EAST LANSING, Mich. (WILX) – Michigan State baseball was topped by No. 6 Oregon, 3-1, in a hard-fought game Sunday at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium in the rubber match of the Big Ten Conference weekend series.
With Sunday’s result, visiting Oregon captured the weekend series. The Spartans downed the Ducks, 2-0, Friday night in the series opener, behind Spartan southpaw hurler Joseph Dzierwa’s 11-strikeout, complete-game shutout. Oregon stormed back to win Saturday’s game, 13-5, rapping out 18 hits and setting up Sunday’s rubber match.
MSU is now 24-21 overall and 10-14 in B1G play with Sunday’s loss. Oregon improves to 33-13 overall and 16-8 in league action with the win. After Saturday was MSU’s first-ever loss to Oregon in the all-time series, the Spartans still lead, 5-2 with Sunday’s outcome. Five of the seven match-ups between the Spartans and Ducks have been decided by three runs or less, including two of the three games this weekend.
“I’m proud of the way we competed this weekend. I thought yesterday kind of got away from us, but at the same time, that’s just what I told our guys: I don’t care what the ranking is or whatever, the gaps not that big,” MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. “You have to get yourself in the conference tournament; if you get yourself into the tournament, anything can happen. I think there’s enough talent in our dugout and in our locker room to make some noise. I didn’t think we played poorly today, but we have got to play better.”
Sunday’s battle was a hard-fought contest, with Oregon scoring a run in each of the second and third stanzas before MSU cut the gap in half in the sixth, closing to 2-1. The Spartans threatened in the seventh and eighth but were thwarted, and the Ducks tacked on an insurance run in the ninth for the final 3-1 score.
Spartan junior starter Nolan Higgins went 4.0 IP, scattering three hits and two runs, striking out three while yielding two walks. Sophomore reliever Garrett Brewer went a career-high 5.0 IP, with one run on two hits with three Ks and a walk.
Oregon starter Jason Reitz, one of the tallest pitchers currently in college baseball at 6-11, went 6.1 IP with three hits and one run, striking out four Spartans. Relievers Cole Stokes and Seth Mattox combined for 2.2 IP and held MSU to just one hit while ringing up three Ks.
“Yeah, just a tough day. I thought they pitched it really well, and I thought they played really well defensively. It’s a shame, we just got beat today,” Boss Jr. said. “I thought we threw it well enough, and I thought Garrett Brewer was lights out. The home run in the ninth kind of took some wind out of our sails, but at the same time, I like the way our guys competed. I thought we tried to do a lot of things differently at the plate, just to tried to slow down some rhythm or something like that. Again, I thought our guys really competed today, so it’s a tough one to lose, but at the end of the day, they just played a little bit better than we did.”
The Ducks had five hits on the day, while the Spartans tallied four.
Sophomore infielder Ryan McKay was the lone MSU batter with multiple hits, going 2-for-3 with an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the sixth. Senior designated hitter Noah Bright was 1-for-2 with a run scored, knocking the Spartans only extra-base hit of the day with a double to lead off the sixth and scored on McKay’s sac fly. Senior outfielder Nick Williams was 1-for-4. Graduate catcher Caleb Berry drew the lone walk for the Green & White.
Oregon scored its first run of the game in the second inning, adding another in the third for the 2-0 advantage.
The scoreboard stayed a 2-0 until the bottom of the sixth when Bright led off with a double off that bounced off the wall down the line in left field. Freshman infielder Dayton Murphy laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Bright to third, and McKay lofted a sac fly to left to plate Bright and get the Spartans on the board, closing to 2-1.
MSU mounted a rally in the seventh, as Berry led off with a walk before the fans had finished their singing and stretching, moving to second on a sac bunt by senior infielder Sam Busch. After Oregon made a pitching change bringing in Stokes to replace Reitz, N.Williams grounded out to third to move Berry up, but a strikeout ended the rally.
MSU again threatened in the eighth, as Bright drew a one-out HBP. Two batters later, McKay smacked a single up the middle on a hit-and-run and Bright bolted around to third. However, a strikeout again thwarted the threat, leaving the score 2-1.
Anson Aroz knocked a solo home run into the trees beyond the left field wall for a 3-1 Ducks lead in the top of the ninth.
MSU went down in order in the ninth, with N.Williams’ deep fly ball to the gap in right center run down by Oregon right fielder to end the game.
Michigan State plays a pair of in-state foes next week in its final midweek match-ups and non-conference contests of the season, hosting Eastern Michigan on Tuesday, May 6 at 6:02 p.m. at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium. MSU then plays at Western Michigan on Wednesday, May 7 at 4 p.m. at WMU’s Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field.
“I think the rallying cry, or the messages is: we need to play solid fundamental baseball,” Boss said about the week ahead. “You can’t try to hit a five-run home run, we can’t try to turn a double play with nobody one base, everybody’s got to go out and do their job. If we do that, good things will happen. But we’re getting down to the end here and guys should be highly motivated to play at home, because we don’t have many home games left. You’d hate to walk out of here with any regrets, really. We understand that Eastern (Michigan) and Western (Michigan) are going to be excited to play. I spent a long time in Ypsilanti, and those were big games for us when we came to East Lansing, and it’ll be a big game for them when they come here. So, our challenge and goal are we have to answer that bell and match that enthusiasm, at the same time, we just need to go out and play solid fundamental baseball.”
The Spartans then make the cross-country trek to Los Angeles, to play a B1G weekend series at USC, Friday-Sunday, May 9-11. MSU wraps up regular-season action against Minnesota in a three-game B1G series, Thursday-Saturday, May 15-17, in which will be MSU Senior Weekend Celebrations.
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