to get our bodies and our heads in a good place for tomorrow,."

- Head Coach Jacquie Joseph

STATS AND STORYLINES

Foerster led off the second game in a row by being hit by a pitch, and she moved to second on a groundout by Ebonee Echols. Celeste Wood brought home Foerster. with a single, and advanced to second with just one out in the inning. Pitcher Alley Cutting got a pair of popouts around a walk to Kaitlyn Eveland to get out of the inning. n the bottom of the first, back-to-back singles by Hannah Thomason and Olivia Tamewitz put a pair on for the Owls, but Rainey came back with three consecutive strikeouts to end the scoring threat.

MSU got on the board quickly again in the second, as a leadoff single by Kelly Zackrison and throwing error by the second baseman allowed her to take second. Foerster brought her home with a single to right, and then two batters later, Celeste Wood's double to the wall in deep right made it a 3-0 ballgame with two outs.

For KSU in the bottom of the second, Beth McCulley delivered a one-out single, and after a strikeout - Rainey's fourth - Taylor Denton smacked a double down the right field line to put two in scoring position for the Owls. Rainey quickly went up 1-2 on leadoff Hannah Thomason, but she laced a single through the left side to plate both runners and bring the Owls within one, 3-2. A two-out solo homer by Noelle Winkles in the bottom of the third tied the game at 3-3.

The Spartans regained the lead in the top of the fourth. Baccay led it off with a single to right center, and after a fly ball out by Foerster, Echols tripled to deep center to bring home Baccay.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Owls posted three runs to take a 6-4 lead. A one-out bunt single by Denton was followed by a fielder's choice for the second out of the inning, but Tamewitz came up with a double to tie the game at 4-4. Katey Lynch singled through the right side to bring home Tamewitz and give the Owls their first lead of the game. Courtney Sutter brought home Lynch with a double into the right field corner for a 6-4 lead. A popup by Winkles ended the inning.

The Spartan batters didn't let MSU sit in a deficit for long. McKenzie Long led off the fifth with a single to right, and Kaitlyn Eveland brought her home with a homer to left center that caromed off the lightpole to tie the game at 6-6. Zackrison drew a one-out walk, and two batters later Foerster launched a homer that hit the Spartan logo on the Kennesaw scoreboard to give the Spartans back the lead, 8-6. Echols followed with a single to keep the rally going, but that would be all for the Spartans in the frame. Kennesaw looked to match it in the home half of the inning, but after Rainey got two ground-ball outs to the middle infield to start off the bottom of the fifth, she gave up back -to-back walks - her first two surrendered of the evening - and then a single to Thomason to load the bases. Tamewitz stepped in and struck out swinging, Rainey's sixth victim of the night.

A hit batter and a walk put the first two runners on for Kennesaw in the bottom of the sixth. She got Winkles looking at a called third strike, but Griffin followed with a single to left to load the bases. A long sac fly to right by McCulley brought home a run, but Rainey rung up Jessie Mullen to end the threat and leave two on the basepaths.

The Spartans had a leadoff runner in the seventh, but a double play ended the inning for the Owls quickly. The home team then drew a walk and a base hit put the first two batters on base in the home half of the inning. Rainey got a strikeout - her ninth - before surrendering a single to deep short to Lynch to load the bases with one out. A single to left brought home two for the walkoff win for the Owls.

MSU surrendered double-digit hits for just the third time this season, but did so in both ends of today's doubleheader. The first time MSU gave up double-digit hits was to LMU on Feb. 24, and then gave up 13 to ETSU in today's first game.

Echols' triple was her sixth of the season, which leads the nation. It was her 15th career three-bagger, which ties her for third place on the Spartan career list with Izzy Forester (1979-82). The school record is 18, held by Keri Lemasters (1994-97).

Foerster's home run was the 62nd extra-base hit of her career, which moves her into sixth place all-time at MSU.

Kelly Zackrison led off the seventh by legging out an infield single- the first two-hit game of her career.

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Team Stats

McKenzie Long

Lea Foerster

Celeste Wood

Kelly Zackrison

Players Mentioned

Ebonee Echols

Kaitlyn Eveland

Lea Foerster

McKenzie Long

Bridgette Rainey

Celeste Wood

Kelly Zackrison