Michigan State University
6-17
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Western Michigan
11-11
MSU Drops Midweek Contest To WMU Wednesday
3/28/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball scored early with a run in the first inning, but it was the Spartans' only run of the game, as they were overtaken by Western Michigan, 6-1, Wednesday afternoon to open a 12-game homestand at McLane Stadium at Kobs Field.
Wednesday's loss was just the second in the last 11 meetings with the Broncos, as last year's win in the first match-up of the season snapped an eight-game win streak by the Spartans in the series. After dropping the game in East Lansing on March 28, 3-2, MSU got back on the winning track with a 7-6 walkoff win on May 9 at Comerica Park in Detroit.
MSU is now 6-17 on the season, while WMU levels its record at 11-11.
"The effort in practice is very good, I think it's a great group of kids, they are frustrated just like all of us are and so it's not easy when you're going through something like that, I feel for them because I know they are hurting as well," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "This certainly isn't how we planned it, at the same time there is a long way to go in our season; we are one week into the Big Ten Conference season. I reminded them that in 2011, the second to the last weekend of the year we got swept at Indiana and won a conference championship. We got swept last weekend but we've got 21 conference games to go and we got the opportunity to hopefully get some momentum this weekend."
Junior right fielder Dan Chmielewski was 2-for-4 Wednesday, posting two of MSU's seven hits and was the lone Spartan with multiple hits, as well as scoring the home team's only run of the game. Senior designated hitter Chad Roskelly drove in Chmielewski with an RBI single. Sophomore center fielder Justin Antoncic, freshman second baseman Zach Iverson, freshman shortstop Ryan King and sophomore left fielder Bryce Kelley had the Spartans' other hits in the contest.
Kelley swiped his Big Ten-leading 17th base of the season, while Chmielewski added a base swipe, as he now has seven on the season.
The Spartans got on the board in the home half of the first, with Chmielewski reaching on a two-out single to right, then stole second. Roskelly then followed with an RBI single to right center, driving in Chmielewski and giving MSU a 1-0 lead.
The lead was short-lived as WMU plated six runs in the second, sending 11 batters to the plate, with five hits and leaving two runners on base, for a 6-1 advantage.
MSU tried to rally in the third, getting back-to-back two-out singles to put runners at first and third, but the rally fizzled.
The Spartans got the first two batters on in the seventh with a hit-by-pitch and walk, but the rallied fizzled.
Michigan State continues its 12-game homestand this weekend, hosting Rutgers in a three-game B1G weekend series, Friday-Sunday, March 30-April 1.
"Everybody that we play is pretty good, especially in our conference, so we need to play cleaner baseball, we were pretty sloppy today both on the mound and defensively. We maybe got away with two errors today that isn't going to happen down the road, and need to be better offensively, need to have better approaches, more consistent approaches, and then when we get our opportunity to get our swing off, we need to get our swing off."
Friday's game is slated for 3:05 p.m., with Saturday and Sunday scheduled for first pitch at 1:05 p.m. both days.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: MODRZYNSKI, Chris (2-2)
L: Gonzalez, Andrew (0-1)
S: MCCONNEL, Matt (1)
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Batting:
2B: SMITH, Connor 1 ; GRYS, Nate 1
RBI: STONE, Andrew 1 ; GRYS, Nate 3 ; DEVINE, Drew 1
SH: FORESTELL, Jesse 1
Base Running:
RUNS: STONE, Andrew 1 ; SMITH, Connor 1 ; DUNN, Blake 1 ; HAJDUKOVIC, Ethan 1 ; DEVINE, Drew 1 ; HENDERSON, Conner 1
CS: STONE, Andrew 1
Batting:
RBI: Roskelly, Chad 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Chmielewski, Dan 1
SB: Chmielewski, Dan 1 ; Kelley, Bryce 1
HBP: Bechina, Marty 1
PO: Antoncic, Justin 1
