Homers Fuel 11-3 Win Over Penn State

April 8, 2017

Box Score | PDF Box Score: MSU 11, PSU 3 (5 inn.)

SPARTAN SYNOPSIS

Michigan State hit three home runs - two from the bat of sophomore Kaitlyn Eveland to tie a school record - as the Spartans took the back end of a doubleheader against Penn State on Saturday, 11-3 in five innings. MSU is now 20-12 on the season (4-4 Big Ten) heading into the Sunday series finale against the Nittany Lions (1 pm).

Due to flooding at MSU's Old College Field complex, the softball games were relocated to Victory Field on the campus of Eastern Michigan.

Eveland homered in the first (a three-run shot) and had a solo homer in the third, and Lea Foerster hit her team-best ninth of the season in the bottom of the fifth with one out, ending the game with a three-run homer for the final 11-3 margin. Bridgette Rainey earned her 11th win of the season by scattering five hits and striking out five.

MSU opened up a 3-0 lead after Eveland's first homer in the third, and the Nittany Lions came back to tie the game in the top of the third. Eveland gave her team back the lead with her solo homer in the bottom of the third. MSU plated two on a Kelcey Carrasco RBI single in the fourth, and then exploded for five runs in the fifth to finish the game on the run rule.

TOP PERFORMERS

Kaitlyn Eveland tied a school record with two home runs in the game, recording four RBI.
Freshmen Melanie Baccay and Kelcey Carrasco each had two-RBI singles
Lea Foerster hit her career-best ninth homer of the season, a three-run shot in the fifth.

QUOTABLE
" The second game was a much better, concentrated effort for us. I was pretty displeased with the way the first game went, but I thought we got our heads on straight and corrected ourselves in game two today. We had 10 hits in the first game, but made some bad errors in the field and some other mental mistakes that won't even show up in the box score that cost us that game. In the second game, I thought we had a better focus, a better approach, and as a result, a better outcome. That's the way I would like us to attack the game tomorrow to close out the series with a result that we want."

Head coach Jacquie Joseph .

STATS AND STORYLINES

MSU took an early lead, as Eveland hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning, her fourth of the season.

In the top of the third, Penn State rallied to tie the score at 3-3. After a leadoff double by Rebecca Ziegler and a one-out walk to Brackpool, a single by Tori Dubois brought home Ziegler for the first Nittany Lion run. Toni Polk's single to right brought home the two baserunners to knot the game at 3-3.

Eveland's second homer, a solo shot, came in the bottom of the third. She shares the school record of a two-homer game with 21 others, including current teamates Lea Foerster (vs. Western Illinois, March 20 2016) and Sarah Gutknecht (vs. Rutgers, April 29, 2016).

In the bottom of the fourth, Kelcey Carrasco ripped a two-RBI single to center that scored Melanie Baccay and Ebonee Echols to make it 6-3. Eveland followed that up with a single to right that moved Carrasco to third, but the Spartans couldn't get any more across.

The Spartans looked to add to their lead in the fifth, and exploded for five runs to end the game early. McKenzie Long and Lexi White delivered back-to-back singles, and Lindsey Besson walked to load the bases. Melanie Baccay delivered a single up the middle that scored two, and chased pitcher Jessica Cummings, who started the inning in a relief effort. Madison Siefert came in to face the top of the order with two on and none out, and Lea Foerster emptied the bases with a three-run homer that ended the game due to the eight-run rule.

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Team Stats

Kaitlyn Eveland

McKenzie Long

Lea Foerster

Kelcey Carrasco

Players Mentioned

Melanie Baccay

Lindsey Besson

Kelcey Carrasco

Ebonee Echols

Kaitlyn Eveland

Lea Foerster

Sarah Gutknecht

McKenzie Long

Bridgette Rainey

Lexi White