Sunday, May 16
Columbus, Ohio
1:05 PM ET
Michigan State University
15-23, 0
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Ohio State
19-16, 0
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Michigan State
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Ohio State
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Photo by: Jeremy Fleming
MSU Topped By OSU In Sunday’s Series Finale
5/16/2021 5:42:00 PM | Baseball
Proctor blasts second HR in as many games.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Michigan State was denied the weekend series sweep by Ohio State, as the Spartans were topped by the Buckeyes, 7-3, in the series finale Sunday afternoon at OSU's Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium.
The visiting Spartans won Friday's night's opener, 10-7, and clinched the series win with a 2-0 Victory for MSU on Saturday, but were denied the sweep by the Buckeyes. Sunday's loss snapped not only Michigan State's three-game win streak this season, as MSU is now 15-23 on the season, but also halted the Spartans' five-game win streak in the series with the Buckeyes. Michigan State has still won seven of the last 10 meetings with Ohio State. MSU's series win is the first time that the visiting team has won the Spartans vs. Buckeyes series since 2013, also won by MSU in Columbus. Ohio State moved to 19-16 on the season.
"It was a tough day today, we didn't play well enough to win, and that's the bottom line," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "We kicked it around a little bit today, I think there's three errors on the scoreboard but there's probably a couple more than you could make a good case for, so unfortunately we just didn't play well enough to win."
Junior catcher Adam Proctor blasted his second HR in as many games, after a two-run blast in Saturday's game. Proctor finished Sunday's contest with a 2-for-3 outing at the plate with two runs, including a double as well, giving him four extra base hits in two games with two doubles and two round-trippers, after entering the weekend without a HR this season. The two homers on the weekend give Proctor 13 home runs for his career, the most among active Spartans.
"Adam had another good day today, he's a big strong kid and when he gets the barrel to the ball, it's going to go, and he put a good swing on a pretty good pitch today and he's strong enough to get the ball out of the park to left-center field. He also had a double today too, and that ball was hit hard and he's seeing the ball well and had a good couple days and we're going to need him going forward."
Freshmen infielders Brock Vradenburg and Trent Farquhar were both 1-for-4 with an RBI apiece. Senior outfielder Bryce Kelley and freshman infielder Mitch Jebb also both went 1-for-4, with Jebb scoring a run.
On the mound, senior Sam Benschoter started Sunday's contest after picking up the save Saturday by throwing the final inning. Benschoter went 6.2 IP on Sunday with seven strikeouts, scattering seven hits and yielding four runs, two earns, and two walks.
"I thought Sam Benschoter did a heck of a job for us today with a really gutty performance and unfortunately we had to take him out," Boss said. "Then we walked too many guys in the eighth inning and it goes from a one-run game to a four-run game, and it changes things completely. So it was a disappointing day today, but it's good to win the series for sure but it kind of felt like we had a chance today and just didn't just didn't get it done, so it's unfortunate."
MSU was the first on the board with a run in the top of the second, as Jebb led off with a single to right and moved up to second on a wild pitch. After a pair of strikeouts, Vradenburg came through with a big two-out hit by lacing a seeing-eye single through the right side and Jebb darted around to score and put the visiting Spartans up, 1-0.
The Buckeyes quickly leveled the game with a run in the home half of the second, also a two-out RBI single, but Benschoter shut the door on any rally with a strikeout, his second of the inning and third through two frames.
Proctor led off the top of the third by going opposite field with a home run to left center and put MSU ahead, 2-1.
The Spartan lead grew to 3-1 with a run in the top of the fifth, again with two outs, as Proctor knocked a double to right and Farquhar followed with a single to center to plate Proctor and give MSU a two-run lead.
Just like they did in the second, the Buckeyes quickly tied it back up, with two runs in the bottom of the fifth frame, with a two-run single with two outs to level it at 3-all.
After the stretch and singing, Ohio State took its first lead of the weekend with a run in the bottom of the seventh, and then padded its lead with three runs in the eighth, before freshman relief pitcher Adam Berghorst came on with the bases loaded and got a strikeout to halt the rally at three runs, leaving the bases full of Buckeyes.
The Spartans didn't go quietly into the sunny Columbus afternoon, as Kelley led off with an infield single, before sophomore designated hitter Casey Mayes drew a walk. After two strikeouts, Proctor also drew a walk to fill the bags, but a strikeout ended the Spartan rally and the game.
Michigan State is on the road for the second straight weekend next weekend, heading to Piscataway, N.J. for three games at Rutgers, May 21-23. The weekend series starts on Friday, May 21 at 2 p.m., with the second game of the series on Saturday, May 22 at 1 p.m., and the series wraps up on Sunday, May 23 at 12 p.m.
The weekend schedule is subject to change based on weather.
Along with any schedule updates, fans can follow the games with links for live stats, live audio (when available) and live streaming from Big Ten Network+ at MSUSpartans.com.
The visiting Spartans won Friday's night's opener, 10-7, and clinched the series win with a 2-0 Victory for MSU on Saturday, but were denied the sweep by the Buckeyes. Sunday's loss snapped not only Michigan State's three-game win streak this season, as MSU is now 15-23 on the season, but also halted the Spartans' five-game win streak in the series with the Buckeyes. Michigan State has still won seven of the last 10 meetings with Ohio State. MSU's series win is the first time that the visiting team has won the Spartans vs. Buckeyes series since 2013, also won by MSU in Columbus. Ohio State moved to 19-16 on the season.
"It was a tough day today, we didn't play well enough to win, and that's the bottom line," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "We kicked it around a little bit today, I think there's three errors on the scoreboard but there's probably a couple more than you could make a good case for, so unfortunately we just didn't play well enough to win."
Junior catcher Adam Proctor blasted his second HR in as many games, after a two-run blast in Saturday's game. Proctor finished Sunday's contest with a 2-for-3 outing at the plate with two runs, including a double as well, giving him four extra base hits in two games with two doubles and two round-trippers, after entering the weekend without a HR this season. The two homers on the weekend give Proctor 13 home runs for his career, the most among active Spartans.
"Adam had another good day today, he's a big strong kid and when he gets the barrel to the ball, it's going to go, and he put a good swing on a pretty good pitch today and he's strong enough to get the ball out of the park to left-center field. He also had a double today too, and that ball was hit hard and he's seeing the ball well and had a good couple days and we're going to need him going forward."
Freshmen infielders Brock Vradenburg and Trent Farquhar were both 1-for-4 with an RBI apiece. Senior outfielder Bryce Kelley and freshman infielder Mitch Jebb also both went 1-for-4, with Jebb scoring a run.
On the mound, senior Sam Benschoter started Sunday's contest after picking up the save Saturday by throwing the final inning. Benschoter went 6.2 IP on Sunday with seven strikeouts, scattering seven hits and yielding four runs, two earns, and two walks.
"I thought Sam Benschoter did a heck of a job for us today with a really gutty performance and unfortunately we had to take him out," Boss said. "Then we walked too many guys in the eighth inning and it goes from a one-run game to a four-run game, and it changes things completely. So it was a disappointing day today, but it's good to win the series for sure but it kind of felt like we had a chance today and just didn't just didn't get it done, so it's unfortunate."
MSU was the first on the board with a run in the top of the second, as Jebb led off with a single to right and moved up to second on a wild pitch. After a pair of strikeouts, Vradenburg came through with a big two-out hit by lacing a seeing-eye single through the right side and Jebb darted around to score and put the visiting Spartans up, 1-0.
The Buckeyes quickly leveled the game with a run in the home half of the second, also a two-out RBI single, but Benschoter shut the door on any rally with a strikeout, his second of the inning and third through two frames.
Proctor led off the top of the third by going opposite field with a home run to left center and put MSU ahead, 2-1.
The Spartan lead grew to 3-1 with a run in the top of the fifth, again with two outs, as Proctor knocked a double to right and Farquhar followed with a single to center to plate Proctor and give MSU a two-run lead.
Just like they did in the second, the Buckeyes quickly tied it back up, with two runs in the bottom of the fifth frame, with a two-run single with two outs to level it at 3-all.
After the stretch and singing, Ohio State took its first lead of the weekend with a run in the bottom of the seventh, and then padded its lead with three runs in the eighth, before freshman relief pitcher Adam Berghorst came on with the bases loaded and got a strikeout to halt the rally at three runs, leaving the bases full of Buckeyes.
The Spartans didn't go quietly into the sunny Columbus afternoon, as Kelley led off with an infield single, before sophomore designated hitter Casey Mayes drew a walk. After two strikeouts, Proctor also drew a walk to fill the bags, but a strikeout ended the Spartan rally and the game.
Michigan State is on the road for the second straight weekend next weekend, heading to Piscataway, N.J. for three games at Rutgers, May 21-23. The weekend series starts on Friday, May 21 at 2 p.m., with the second game of the series on Saturday, May 22 at 1 p.m., and the series wraps up on Sunday, May 23 at 12 p.m.
The weekend schedule is subject to change based on weather.
Along with any schedule updates, fans can follow the games with links for live stats, live audio (when available) and live streaming from Big Ten Network+ at MSUSpartans.com.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Neely, Jack (2-2)
L: Benschoter, Sam (3-4)
Batting:
2B: Proctor, Adam 1
HR: Proctor, Adam 1
RBI: Farquhar, Trent 1 ; Vradenburg, Brock 1 ; Proctor, Adam 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jebb, Mitch 1 ; Proctor, Adam 2
SB: Farquhar, Trent 1
HBP: Farquhar, Trent 1 ; Stewart, Joe 1
Batting:
2B: Dezenzo, Zach 1
RBI: Kern, Kade 3 ; Pohl, Conner 1 ; Todys, Brent 1 ; Erwin, Nick 2
SH: Okuley, Mitchell 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Okuley, Mitchell 1 ; Dezenzo, Zach 1 ; Ernst, Marcus 2 ; Kaiser, Caden 1 ; Erwin, Nick 2
SB: Wilson, Sam 1 ; Ernst, Marcus 1
HBP: Dezenzo, Zach 1 ; Wilson, Sam 1
PO: Dezenzo, Zach 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballOF/LHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballC
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballPursuit to Greatness | Spartans All-Access
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