Spartans Corral Broncos, 10-7, Wednesday

April 18, 2018

KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball tied a season-high with 15 hits, getting three each from junior third baseman Marty Bechina and sophomore left fielder Bryce Kelley, to beat Western Michigan, 10-7, Wednesday afternoon at Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field, playing the last few innings under steady to heavy rainfall.

MSU 10, WMU 7 Box Score

"It's nothing that we weren't used to, might be close to some of the best weather we've played in in the last three weeks. I'll take a little bit warmer and rain over 30 degrees and freezing cold, but as long as we get a win, I don't care what kind of weather we're playing in," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said with a laugh. "Offensively it was a really good day for us with 15 hits and 10 runs, a lot of good at bats with two strikes, a lot of good at bats with two outs, and guys were moving the baseball."

MSU has won five of its last seven games played, moving to 11-21 on the season, while WMU is 14-16. Wednesday's win splits the series between the Spartans and Broncos, with each team winning as the visitors, after WMU's 6-1 win in East Lansing on March 28. Michigan State has won 10 of its last 12 meetings with Western Michigan, moving to 12-7 vs. WMU under Boss, including 10-4 in match-ups between Boss and former Spartan assistant coach and current Bronco head coach Billy Gernon.

Bechina was 3-for-5 with two RBI on a two-run double in the sixth, and scored a run, while Kelley was also 3-for-5, while scoring twice and adding an RBI. Kelley also stole two bases, adding to his Big Ten Conference leading total, now at 23 this season, which moves him up to tie for No. 4 on MSU's single-season stolen base list, tying him with Anthony Cheky (2013), Jeff Holm (2010) and Steve Money (1994).

Senior designated hitter Chad Roskelly was 2-for-6, while freshman shortstop Ryan King was 2-for-5. Sophomore second baseman Justin Antoncic was 1-for-3 with a two-run single in the fifth, while freshman infielder Zach Iverson, senior first baseman Zack McGuire, freshman catcher Adam Proctor and sophomore center fielder Danny Gleaves also had hits.

"I thought Bryce Kelley had a really, really good day, and set the table. Justin Antoncic had the big hit in the fifth inning, that was a huge at bat and was with two strikes. Marty Bechina had a really, really good day today, and Ryan King had a couple hits, so up and down the lineup it was a really good day for all our guys," Boss said. "We moved the ball well, we had a sacrifice bunt, and another safety squeeze opportunity, but from the top to the bottom of the order I thought we had really good at bats all day."

The Spartans' 15 hits tied a season high from April 17 vs. Nebraska and MSU has now had double-digit hits in the last three games as part of five in the last six games.

"We've been swinging the bats better lately, so that's good, we've been showing signs of kind of breaking out of it after a tough start, there was a lot of good that happened today, so a lot of positives moving forward," Boss said.

Sophomore reliever Caleb Sleeman picked up his first collegiate win, while senior reliever Jake Lowery collected his second save of the season. Freshman Jesse Heikkinen made his first start as a Spartan, before giving way to Sleeman, who was relieved by junior Evan Flohr. Sophomore Mike Mokma came on in the relief of Flohr, before giving way to sophomore Mitchell Tyanski for one big out, then Lowery closed it out.

"Everybody threw really well today," Boss said. "I thought Flohr had a couple tough-luck runs, they kind of nickle and dimed him a little bit, but I thought he threw better than maybe his line score showed. I thought Sleeman and Mokma were also both very good, and Tyranski came in to face their best guy and got a big strikeout in a huge spot in the game, and then Jake Lowery was Jake Lowery, he was really, really good again."

The Spartans took the early lead after Kelley led off with a single, stole second, then moved to third on a groundout and scored on an RBI double by Iverson.

Western Michigan leveled the score at 1-1 in the home half of the first, taking advantage of a leadoff walk to Connor Smith, who later scored on an RBI single by Nate Grys.

The Spartans hung a four-spot on the board in the top of the third, with Antoncic leading off with a walk and Roskelly followed with a single, moving Antoncic to third and chasing WMU starter Chris Modrzynski. After a lineout, Antoncic scored on a wild pitch with McGuire at the plate, and two pitches later, McGuire laced an RBI single to left to score Roskelly. Next, Proctor singled, then two batters later, Bechina reached on an error, and McGuire came around to score. After a walk to Gleaves, Kelley singled to plate Proctor and put MSU ahead, 5-1.

The lead was short-lived as Western Michigan opened the bottom of the third with back-to-back doubles for one run, followed by a two-run home run by Nate Grys, and MSU made a pitching change, bringing in Sleeman. The Broncos scored one more run in the frame, leveling the score at 5-5.

In the fifth, Bechina sparked a two-out rally with a single to right. After Gleaves reached on an error and Kelley drew a walk, Antoncic followed with a two-run single to right, driving in Bechina and Gleaves and putting the Spartans ahead, 7-5.

MSU added two more runs in the sixth, with Proctor reaching on a two-out walk, followed by a single by King. Bechina followed by belting a two-run double to the gap in left center to drive in Proctor and King for a 9-5 gap.

WMU closed to 9-7 in the sixth with a pair of singles and a double, and later had the bases loaded with only one out, chasing Flohr. Mokma came on and got out of the jam with a double play to end the inning and keep the Spartans' lead at 9-7.

Michigan State added to its lead in the top of the ninth, with Kelley leading off with a single, stealing second and later scoring on a Roskelly RBI single.

After coming on with two outs in the eighth, Lowery finished the ninth, working around a leadoff walk and hit-by-pitch, getting a pair of pop-ups sandwiched around a foul-out to end the game.

The Spartans remain on the road, resuming B1G action at Northwestern on Friday-Sunday, April 20-22. Friday's series opener will be nationally televised on Big Ten Network with a 4:30 p.m. ET first pitch. Saturday is slated for a 2 p.m. start with Sunday's series finale slated for a 1 p.m. start.

MSU then faces off with Eastern Michigan at Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers, on Tuesday, April 24 at 6:35 p.m. The Spartans-Eagles battle is full of coaching connections, as MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr., was the head coach at EMU for one season in 2008, MSU assistant coach/pitching coach Mark Van Ameyde was head coach at EMU from 2014-17, before returning to MSU, Spartan volunteer assistant coach Jordan Keur was also an assistant at Eastern Michigan for the 2015 season under Van Ameyde after playing for him at Michigan State. EMU interim head coach Eric Roof is in his fourth season at Eastern Michigan, after serving as a volunteer assistant under Coach Boss at MSU for two seasons (2013-14), and was a three-year letterwinner at Michigan State (2007-09), playing under Coach Boss. Current EMU pitching coach A.J. Achter was also a three-year letterwinner for the Spartans (2008-10), and was teammates with Roof under Coach Boss. Achter went on to have a three-year career in Major League Baseball as part of eight years in professional baseball.

Any schedule updates will be announced on www.MSUSpartans.com and on twitter @statebaseball.

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Team Stats

Bryce Kelley

Marty Bechina

Chad Roskelly

Ryan King

Players Mentioned

Justin Antoncic

Marty Bechina

Evan Flohr

Danny Gleaves

Jesse Heikkinen

Zach Iverson

Bryce Kelley

Ryan King

Jake Lowery

Zack McGuire

Mike Mokma

Adam Proctor

Chad Roskelly

Caleb Sleeman