Michigan State University
23-27, 10-13
Nebraska
34-18, 16-7
Spartans Fall To Huskers Friday Night
5/17/2024 11:16:00 PM | Baseball
MSU defeated by Nebraska in penultimate game of season.
With the loss, MSU slides to 10-13 in B1G action and eliminated from qualifying for the Big Ten Tournament. The Spartans are 23-27 overall. Nebraska moves to 16-7 in B1G play, solidifying second-place in the league standings, one game behind Illinois, who clinched at least a share of the regular-season title with a win at Purdue Friday night.
The Spartans recognized organ donor awareness on Friday, celebrating MSU assistant coach/pitching coach Mark Van Ameyde and MSU's Team Impact Kid, Andrew.
1/2: Organ donors save lives and we're glad they do!!
— Michigan State Baseball (@MSUBaseball) May 17, 2024
Extremely honored to recognize organ donor awareness today, as we celebrated our assistant coach/pitching coach Mark Van Ameyde and our Team Impact Kid, Andrew!! pic.twitter.com/EKLDInTRIe
Van Ameyde had a kidney transplant on March 20 and rejoined the team on April 27, while Andrew had a heart transplant in late December and joined the Spartans in West Lafayette for the Purdue series. Coach Van Ameyde's wife, Melissa, was his donor, and she threw out one ceremonial first pitch, with Coach Van Ameyde catching it, while Andrew's pitch was caught by freshman outfielder Landen Lozier.
Friday was also MSU's 517 Night, celebrating the greater Lansing community and connecting local non-profits, organizations, and businesses with fans. An exclusive 517 Spartan Baseball sticker was also available to fans.
The loss also snaps the Spartans' four-game win streak on Friday nights, as MSU had its four-game series opener win streak snapped in Thursday night's game in the rare Thursday-Saturday weekend series for the final weekend of the regular-season as it was the Spartans' lone game played on a Thursday season.
MSU had six hits Friday night, as the Spartan bats were stymied by Nebraska starting pitcher Mason McConnaughey with just one hit through the first five frames, before ringing up four hits and plating three runs to chase McConnaughey.
"Yeah, a tough loss today," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "Their guy did a really nice job throwing strikes, especially early in the count, with all three pitches, he attacked our hitters. We hit a few balls hard, but he was really in control most of the way. That's what you've got to do to win in this league. We only mustered six hits, got a little momentum going in the sixth inning with three runs. Credit to them, they made plays and pitches when they needed to."
Meanwhile, Spartan sophomore starting southpaw Joseph Dzierwa rang up a career-high 11 strikeouts, topping his previous career-best of nine Ks done four previous times this season, most recently vs Michigan on May 3. Dzierwa is the first Spartan pitcher to chalk up double-digit strikeouts this season and the first since March 11, 2023 when Adam Berghorst range up 11 Ks vs. Western Carolina at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C.
Dzierwa's 11 Ks is the first double-digit strikeout outing by a Spartan pitcher at home since April 25, 2021 when Sam Benschoter chalked up 17 strikeouts in 9.1 IP of relief that was also against Nebraska.
10 Ks for Dzierwa!
— Michigan State Baseball (@MSUBaseball) May 17, 2024
Dzierwa with a new career-high 10 strikeouts!!
Tops his previous CH of 9 Ks done four previous times this season, most recently on 5/3 vs MICH!!
1st Spartan w/ 10 Ks in a game this season and first since 3/11/23!! #GoGreen | @DzierwaJoseph pic.twitter.com/Vec3OjZuUF
Time to stretch and sing about 🥜&🍿 at the ol' ballgame...
— Michigan State Baseball (@MSUBaseball) May 17, 2024
Dzierwa with another strikeout , now up to 11 Ks through 7.0 IP!!
Fleetwood Mac to accompany Thompson to the plate after the stretching and singing are done.#GoGreen | @DzierwaJoseph pic.twitter.com/bS35DVQST4
Senior outfielder Jack Frank was 2-for-4 with a run scored, while senior infielder Dillon Kark was 1-for-4 with an RBI and run scored, senior outfielder Greg Ziegler was 1-for-3 with a run scored, and junior outfielder Nick Williams was 1-for-4 with two ribbies. Senior catcher Sam Thompson was also 1-for-4.
The Huskers bolted out of the gates with two runs in the first frame and three in the second stanza for a 5-0 lead.
Seymour says: double play!!
— Michigan State Baseball (@MSUBaseball) May 17, 2024
Mid 3rd |
NEB 5
MSU 0
Seymour makes a nice snag on a line drive and steps on 2nd for the unassisted double play!!#GoGreen | @RandySeymour14 pic.twitter.com/e3gIuJ0NZY
Thompson had a single to right for the Spartans' lone hit through the first five frames.
MSU's bats got going in the sixth, as Frank laced a double to get a two-out rally going. Kark followed with an RBI single through the right side, and Ziegler singled to left to move Kark to second and he took third on an error by the Nebraska left fielder. N.Williams then roped a single to left to plate both Kark and Ziegler to close to 5-3 and chase McConnaughey. Husker reliever Jalen Worthley came on and halted the rally, leaving it a 5-3 ballgame.
Here come the Spartans!!
— Michigan State Baseball (@MSUBaseball) May 17, 2024
Nick Williams knocks a 2-run single and the Green & White are within 5-3 w/ 2-out rally in 6th and Nebraska making pitching change!
NEB 5
MSU 3
1 on, 2 outs#GoGreen | @NicklasWilliam1 pic.twitter.com/nmLOraAMQG
That would be the closest the Spartans would get, as the Huskers tacked on four runs in the eighth and two in the ninth to secure the win and MSU's hopes of the B1G Tournament with the loss combined with other results around the league.
The series finale and MSU's regular-season finale on Saturday, May 18 will start at 12:02 p.m. ET.
Saturday is also MSU's Spartan Senior Day Celebration, presented by Health Alliance Plan (HAP), as the Spartans will honor their senior players and managers in a pre-game ceremony. Fans are encouraged to arrive early to join in the celebration.
It is also Fan Appreciation Weekend the entire weekend, as Spartan Baseball thanks their fans for their support throughout the regular season.
Fans can visit https://sprtns.co/MSUBSBTix to purchase tickets to Spartan baseball games, or visit https://sprtns.co/24BSBPromoSched for complete promotion information.
For those fans that can't make it in person, they can follow this week's MSU baseball action with "Watch Live," "Listen Live" and "Live Stats" links at MSUSpartans.com.
Michigan State's schedule is subject to change, stay tuned to MSUSpartans.com and @MSUBaseball on X/Twitter for schedule updates.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: McConnaughey, Mason (7-3)
L: Dzierwa, Joseph (6-3)
Batting:
2B: Overbeek, Joshua 1
HR: Caron, Josh 1 ; Carey, Dylan 1
RBI: Brumbaugh, Cayden 1 ; Sanderson, Case 3 ; Caron, Josh 2 ; Columbus, Ben 1 ; Carey, Dylan 1 ; Overbeek, Joshua 2
SF: Columbus, Ben 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Brumbaugh, Cayden 2 ; Caron, Josh 1 ; Carey, Dylan 2 ; Evans, Cole 2 ; Silva, Riley 3 ; Overbeek, Joshua 1
SB: Brumbaugh, Cayden 1 ; Silva, Riley 1
HBP: Caron, Josh 1 ; Anglim, Garrett 1
Batting:
2B: Frank, Jack 1
RBI: Kark, Dillon 1 ; Williams, Nick 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Frank, Jack 1 ; Kark, Dillon 1 ; Ziegler, Greg 1
