Saturday, February 25
Bill Masters Field at John Henry Moss Stadium | Boiling Springs, N.C.
2 p.m.
Michigan State University
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Gardner-Webb
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Michigan State
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Photo by: Zac BonDurant
MSU Baseball Grounded By Gardner-Webb, 7-3, Saturday
2/25/2023 5:31:00 PM | Baseball
Spartans now 1-1 on weekend at OneSpartanburg, Inc. Baseball Classic.
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. -- Michigan State baseball continued its OneSpartanburg, Inc. Baseball Classic action with a 7-3 loss at Gardner-Webb Saturday afternoon at GWU's Bill Masters Field at John Henry Moss Stadium.
The loss slides MSU to 1-1 in the weekend action after a 13-6 win at USC Upstate on Friday. Michigan State is now 4-2 on the season. GWU moved to 2-0 on the weekend with both wins coming against Big Ten Conference opponents after a 6-2 win over Northwestern Friday, as part of now 3-4 overall on the season.
"I didn't think we particularly swung the bat well today, obviously as we've done in the past few games," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "You've got to credit their left-hander starter (Tyler Switalski) a little bit, he got us to chase some balls out of the strike zone with his breaking ball and that was unfortunate for us. But we just didn't do enough to get ourselves back into the ballgame when we got down, and that was disappointing, but that's the way the game is. We still have a chance to basically win the series tomorrow, so we need to play well and hopefully we can get that done."
Saturday marked MSU's sixth game since the mass shooting on the East Lansing campus on Monday, Feb. 13, when three MSU students were killed and five were hospitalized. Michigan State University canceled classes this week following the deaths of the three students – juniors Arielle Anderson and Alexandria Verner and sophomore Brian Fraser.
Michigan State players again wore "Spartan Strong" stickers on their helmets in a tribute, and several players had personal tributes as well.
Gardner-Webb had a moment of silence and a prayer prior to the National Anthem before Saturday's game.
Junior infielders Mitch Jebb and Brock Vradenburg both had two hits, with Jebb going 2-for-5 with a run scored and two RBI, both coming on a two-run double, and Vradenburg had an RBI right after to drive in Jebb, part of MSU's three-run fifth frame.
Fellow junior infielder Trent Farquhar was 1-for-3 with one run scored and drew two walks, while another junior infielder Dillon Kark and graduate transfer catcher Sam Thompson were both 1-for-4, with Kark scoring a run.
Pitching-wise, redshirt-sophomore Noah Matheny started, going 3.0 IP (4 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 3 K), before junior Nick Powers (0.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K), junior Harrison Cook (3.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 4 K), freshman Gavin Sitarz (0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K) and redshirt-senior Brian Martin (1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K) came on in relief.
The home team Bulldogs got on the board first with a one-out solo home run by Curtis Robison in the bottom of the opening inning, sandwiched around a pair of Matheny strikeouts, then got a lineout to end the frame.
GWU doubled up its lead in the home half of the third, getting a leadoff double from AJ Solomon and later coming in to score on a sacrifice fly, before Matheny ended the frame with his third strikeout of the game, leaving MSU down 2-0.
The Bulldogs plated three runs in the fourth, chasing starter Matheny, and reliever Powers, before Cook came on to end inning, with GWU leading, 5-0.
Michigan State's bats got going in the fifth, as Kark led off with a double to center. After a groundout and strikeout, Farquhar drew a walk, bringing Jebb to the plate. Jebb smacked a double to the wall in left-center gap, driving in Kark and Farquhar scampered around the bases and scored. Vradenburg followed with a single up the middle to plate Jebb and pull MSU within, 5-3.
The two-run deficit didn't last long as GWU plated a pair of runs in the home half of the fifth frame on a two-out two-run home run for a 7-3 advantage.
MSU threatened in the late innings, getting two on in the sixth, and one in each of the seventh, eighth and ninth frames, but couldn't rally for a run.
Michigan State wraps up OneSpartanburg, Inc. Baseball Classic action at Presbyterian on Sunday at 1 p.m. Presbyterian is 2-0 on the weekend and 4-2 overall on the season, after beating Toledo, 7-6 in 10 innings on a walk-off on Friday, before doubling up Northwestern, 4-2, Saturday afternoon.
Fans can follow the action with "Watch Live" and "Live Stats" links at MSUSpartans.com, where available.
The loss slides MSU to 1-1 in the weekend action after a 13-6 win at USC Upstate on Friday. Michigan State is now 4-2 on the season. GWU moved to 2-0 on the weekend with both wins coming against Big Ten Conference opponents after a 6-2 win over Northwestern Friday, as part of now 3-4 overall on the season.
"I didn't think we particularly swung the bat well today, obviously as we've done in the past few games," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "You've got to credit their left-hander starter (Tyler Switalski) a little bit, he got us to chase some balls out of the strike zone with his breaking ball and that was unfortunate for us. But we just didn't do enough to get ourselves back into the ballgame when we got down, and that was disappointing, but that's the way the game is. We still have a chance to basically win the series tomorrow, so we need to play well and hopefully we can get that done."
Saturday marked MSU's sixth game since the mass shooting on the East Lansing campus on Monday, Feb. 13, when three MSU students were killed and five were hospitalized. Michigan State University canceled classes this week following the deaths of the three students – juniors Arielle Anderson and Alexandria Verner and sophomore Brian Fraser.
Michigan State players again wore "Spartan Strong" stickers on their helmets in a tribute, and several players had personal tributes as well.
Gardner-Webb had a moment of silence and a prayer prior to the National Anthem before Saturday's game.
Junior infielders Mitch Jebb and Brock Vradenburg both had two hits, with Jebb going 2-for-5 with a run scored and two RBI, both coming on a two-run double, and Vradenburg had an RBI right after to drive in Jebb, part of MSU's three-run fifth frame.
Fellow junior infielder Trent Farquhar was 1-for-3 with one run scored and drew two walks, while another junior infielder Dillon Kark and graduate transfer catcher Sam Thompson were both 1-for-4, with Kark scoring a run.
Pitching-wise, redshirt-sophomore Noah Matheny started, going 3.0 IP (4 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 3 K), before junior Nick Powers (0.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K), junior Harrison Cook (3.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 4 K), freshman Gavin Sitarz (0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K) and redshirt-senior Brian Martin (1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K) came on in relief.
The home team Bulldogs got on the board first with a one-out solo home run by Curtis Robison in the bottom of the opening inning, sandwiched around a pair of Matheny strikeouts, then got a lineout to end the frame.
GWU doubled up its lead in the home half of the third, getting a leadoff double from AJ Solomon and later coming in to score on a sacrifice fly, before Matheny ended the frame with his third strikeout of the game, leaving MSU down 2-0.
The Bulldogs plated three runs in the fourth, chasing starter Matheny, and reliever Powers, before Cook came on to end inning, with GWU leading, 5-0.
Michigan State's bats got going in the fifth, as Kark led off with a double to center. After a groundout and strikeout, Farquhar drew a walk, bringing Jebb to the plate. Jebb smacked a double to the wall in left-center gap, driving in Kark and Farquhar scampered around the bases and scored. Vradenburg followed with a single up the middle to plate Jebb and pull MSU within, 5-3.
The two-run deficit didn't last long as GWU plated a pair of runs in the home half of the fifth frame on a two-out two-run home run for a 7-3 advantage.
MSU threatened in the late innings, getting two on in the sixth, and one in each of the seventh, eighth and ninth frames, but couldn't rally for a run.
Michigan State wraps up OneSpartanburg, Inc. Baseball Classic action at Presbyterian on Sunday at 1 p.m. Presbyterian is 2-0 on the weekend and 4-2 overall on the season, after beating Toledo, 7-6 in 10 innings on a walk-off on Friday, before doubling up Northwestern, 4-2, Saturday afternoon.
Fans can follow the action with "Watch Live" and "Live Stats" links at MSUSpartans.com, where available.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: SWITALSKI, Tyler (1-1)
L: Matheny, Noah (0-2)
S: MAGGI, Connor (1)
Batting:
2B: Jebb, Mitch 1 ; Kark, Dillon 1
RBI: Jebb, Mitch 2 ; Vradenburg, Brock 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Farquhar, Trent 1 ; Jebb, Mitch 1 ; Kark, Dillon 1
SB: Jebb, Mitch 1 ; Frank, Jack 1
HBP: Frank, Jack 1 ; Mayes, Casey 1
Batting:
2B: McCASKEY, Jacob 1 ; CAPOBIANCO, Pete 1 ; SOLOMON, AJ 1
3B: ANDERSON, Nate 1
HR: ROBISON, Curtis 1 ; RUSHER III, Bo 1
RBI: ROBISON, Curtis 2 ; RUSHER III, Bo 2 ; CAPOBIANCO, Pete 1 ; ANDERSON, Nate 2
SH: MARCOS, Jacob 1
SF: ROBISON, Curtis 1
Base Running:
RUNS: ROBISON, Curtis 1 ; McCASKEY, Jacob 1 ; BLACK, Mark 2 ; RUSHER III, Bo 1 ; CAPOBIANCO, Pete 1 ; SOLOMON, AJ 1
SB: SOLOMON, AJ 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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INF
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OF/RHP
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RHP
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LHP
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LHP
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/ BaseballPursuit to Greatness | Spartans All-Access
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