Spartans Topped By Gophers Twice Saturday

April 1, 2017

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball was topped by Minnesota in a pair of one-run games in a Big Ten Conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at McLane Field at Kobs Field, falling 3-2 and 4-3.

In the opener, all the scoring happened in the fifth inning. In game two, scoring was back-and-forth before the Gophers plated the winning run in the top of the ninth, and the Spartans couldn't get a rally going in the bottom of the ninth to end the game.

"Two tough ballgames. Those were two very good teams out there in my opinion, and they just got the better of us today," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr., said. "They executed when they needed to and we let a couple of opportunities slip away, and that's how you get beat by a good ballclub."

With the losses, MSU is now 15-8 overall and 3-2 in B1G play, while Minnesota is 17-8 overall and 5-0 in conference action, the last remaining team with an unbeaten league mark so far this season after winning the regular-season conference crown a year ago.

"We've got to compete against a good ballclub. They're the reigning Big Ten Champions from a year ago; there's a reason for that. Their head coach John Anderson has over 1,200 wins; there's a reason for that. We need to compete better tomorrow," Boss said about Sunday's series finale. "There's a lot of positives from today, but at the end of the day, we got beat 3-2 and 4-3, and that's what matters."

In game one, sophomore right fielder Dan Chmliewski and freshman left fielder Bryce Kelley were both 2-for-4 with Kelley driving in a run, while sophomore shortstop Royce Ando was 1-for-3 with an RBI and junior catcher Will Salter was also 1-for-3.

In the second game, Kelley was 3-for-4 with two RBI, while senior second baseman Dan Durkin was 2-for-5 with one run driven in. The junior duo of center fielder Brandon Hughes and first baseman Zack McGuire with doubles as MSU's lone extra base hits of the day.

"We had a lot of good at bats, but unfortunately, we didn't take advantage of a couple opportunities that we had. When you get a runner on second base with nobody out, you feel like you should score, and we had some very unproductive bats at the wrong time," Boss said.

MSU has lost three home games this week, all by one run after Tuesday's 3-2 loss to Western Michigan.

"Today was a tough day. We take a lot of pride in playing at home and with three one-run losses in a row, you always look back on one-run games and try to figure out what we could have done differently, from a player perspective, from a coach perspective, those are just tough ones to live by," Boss said.

The Gophers got on the board first with three runs in the top of the fourth, as Micah Coffey came to bat with the bases loaded. Sophomore left-handed pitcher Alex Troop got the count to 3-2 before Coffey laced a double to right field to clear the bases and put the visitor's on top, 3-0.

The home team got on the board in the next half inning, as sophomore third baseman Marty Bechina started the rally with one-out walk. McGuire followed to put two Spartans on. After Chmielewski flew out to move Bechina up to third, Ando then laced a single to center to plate Bechina. Kelley then drove in McGuire with a Texas leaguer single just inside the left field line and the Spartans were within 3-2, but then the MSU rally ended with two on.

That would be all the scoring in the game, as the Spartans were unable to get a lengthy rally going. Chmielewski got a two-out double in the seventh, but was left stranded. In the ninth, Chmielewski again sparked a Spartan rally with a leadoff single, and moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt, but Gopher reliever Brian Glowicki thwarted the threat to end the game for his Big Ten leading 10th save of the season.

Troop was dealt the loss, going 7.2 innings with nine strikeouts, one shy of his career-high. Senior reliever Joe Mockbee pitched the remaining 1.1 innings, allowing just one hit while striking out one Gopher.

Minnesota's Lucas Gilbreath got the win, improving to 3-0 after going six innings, while holding MSU to just three hits and striking out eight Spartans.

In the second game, the visiting Gophers again scored first, plating two in the second stanza on a two-run single to right by Jordan Kozicky, scoring Matt Stemper, who led off with a single and Toby Hanson, who doubled to right center.

MSU quickly responded, scoring a run in the home half of the second as Troop drew a one-out walk, then scampered to third on a wild pitch. Kelley plated Troop with a single up the middle to pull MSU within 2-1.

The Gophers extended the lead to 3-1 in the top of the fifth before the Spartans countered with a run of their own in the home half of the fifth. Salter rapped a one-out single to right, and moved to second on a groundout by Hughes. Senior second baseman Dan Durkin the laced an RBI single to right to drive in Salter and draw MSU to 3-2.

Michigan State drew even in the bottom of the sixth as McGuire led off with a double and later scored on an RBI infield single by Kelley, as the freshman darted down the basepath.

The score remained level until the top of the ninth when the Gophers went ahead, stringing together three hits around a fielder's choice with Luke Pettersen delivering the game-winning hit.

Glowicki came on in the ninth and with two outs, Durkin hit a chopper down the line that was ruled fair that Gophers' first baseman Toby Hanson fielded for the putout to end the game and earn Glowicki his B1G-best 11th save of the season.

MSU and Minnesota will wrap up their three-game weekend series on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. Links to follow Sunday's games through audio, video and live stats will be available at www.MSUSpartans.com.

Fans should stay tuned to www.MSUSpartans.com or follow MSU Baseball on twitter at statebaseball for any schedule updates.

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Team Stats

Bryce Kelley

Dan Durkin

Brandon Hughes

Marty Bechina

Players Mentioned

Royce Ando

Marty Bechina

Dan Durkin

Brandon Hughes

Bryce Kelley

Zack McGuire

Joe Mockbee

Will Salter

Alex Troop