Michigan State Baseball Falls in Regular-Season Finale To Northwestern, 8-6

 EVANSTON, Ill. – The Michigan State baseball team’s season came to an end in heartbreaking fashion Saturday afternoon as Northwestern’s Paul Snieder

 

Paul Snieder hits game-winning, three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to halt MSU’s Big Ten Tournament bid. Photo courtesy of MSU SID

EVANSTON, Ill. – The Michigan State baseball team’s season came to an end in heartbreaking fashion Saturday afternoon as Northwestern’s Paul Snieder hit a game-winning, three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to give the Wildcats an 8-6 victory in the regular-season finale.

 

The loss ends the Spartans’ season at 34-19, 11-13 in the Big Ten, just one game shy of advancing to the Big Ten Tournament for the second straight season. MSU finished tied for seventh in the final Big Ten standings along with Ohio State ; the top six teams advanced to the Big Ten Tournament in Columbus next week.

 

Needing a win to receive a bid to the conference tournament, the Spartans were only two outs away as they held onto a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the ninth. Northwestern (24-30, 13-11 Big Ten) started its rally with one out as leadoff man Arby Fields hit a double off Spartan closer Kurtis Frymier. Fields then advanced to third on Chad Noble’s single to right, setting the stage for Snieder’s heroics. Snieder cleared the right-field fence with his walk-off homer, propelling Northwestern to the Big Ten Tournament.

 

Michigan State quickly fell behind 2-0 in the first but came back as Torsten Boss hit a solo shot in the third and Seth Williams hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth to tie the game 2-2.

 

Northwestern tallied one run in the sixth to reclaim the lead 3-2; however, the Spartans responded with two runs each in the seventh and eighth innings, putting them up, 6-3. Jonathan Roof hit an RBI single in the seventh and Jeff Holm added a sacrifice fly later in the inning. In the eighth, Ryan Jones delivered a clutch, two-out single up the middle, plating Eli Boike and Brandon Eckerle to give MSU a three-run lead.

 

Frymier replaced starter Tony Bucciferro to start the eighth. Bucciferro allowed three runs on eight hits in his seven innings of work while striking out four.

 

A wild eighth inning saw Northwestern score two runs and trim the lead to 6-5 entering the final frame. The inning started with Noble reaching on an error by Roof, followed by a flyout and a strikeout. But following a single, Frymier hit Trevor Stevens to load the bases, then a passed ball allowed Noble to score. After a walk to load the bases again, Chris Kontos hit a single to right that scored just one run as Stevens was called out at home to end the inning after interfering with Spartan catcher Andy Johnson.

 

Boike led MSU at the plate by going 4-for-4, while Boss had two hits and scored two runs.

 

Snieder not only had the game-winning hit, but also picked up the win on the mound as he pitched the final two innings in relief.

 

Although Michigan State fell short in its quest to reach the Big Ten Tournament, the Spartans closed the season with 34 wins, tying for fifth most in program history.