Baseball Rallies For 5-4 Walk-Off Victory Over Penn State
Baseball Rallies For 5-4 Walk-Off Victory Over Penn State
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State baseball team bounced back from a series-opening loss and came from behind for a 5-4 walk-off win over Penn State on Saturday afternoon at McLane Baseball Stadium at Kobs Field. With the victory, the Spartans improved to 30-19 overall and 12-8 in Big Ten action. The loss drops the Nittany Lions to 18-27 and 6-13 in conference play.
Trailing 4-3, MSU mounted a rally in the eighth with a leadoff single by Ryan Richardson, who advanced to third on a sacrifice by Brandon Hughes and a throwing error. With one out, Anthony Cheky drove in Richardson with an RBI groundout to tie the game, 4-4.
Penn State threatened with runners on second and third with two outs in the top of the ninth, but Spartan reliever Anthony Misiewicz escaped the jam with a fly out to left.
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Mark Weist and Blaise Salter were both hit by a pitch and Richardson drew a walk to load the bases for Hughes. On an 0-1 count, Hughes sent a sharp ground ball up the middle that PSU shortstop Jim Haley was unable to field cleanly, allowing Weist to come home for the winning run.
"It was a big one. We needed to get a win there to kind of get back on track and cement our tournament chances," said Michigan State Head Coach Jake Boss Jr. "We'll take them any way we can. Got a couple breaks – one in the top of the ninth and one or two in the bottom. That's the way it is. It can be a cruel game some times. We've been on the other end of it, too."
Misiewicz (5-3) earned the win on the mound with four innings of shutout relief. The junior left-hander allowed two hits, while striking out five and walking two.
The MSU offense finished with seven hits in the game, led by Richardson with two hits and two RBI. Weist tied a season-high with three runs scored and Ryan Krill went 1-for-5 to stretch his hitting streak to 14 games.
"We hit a lot of balls right at guys yesterday. I thought today, we grinded it out a little bit. Guys were getting frustrated a little bit early, but they stayed with it and we didn't try to do too much there late," Boss said.
The Spartans scored the first run of the ballgame as Weist drilled his sixth home run of the year to left field in the bottom of the first inning.
Penn State would draw even in the top half of the third on a sacrifice fly by Aaron Novak, tying the score at 1-1.
MSU regained the lead in the bottom of the third on Richardson's second home run of the season, a two-run shot to left field with two outs.
The Nittany Lions evened the score once again with two runs on three hits in the top of the fourth against Spartan starter Mick VanVossen, who allowed four runs on nine hits over five innings.
Penn State took its first lead of the contest in the top of the fifth following a leadoff double by Haley, who would score on a base hit by Tyler Kendall. Cheky prevented further damage with a brilliant diving catch in deep center field and was able to double off Nick Riotto at first base to end the inning.
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