Sunday, February 27
Crutcher Scott Field | Abilene, Texas
2 PM ET / 1 PM CT
Michigan State University
3-2
1
at
10
Abilene Christian
2-3
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Michigan State
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
6
1
Abilene Christian
2
0
0
0
2
0
1
5
X
10
13
2
Photo by: Quinn Bezenah
Spartans Downed In Doubleheader Saturday At Abilene Christian
2/27/2022 10:20:00 PM | Baseball
MSU drops twinbill at ACU.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball was beaten by Abilene Christian in both games of a doubleheader Sunday afternoon and evening at ACU's Crutcher Scott Field, in the opening day of an amended three-game series.
ACU won game one, 10-1 before taking the night cap, 12-4.
"I don't think you can blame it on just the pitching. I think there's plenty of blame to be placed all over the place," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "In game two in the first inning, there's two outs and nobody on, and next thing you know, they're up 6-0 and the inning's not over yet. We didn't communicate on a fly ball in right center that would have got us out of the inning, and we misjudged another fly ball, we threw to the wrong base that allowed a couple more runs to score. It was just kind of one thing after another, we just couldn't really stop the bleeding."
ACU scored its 22 runs on 24 hits, while MSU tallied its five runs on 17 hits for the day. The Wildcats had two errors on the day, both in game one, while the Spartans had three miscues.
"Part of it was the pitching, part of it was defensively, I think we made some mistakes and we're pretty uncharacteristic," Boss said. "Offensively, we just could not get ourselves back into it. We gave up runs in the first inning of both games, so we're playing from behind on the road, and offensively we just struck out an awful lot today, and credit their guys. I mean, they threw a lot of velocity at us today that we haven't seen really in a long, long time and they threw a lot of strikes too. I know they didn't throw very many strikes last weekend, but today were mid 90s on the corners is going to be tough to hit and that's what they did today."
Sunday was originally slated to be day of the series finale of a four-game set, but inclement weather in Abilene altered the weekend series to a rescheduled opening game with a single contest on Saturday followed by a doubleheader on Sunday. However, further inclement postponed that plan and amended the schedule to a twinbill Sunday and a single-game Monday matinée contest. MSU flew into Dallas, arriving late Friday night, then made the four-hour bus trip to Abilene Saturday morning and practiced at Crutcher Scott Field.
"With all that said, that's no excuse for the way that we came out and played today and I don't think it was necessarily lack of effort but we need to be better, and we addressed it after the game, I think it all is in all phases," Boss said. "I think on the mental side of it, we made mistakes that we really shouldn't be making at any point. But it's only games five and six of the year with a 55-game schedule, so there's a long way to go, but at the same time, I think they're pretty elementary mistakes that we made today that, again, we shouldn't be making. We addressed that after the game, and we'll learn from it, put it behind us, and go forward tomorrow to try and salvage one game in the series."
Michigan State and Abilene Christian both leveled their season records at 3-3 with Sunday's doubleheader results. This weekend is the first meeting between the Spartans and Wildcats since 2017, when MSU also played at ACU, winning a four-game series, as Michigan State now leads the all-time series with Abilene Christian, 4-2.
ACU got on the board early in Sunday's opener with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning, staking the Wildcats to an early 2-0 lead.
The Spartans cut the deficit in half with a run in the fourth, as sophomore infielder Mitch Jebb led off with a single to his counterpart at shortstop, and later stole second. Fellow sophomore, outfielder Jack Frank laced a double to center to drive in Jebb and pull MSU within, 2-1.
That would be the closest the visiting Spartans would get, as the Wildcats added two runs in the fifth, one in the seventh and five in the eighth for the 10-1 final score.
Junior outfielder Casey Mayes was 2-for-3 as the lone Spartan with multiple hits. Sophomore infielder Brock Vradenburg and freshman catcher Bryan Broecker knocked base hits to join Jebb and Frank in the hit column. Jebb swipe in the fourth inning was MSU's lone stolen base in the opening game.
On the mound, senior starter Zach Iverson was dealt the loss, going 4.0 IP with seven strikeouts, matching his punchout total from the season-opener. Junior Andrew Carson, redshirt-junior Wyatt Rush and redshirt-freshman Dominic Hann finished in relief, with Rush ringing up three Ks, followed by three from Hann and one K by Carson.
In the night cap, the Spartans jumped out early, mirroring the fourth inning of game one, with Jebb singling to spark the rally. Frank later followed with an RBI double, as Jebb darted around the bases to score and put MSU ahead, 1-0, in the top of the first.
Unfortunately, the Spartan advantage didn't last long, as ACU plated six runs in the first, as the Wildcats loaded the bases, then later knocked a bases-clearing triple.
Abilene Christian added three in the third and three more in the fourth to open a 12-1 lead.
However, MSU did not go quietly into the Abilene night, as they rallied in the ninth, as redshirt-freshman catcher Christian Williams knocked a 1-out triple to right. Two batters later, sophomore infielder Parker Pilat drew a walk, bringing Farquhar to the plate. A wild pitch allowed Williams to dart home and Pilat to advance to second, and two pitches later, Farquhar smashed a two-run home run over the scoreboard in right field to pull MSU within, 12-4, before a strikeout ended the rally and the game.
Jebb ended the night cap going 3-for-5 with a run, while Farquhar was 2-for-4 and Mayes was 2-for-4. Jebb had one double, while Farquhar added a double to go with his home run, and Mayes knocked a double and a triple, part of MSU's seven extra-base hits in the game.Â
Frank was 1-for-4 with the RBI double, while Williams was 1-for-4 with the triple and run scored, while Pilat was 1-for-1 with a single and walk.
Sophomore starting pitcher Nick Powers took the loss, with two Ks, while sophomore relievers Harrison Cook and Brian Martin came on in relief. Cook and Martin each chalked up three Ks.Â
The Spartans and Wildcats will then tangle in a single game on Monday, Feb. 28 in a 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT start time.Â
Fans can follow Monday's games with "watch live" and "live stats" links available at MSUSpartans.com.
Â
ACU won game one, 10-1 before taking the night cap, 12-4.
"I don't think you can blame it on just the pitching. I think there's plenty of blame to be placed all over the place," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "In game two in the first inning, there's two outs and nobody on, and next thing you know, they're up 6-0 and the inning's not over yet. We didn't communicate on a fly ball in right center that would have got us out of the inning, and we misjudged another fly ball, we threw to the wrong base that allowed a couple more runs to score. It was just kind of one thing after another, we just couldn't really stop the bleeding."
ACU scored its 22 runs on 24 hits, while MSU tallied its five runs on 17 hits for the day. The Wildcats had two errors on the day, both in game one, while the Spartans had three miscues.
"Part of it was the pitching, part of it was defensively, I think we made some mistakes and we're pretty uncharacteristic," Boss said. "Offensively, we just could not get ourselves back into it. We gave up runs in the first inning of both games, so we're playing from behind on the road, and offensively we just struck out an awful lot today, and credit their guys. I mean, they threw a lot of velocity at us today that we haven't seen really in a long, long time and they threw a lot of strikes too. I know they didn't throw very many strikes last weekend, but today were mid 90s on the corners is going to be tough to hit and that's what they did today."
Sunday was originally slated to be day of the series finale of a four-game set, but inclement weather in Abilene altered the weekend series to a rescheduled opening game with a single contest on Saturday followed by a doubleheader on Sunday. However, further inclement postponed that plan and amended the schedule to a twinbill Sunday and a single-game Monday matinée contest. MSU flew into Dallas, arriving late Friday night, then made the four-hour bus trip to Abilene Saturday morning and practiced at Crutcher Scott Field.
"With all that said, that's no excuse for the way that we came out and played today and I don't think it was necessarily lack of effort but we need to be better, and we addressed it after the game, I think it all is in all phases," Boss said. "I think on the mental side of it, we made mistakes that we really shouldn't be making at any point. But it's only games five and six of the year with a 55-game schedule, so there's a long way to go, but at the same time, I think they're pretty elementary mistakes that we made today that, again, we shouldn't be making. We addressed that after the game, and we'll learn from it, put it behind us, and go forward tomorrow to try and salvage one game in the series."
Michigan State and Abilene Christian both leveled their season records at 3-3 with Sunday's doubleheader results. This weekend is the first meeting between the Spartans and Wildcats since 2017, when MSU also played at ACU, winning a four-game series, as Michigan State now leads the all-time series with Abilene Christian, 4-2.
ACU got on the board early in Sunday's opener with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning, staking the Wildcats to an early 2-0 lead.
The Spartans cut the deficit in half with a run in the fourth, as sophomore infielder Mitch Jebb led off with a single to his counterpart at shortstop, and later stole second. Fellow sophomore, outfielder Jack Frank laced a double to center to drive in Jebb and pull MSU within, 2-1.
That would be the closest the visiting Spartans would get, as the Wildcats added two runs in the fifth, one in the seventh and five in the eighth for the 10-1 final score.
Junior outfielder Casey Mayes was 2-for-3 as the lone Spartan with multiple hits. Sophomore infielder Brock Vradenburg and freshman catcher Bryan Broecker knocked base hits to join Jebb and Frank in the hit column. Jebb swipe in the fourth inning was MSU's lone stolen base in the opening game.
On the mound, senior starter Zach Iverson was dealt the loss, going 4.0 IP with seven strikeouts, matching his punchout total from the season-opener. Junior Andrew Carson, redshirt-junior Wyatt Rush and redshirt-freshman Dominic Hann finished in relief, with Rush ringing up three Ks, followed by three from Hann and one K by Carson.
In the night cap, the Spartans jumped out early, mirroring the fourth inning of game one, with Jebb singling to spark the rally. Frank later followed with an RBI double, as Jebb darted around the bases to score and put MSU ahead, 1-0, in the top of the first.
Unfortunately, the Spartan advantage didn't last long, as ACU plated six runs in the first, as the Wildcats loaded the bases, then later knocked a bases-clearing triple.
Abilene Christian added three in the third and three more in the fourth to open a 12-1 lead.
However, MSU did not go quietly into the Abilene night, as they rallied in the ninth, as redshirt-freshman catcher Christian Williams knocked a 1-out triple to right. Two batters later, sophomore infielder Parker Pilat drew a walk, bringing Farquhar to the plate. A wild pitch allowed Williams to dart home and Pilat to advance to second, and two pitches later, Farquhar smashed a two-run home run over the scoreboard in right field to pull MSU within, 12-4, before a strikeout ended the rally and the game.
Jebb ended the night cap going 3-for-5 with a run, while Farquhar was 2-for-4 and Mayes was 2-for-4. Jebb had one double, while Farquhar added a double to go with his home run, and Mayes knocked a double and a triple, part of MSU's seven extra-base hits in the game.Â
Frank was 1-for-4 with the RBI double, while Williams was 1-for-4 with the triple and run scored, while Pilat was 1-for-1 with a single and walk.
Sophomore starting pitcher Nick Powers took the loss, with two Ks, while sophomore relievers Harrison Cook and Brian Martin came on in relief. Cook and Martin each chalked up three Ks.Â
The Spartans and Wildcats will then tangle in a single game on Monday, Feb. 28 in a 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT start time.Â
Fans can follow Monday's games with "watch live" and "live stats" links available at MSUSpartans.com.
Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Breck Eichelberger (1-1)
L: Powers, Nick (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Farquhar, Trent 1 ; Jebb, Mitch 1 ; Frank, Jack 1 ; Mayes, Casey 1
3B: Mayes, Casey 1 ; Williams, Christian 1
HR: Farquhar, Trent 1
RBI: Farquhar, Trent 2 ; Frank, Jack 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Farquhar, Trent 1 ; Jebb, Mitch 1 ; Williams, Christian 1 ; Pilat, Parker 1
Batting:
2B: Colton Eager 1
3B: Randle, Bash 1 ; Tanner Tweedt 1
HR: Tanner Tweedt 1
RBI: Hunter Gieser 2 ; Hammit, Brett 2 ; Tanner Tweedt 5 ; Alexei Cazarin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Grayson Tatrow 1 ; Colton Eager 1 ; Hunter Gieser 2 ; Randle, Bash 2 ; Miller Ladusau 2 ; Hammit, Brett 2 ; Tanner Tweedt 2
SB: Hunter Gieser 1 ; Alexei Cazarin 1
CS: Colton Eager 1
HBP: Hammit, Brett 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
0
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
C
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RHP
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RHP
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OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF/OF/RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
OF/RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
INF/C/OF
/ BaseballPursuit to Greatness | Spartans All-Access
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