Spartans Rally To Ground Rockets, 5-4, Wednesday

April 25, 2018

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Bailey Peterson's RBI triple in the eighth inning completed Michigan State baseball's comeback from down 4-0 against Toledo as the Spartans rallied to beat the Rockets, 5-4, for their fifth win in a row and ninth in last 11 games. Mitchell Tyranski pitched a perfect ninth inning to seal the win and pick up the save.

MSU 5, Toledo 4 Box Score

Toledo led 4-0 after three innings, but MSU chipped away with a run in the fifth inning, two in the sixth and one each in the seventh and eighth, capped by Peterson, a sophomore designated hitter who entered the game in the seventh as a pinch runner. Fellow sophomore, pitcher Mitchell Tyranski fired a strikeout to end the game and earn the save after a 1-2-3 inning, book-ending the inning with strikeouts around a flyout to left.

"Never easy, but every win is a good win," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "We didn't play maybe as well as we're capable, but at the same time we competed, we got down early and didn't pack it in, just kept plugging away and you know they understand that we play hard for nine innings and good things can happen. We got a couple good at bats when we needed them. I'm happy for Bailey Peterson, he smoked that ball in the eighth inning, he hit it hard. Fortunately for us, it got away from the center fielder. So all-in-all, a lot we can learn from but at the same time anytime you get a win it's a good day."

The victory for MSU Wednesday improves to Spartans to 15-21 on the season, including winning 10 in a row over Toledo as part of improving to 17-3 overall against the Rockets, including 15-1 at home. Toledo is 14-23 overall with the loss.

Wednesday's 1-run game was the 13th MSU game decided by a run this season, as the Spartans are now 5-8 in 1-run games, as well as nine other 2-run games this season. Michigan State's 22 games decided by 1-2 runs is tied for second in the country.

"We've said it for at least the last two years it's a high character group of kids and when you have a group of guys like that that are outstanding young men, you can trust them with anything and you know I can trust them that they are going to compete for nine innings and you know again we did that today," Boss said. "We've done that all year and maybe there were times we didn't get the results we had hoped for, but they keep plugging away and they've gotten better. They've made themselves better and fortunately for us, now we're starting to see some of the results of that."

Senior designated hitter Chad Roskelly was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, extending his hitting streak to 14 games, while also stretching his on-base streak to 18 games.

Freshman second baseman Zach Iverson was 2-for-4 with two runs scored, while junior third baseman Marty Bechina and freshman catcher Adam Proctor were both 1-for-2, with Bechina adding a run scored. Sophomore center fielder Danny Gleaves was 1-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, as well as swiping one base, giving him 16 stolen bases on the season. Sophomore left fielder Bryce Kelley and junior right fielder Dan Chmielewski were both 1-for-4, with an RBI apiece.

Senior pitcher Jake Lowery pitcher came on in the eighth with one out and two on, yielding a single to load the bases, but then fired a strikeout and induced a groundout to thwart the threat and end the inning. Lowery earned the win, his second in as many games after picking up the victory last Sunday at Northwestern.

Tyranski's three-up, three-down inning earned him his team-leading fourth save of the season.

"It means a lot," Tyranski said about the importance of Wednesday's win. "It's always tough when you get into a hole like we did at the beginning of the year but we've been bouncing back in the last 10 or so games so it feels good to kind of get rolling and get on a little win streak here."

Tyranski has picked up two saves in MSU's last four games, earning the save in last Friday's win at Northwestern

"A relieving roll is tough, but I really like the pressure," Tyranski said. "It's a fun job for me and I did it a little bit last year and it kind of grew on me and I told the coaches at the beginning of the year I'll take on whatever roll they need me to take on, but yeah I really enjoy it."

The Rockets blasted out of the gate in the top of the first, with Ross Adolph belting a two-run triple to center, and Adolph later came in to score on a sacrifice fly by Dalton Bollinger and Toledo had a 3-0 lead before MSU had a chance to bat.

The visitors added a run in the third, with an infield single, followed by a walk and then an RBI single by Bollinger put Toledo on top, 4-0.

Michigan State got on the board in the fifth, with Gleaves leading off with a single to center, then stealing second. After moving to third on a Toledo error off the bat of Chmielewski, Gleaves scored on an RBI double to right center by Kelley.

The Spartans plated a pair of runs in the sixth, with Roskelly sparking the rally with leadoff single. After a flyout, back-to-back walks to Bechina and Proctor loaded the bases, bringing up Gleaves, who hit into a fielder's choice, diving into first base to prevent the double play and driving in Roskelly. Chmielewski followed with an RBI single to left, plating Bechina and pulling MSU within, 4-3.

Iverson led off the Spartan seventh with a double to right. Roskelly followed with an RBI single to center to drive in Iverson and tie the score at 4-all. MSU tried to go ahead, loading the bases, but Peterson, who came on as a pinch-runner for Roskelly, was tagged out at home trying to score on a wild pitch to end the rally.

In the eighth, Iverson again ignited the home team's rally, drawing a two-out walk. Peterson followed and belted a line drive to left center that bounced past Toledo center fielder to the wall, as Iverson scored what proved to be the winning run for the victory for MSU.

The Spartans resume Big Ten Conference action this weekend, hosting Maryland in a three-game series at McLane Stadium at Kobs Field. Friday's opener will be nationally televised on Big Ten Network with a 3:02 first pitch. Saturday and Sunday are slated for 1:05 p.m. start times.

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

Next Event

Team Stats

Chad Roskelly

Bryce Kelley

Zach Iverson

Bailey Peterson

Players Mentioned

Marty Bechina

Dan Chmielewski

Danny Gleaves

Zach Iverson

Bryce Kelley

Jake Lowery

Bailey Peterson

Adam Proctor

Chad Roskelly

Mitchell Tyranski