Spartans Edged By Lugnuts, 3-2, In Crosstown Showdown Wednesday

LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball was edged by the Lansing Lugnuts, 3-2, Wednesday night at Jackson Field in the 14th annual Crosstown Showdown, presented by Delta Dental.

After raining most of the day, the grey clouds gave way to blue skies and sunshine just before first pitch and 3,117 spirited fans were treated to a night of baseball and fun. Pre-game festivities included autographs from selected Spartan players, along with performances from the Spartan Spirit Squad and Spartan Marching Band, and Zeke the Wonderdog. New MSU volleyball head coach Leah Johnson and MSU men's tennis student-athlete Jack Winkler threw out the ceremonial first pitches, with Johnson throwing to Spartan player Conner Tomasic, while Winkler's was caught by Lansing Lugnuts player Jack Winkler, for the Jack Winkler to Jack Winkler connection.

"It was a really good atmosphere, I thought the people that were here seemed to make a lot of noise, there was a lot of 'Go Green, Go White' chanting tonight," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said "Unfortunately it rained all day, so that may have hampered the crowd a little bit, but yeah, it was a good atmosphere for sure, especially for the people that were here."

After the game got going, junior infielder Peter Ahn was 2-for-3, driving in both of MSU's runs on the night, with a solo home run. Ahn started the Spartan scoring on the night with a deep blast round-tripper to right center, drawing several oohs and aahs from the crowd.

"He had a good night, he's really athletic and he's a guy that's got a lot of power. He's got a lot of speed. You know, it was a good night for him," Boss said. "He's an experienced guy, too. It's his fifth year here with having the extra COVID year [of eligibility] and all that, but he got the barrel of the ball in the second inning really put a charge into one, and also ended up hitting the triple. He can hit the ball to all fields, he hits the ball down the left field line, they called it foul, but then he pulls the ball on the right field line. He's pretty comfortable, he's feeling good. His athleticism really helps us."

Ahn is one of several Spartan veterans who played in the last Crosstown Showdown in the fall of 2019, before shifting to spring for the 2022 edition.

"I'm one of the few guys has actually been able to play in this game for a few years now," Ahn said. "It's been three years since we've been able to play this, and it's always a great experience, it's really fun to see. Even the little things, seeing what changes are made at the higher levels and seeing how they do things is always awesome."

Along with his home run, Ahn also smacked an RBI triple down the right field line and into the corner in the sixth.

"I think it was the approach," Ahn said about his approach at the plate for the two big hits. "I was talking to (volunteer assistant coach) Andrew Stone, one of our assistants, and really worked on staying on top of the baseball and staying through it. I think that worked out, I was able to get on time with the fastball that I hit out, and the one down the line, I stayed behind a breaking ball."

Along with Ahn, junior outfielders Casey Mayes and Zaid Walker were both 1-for-2, while sophomore outfielder Jack Frank was 1-for-2

MSU used six different pitchers, each going 1.0 inning, as the Spartans rang up eight strikeouts, with five of the six MSU hurlers ringing up at least one. Freshman Ryan Szczepaniak started and struck out the side. Fellow freshman Aidan Arbaugh pitched the second, with two Ks, one BB, two hits and two runs. Sophomore Dominic Hann threw the third frame, with one punchout, one walk, two hits and one walk. Junior Jack Brockhaus threw a hitless, runless three-up, three-down, fourth, with one K, and redshirt-sophomore Brian Martin also rang up a 1-2-3 inning without a hit or run. Graduate senior Kyle Bischoff chalked up two punchouts with one hit in the final inning.

"We do play Friday at Ohio State, so we need to be ready to go for that conference game," Boss said. "So understanding that this is an exhibition game, you always try to keep the pitch counts down and have everybody ready to go for Friday. So I think we accomplished that. Most guys, we had around six guys throw, and four of them were really, really efficient. The other two, the pitch count got up to about 20, 25, but we need them ready on Friday. We'll be back."

The Spartans got on the board first with Ahn's a solo home run in the top of the second.

Lansing responded with two runs in the second on a two-run double by the Lugnuts' Winkler, making his fellow Spartan tennis player namesake-like forehand smash to left center to plate a pair of runs.

The Lugnuts added a run in the third on a sacrifice fly after a double and single, for a 3-1 advantage.

MSU rallied in the sixth as Frank smacked a one-out single up the middle. Senior Zach Iverson came on to pinch run for Frank, and with Ahn up next, Iverson darted all the way around from third after Ahn's RBI triple to the corner, for the second Spartan run of the night. However, two strikeouts ended the rally and the frame.

The Spartans threatened in the seventh, with Walker drawing a one-out walk to bring the winning run to the plate, but a flyout and groundout thwarted the threat to end the Crosstown Showdown.

After the game, there was a light show on Jackson Field's new LED stadium lighting system.

MSU resumes regular-season and Big Ten Conference action by heading to Columbus, Ohio for a three-game weekend series at Ohio State, Friday-Sunday, April 8-10 at OSU's Bill Davis Stadium. The series is scheduled to open on Friday, April 8 at 6:05 p.m., before game two of the series on Saturday, April 9 at 3:05 p.m., then wraps up on Sunday, April 10 in a 1:05 p.m. first pitch.

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.

Spartans Edged By Lugnuts, 3-2, In Crosstown Showdown Wednesday

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Team Stats

Peter Ahn

Jack Frank

Casey Mayes

Zaid Walker

Players Mentioned

Peter Ahn

Aidan Arbaugh

Kyle Bischoff

Jack Brockhaus

Jack Frank

Dominic Hann

Zach Iverson

Brian Martin

Casey Mayes

Ryan Szczepaniak

Conner Tomasic

Zaid Walker

Players Mentioned

Peter Ahn

Aidan Arbaugh

Kyle Bischoff

Jack Brockhaus

Jack Frank

Dominic Hann

Zach Iverson

Brian Martin

Casey Mayes

Ryan Szczepaniak

Conner Tomasic

Zaid Walker