Friday, March 25
McLane Stadium at Kobs Field | East Lansing, Mich.
1:05 PM
Michigan State University
10-8, 0-1
3
vs
11
Illinois
9-10, 1-0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Illinois
3
5
0
1
0
0
1
0
1
11
17
2
Michigan State
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
2
0
3
4
3
Photo by: Kelly Branigan
Spartans Topped Twice By Illini In B1G Opening Twinbill Friday
3/25/2022 8:41:00 PM | Baseball
MSU’s win streak stopped.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball was topped twice by Illinois Friday afternoon in both teams' Big Ten Conference openers at a cold, damp and rainy McLane Stadium at Kobs Field.
The Illini won the first game, 11-3, and took the second game, 9-2. Due to inclement weather in the forecast for Sunday, the three-game weekend series was altered to a doubleheader Friday and a single game Saturday.
The Spartan bats were stymied to just nine hits on the day, with junior outfielder Zaid Walker, along with sophomore infielders Trent Farquhar and Brock Vradenburg tallying two hits apiece. Junior outfielder Casey Mayes, junior infielder Peter Ahn and redshirt-freshman catcher Christian Williams had one hit each.
"Not a good day for us, we didn't really do much well in any facet of the game today, so it's really disappointing, and I thought we'd really been playing well the last couple of weeks going into today," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "Unfortunately for us, we didn't pitch well, we didn't defend well, we didn't run the bases well, we didn't swing the bat well. Illinois is traditionally a team that is not going to beat themselves, and they didn't do that today, and I thought we did."
MSU had its three-game win streak stopped with the loss, and the Spartans are now 10-9 on the season and 0-2 in B1G play. Illinois leveled its record at 10-10 overall and 2-0 in league action. The Spartans and Illini are slated to wrap up their three-game B1G opening weekend series on Saturday at 1:05 p.m.
"We play tomorrow, and that's the good thing, we don't have to sit on this for a week, like you do in football or a couple days in basketball, we're back at it tomorrow," Boss said. "We've got to right the ship, I think if we can play the way that we're capable of playing, who knows if we win two, but today's a lot different, and I think we'd walk away from it feeling a little bit better about ourselves. But, today was just not good, and very uncharacteristic of how we've been playing recently."
Illinois bolted out to an early 8-0 lead after three runs in the first frame and five runs in the second inning, with the big blows coming on a three-run home run by Danny Doligale and a two-run double by Kellen Sarver in the top of the second stanza.
The visiting Illini added a run in the fourth to open a 9-0 advantage.
MSU got on the board in the home half of the sixth, as Farquhar led off with a Texas Leaguer double into right center. Two batters later, Walker knocked a single up the middle to plate Farquhar.
After Illinois added a run in the top of the seventh, MSU plated a pair in the bottom of the eighth. Farquhar sparked the rally by reaching on a 1-out error, and Mayes followed with a bunt single, for the lone Spartan hit of the frame, as Farquhar scored on an Illini throwing error, and Mayes scored on an RBI fielder's choice off the bat of sophomore outfielder Jack Frank, pulling the Spartans within 10-3.
However, the visitors tacked on a run in the top of the ninth for the final 11-3 score.
Walker finished with half of MSU's four hits in the opener, going 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Mayes and Farquhar had the others. Farquhar was 1-for-2 with two runs scored, while Mayes was 1-for-4 with a run scored. Frank added one RBI.
On the mound, freshman Aidan Arbaugh and junior Jack Brockhaus both made their Spartan debuts, coming on in relief. Arbaugh was the first reliever out of the bullpen, replacing sophomore starter Harrison Cook in the third. The Spartan freshman went 3.0 IP and rang up his first collegiate strikeout. After redshirt-freshman Dominic Pianto pitched 2.0 IP with two Ks, Brockhaus fired the final 2.0 IP, also chalking up his first strikeout as a Spartan, finishing with a pair of punchouts.
Game two had a similar start as the Illini jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning, on a sac fly and two-run single.
The Spartans broke through in the bottom of the sixth, as sophomore infielder Mitch Jebb reached on a walk, Farquhar singled to move him to third and Jebb later scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Frank to close within 3-1.
MSU was denied a pair of home runs by Mother Nature, as Williams and Walker both had deep blasts to left that the wind, which was blowing in from the left field foul pole, blew down and kept in the ballpark. Illinois left fielder Jacob Campbell snaring both right at the wall, crashing into the padding on Walker's catch with a runner on to end the bottom of the sixth, keeping the score 3-1.
Illini broke the game open with four runs in the top of the seventh.
MSU got a run back after the stretch, as Williams laced a double just inside the third-base bag and down the line, plating Ahn, who reached on a double to the right center gap. Sophomore infielder Dillon Kark drew a walk, prompting an Illini pitching change, but the Spartan rally came to an end with a double play.
Illinois added a run in the top of the eighth and another in the ninth for the final score of 9-2.
Vradenburg ended 2-for-4, while Williams was 1-for-2 with an RBI and Ahn was 1-for-4 with a run scored, along with Farquhar going 1-for-3, while Jebb scored a run and Frank notched an RBI.
On the mound, sophomore starter Nick Powers was dealt the loss after 5.1 IP, scattering seven hits with two strikeouts. Junior Andrew Carson, sophomore Kyle Dunning and sophomore Dominic Hann came on in relief.
The MSU-Illinois series is slated to conclude on Saturday at 1:05 p.m.
The weekend schedule is subject to change based on weather.
Along with any further 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 Illini won the first game, 11-3, and took the second game, 9-2. Due to inclement weather in the forecast for Sunday, the three-game weekend series was altered to a doubleheader Friday and a single game Saturday.
The Spartan bats were stymied to just nine hits on the day, with junior outfielder Zaid Walker, along with sophomore infielders Trent Farquhar and Brock Vradenburg tallying two hits apiece. Junior outfielder Casey Mayes, junior infielder Peter Ahn and redshirt-freshman catcher Christian Williams had one hit each.
"Not a good day for us, we didn't really do much well in any facet of the game today, so it's really disappointing, and I thought we'd really been playing well the last couple of weeks going into today," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "Unfortunately for us, we didn't pitch well, we didn't defend well, we didn't run the bases well, we didn't swing the bat well. Illinois is traditionally a team that is not going to beat themselves, and they didn't do that today, and I thought we did."
MSU had its three-game win streak stopped with the loss, and the Spartans are now 10-9 on the season and 0-2 in B1G play. Illinois leveled its record at 10-10 overall and 2-0 in league action. The Spartans and Illini are slated to wrap up their three-game B1G opening weekend series on Saturday at 1:05 p.m.
"We play tomorrow, and that's the good thing, we don't have to sit on this for a week, like you do in football or a couple days in basketball, we're back at it tomorrow," Boss said. "We've got to right the ship, I think if we can play the way that we're capable of playing, who knows if we win two, but today's a lot different, and I think we'd walk away from it feeling a little bit better about ourselves. But, today was just not good, and very uncharacteristic of how we've been playing recently."
Illinois bolted out to an early 8-0 lead after three runs in the first frame and five runs in the second inning, with the big blows coming on a three-run home run by Danny Doligale and a two-run double by Kellen Sarver in the top of the second stanza.
The visiting Illini added a run in the fourth to open a 9-0 advantage.
MSU got on the board in the home half of the sixth, as Farquhar led off with a Texas Leaguer double into right center. Two batters later, Walker knocked a single up the middle to plate Farquhar.
After Illinois added a run in the top of the seventh, MSU plated a pair in the bottom of the eighth. Farquhar sparked the rally by reaching on a 1-out error, and Mayes followed with a bunt single, for the lone Spartan hit of the frame, as Farquhar scored on an Illini throwing error, and Mayes scored on an RBI fielder's choice off the bat of sophomore outfielder Jack Frank, pulling the Spartans within 10-3.
However, the visitors tacked on a run in the top of the ninth for the final 11-3 score.
Walker finished with half of MSU's four hits in the opener, going 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Mayes and Farquhar had the others. Farquhar was 1-for-2 with two runs scored, while Mayes was 1-for-4 with a run scored. Frank added one RBI.
On the mound, freshman Aidan Arbaugh and junior Jack Brockhaus both made their Spartan debuts, coming on in relief. Arbaugh was the first reliever out of the bullpen, replacing sophomore starter Harrison Cook in the third. The Spartan freshman went 3.0 IP and rang up his first collegiate strikeout. After redshirt-freshman Dominic Pianto pitched 2.0 IP with two Ks, Brockhaus fired the final 2.0 IP, also chalking up his first strikeout as a Spartan, finishing with a pair of punchouts.
Game two had a similar start as the Illini jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning, on a sac fly and two-run single.
The Spartans broke through in the bottom of the sixth, as sophomore infielder Mitch Jebb reached on a walk, Farquhar singled to move him to third and Jebb later scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Frank to close within 3-1.
MSU was denied a pair of home runs by Mother Nature, as Williams and Walker both had deep blasts to left that the wind, which was blowing in from the left field foul pole, blew down and kept in the ballpark. Illinois left fielder Jacob Campbell snaring both right at the wall, crashing into the padding on Walker's catch with a runner on to end the bottom of the sixth, keeping the score 3-1.
Illini broke the game open with four runs in the top of the seventh.
MSU got a run back after the stretch, as Williams laced a double just inside the third-base bag and down the line, plating Ahn, who reached on a double to the right center gap. Sophomore infielder Dillon Kark drew a walk, prompting an Illini pitching change, but the Spartan rally came to an end with a double play.
Illinois added a run in the top of the eighth and another in the ninth for the final score of 9-2.
Vradenburg ended 2-for-4, while Williams was 1-for-2 with an RBI and Ahn was 1-for-4 with a run scored, along with Farquhar going 1-for-3, while Jebb scored a run and Frank notched an RBI.
On the mound, sophomore starter Nick Powers was dealt the loss after 5.1 IP, scattering seven hits with two strikeouts. Junior Andrew Carson, sophomore Kyle Dunning and sophomore Dominic Hann came on in relief.
The MSU-Illinois series is slated to conclude on Saturday at 1:05 p.m.
The weekend schedule is subject to change based on weather.
Along with any further 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: Kirschsieper,Cole (4-1)
L: Cook, Harrison (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Doligale,Danny 1 ; Janas,Justin 1 ; Sarver,Kellen 1
HR: Doligale,Danny 1 ; Jackson,Taylor 1
RBI: Doligale,Danny 3 ; Comia,Branden 1 ; Campbell,Jacob 1 ; McDonald,Cam 2 ; Sarver,Kellen 3 ; Jackson,Taylor 1
SF: McDonald,Cam 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Doligale,Danny 2 ; Comia,Branden 1 ; Janas,Justin 2 ; Campbell,Jacob 2 ; McDonald,Cam 1 ; Jackson,Taylor 2 ; Hejza,Cal 1
HBP: Campbell,Jacob 1 ; Jackson,Taylor 1
Batting:
2B: Farquhar, Trent 1
RBI: Walker, Zaid 1 ; Frank, Jack 1
SH: Frank, Jack 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Farquhar, Trent 2 ; Mayes, Casey 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
2
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
LHP/OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
C
/ BaseballPursuit to Greatness | Spartans All-Access
Monday, May 19
Jake Boss | Baseball Press Conference | April 17, 2025
Thursday, April 17
Jake Boss | Baseball Press Conference | Mar. 25 2025
Tuesday, March 25
Jake Boss | Baseball Press Conference | Mar. 11 2025
Tuesday, March 11