Michigan State Baseball Wins A Thriller Over The Kansas Jayhawks
The Michigan State baseball team has shown a flare for the dramatic this season. That continued tonight with another exciting win. MSU baseball SID Zach Fisher provides us this great recap:
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Zach Iverson provided Michigan State baseball with its second walk-off win in a row, smacking a single to right center field to propel an 8-7 victory for MSU over Kansas, Friday afternoon in the opening game of the 2020 First Pitch Invitational at Fluor Field, home of the Greenville Drive.
MSU beat Merrimack, 15-14 in 10 innings, last Sunday, also at Fluor Field, as the Spartans are now 6-3 on the season. Kansas levels its record at 4-4. Friday afternoon was the first meeting on the baseball diamond between the Spartans and Jayhawks, for Michigan State's third-straight opponent that it was meeting for the first time.
After Kansas scored a run in the second inning, Michigan State scored the next seven runs to take a 7-1 lead after six innings. However, the Jayhawks clawed back with two runs in the eighth and four runs in the ninth to tie it, setting up Iverson's heroics.
"It's disappointing that we gave up the lead, but I'm proud of our guys for finding a way to win. I think we did a lot of good things offensively with 15 hits, and a couple stolen bases. Peter Ahn had a huge stolen base there in the ninth inning to set up Zach Iverson's hit to win it," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "We put up a couple big innings and I thought swung the bat well. It was disappointing that we made four errors and disappointing that we walked 10 guys, but at the same time, we found a way to win, so I'm proud of our guys for that."
After last week's walk-off hero, redshirt-sophomore infielder Peter Ahn, led off with a single, he later stole second, and later advanced to third on a passed ball. Two batters later, sophomore outfielder Casey Mayes was intentionally walked, and then stole second. After a strikeout, Iverson smacked a single to right center, and was mobbed by his teammates between first and second base.
"It was a pretty frustrating day at the plate for me up until that point, but I just tried to forget about everything else. I knew the guy was throwing pretty hard, and I just tried to get the barrel around and fortunately, it found a hole and we got to jump around for a little bit, so that was fun," Iverson said
Iverson's hit went to almost the identical spot of the field and fence that Ahn's home run cleared in the bottom of the 10th on Sunday.
"I was just talking and joking with Pete and said how I was trying to be just like him, but I just wasn't strong enough to get it over," Iverson said with a laugh. "I actually wasn't trying to do too much, just happened to catch a barrel and got it out front. It feels good to get a win."
Before last Sunday's walk-off win, the Spartans' last walk-off victory was on April 5 of last season vs. Indiana State, winning 1-0 in 10 innings on a walk-off in the inaugural night game at McLane Stadium at Kobs Field. With Friday's victory for MSU, the Spartans now have back-to-back walk-off wins, on the same field, in the identically same spots.
"Two walk-off wins in a row is nice. I guess it doesn't matter where it goes, just that it lands," Boss said. "After losing the lead the way that we did, our guys could have really packed it in, but they didn't do it and they kept at it, and found a way to get it done."
The Spartan defense came up big in pivotal situations all afternoons, as Kansas had the bases loaded in three-straight innings in the fifth, sixth and seventh, as well as the third, while leaving two on base in the second and eighth, finishing the day with 18 LOB. MSU got out of the jams with some key pitches and some nice defensive plays, with Iverson making a grab in foul territory to end the eighth.
Redshirt-junior pitcher Mason Erla fired eight strikeouts over 5.0 IP, giving him 30 Ks in his three starts this season. Erla scattered eight hits with three walks, yielding just one run, coming in the second inning. Erla rang up one of his punchouts in the fifth, leaving the bases full of Jayhawks.
Ahn was 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBI, as MSU's first five in the lineup all had two hits apiece. Mayes was 2-for-3 with a run scored, while senior outfielder Bryce Kelley was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Senior infielder Bailey Peterson continued his hot streak, going 2-for-5 with a run scored. Senior designate hitter Andrew Morrow was 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored.
Iverson and sophomore outfielder Zaid Walker were both 1-for-5 with an RBI each, while redshirt-sophomore catcher Scott Combs was 1-for-3 with two RBI. Fellow redshirt-sophomore, infielder Brendan Regan was 1-for-4 with a run scored.
The Spartans stole three bases on the day and all were in key spots, as Peterson, Ahn and Mayes all ended with a swipe apiece, with Peterson and Ahn both later scoring after swiping their way into scoring position, while Mayes was pivotal in the final inning and winning run play.
After Kansas scored a run in the second, the Spartans rallied with three-run third. Ahn laced an RBI single down the right field line to drive in Regan, who led off the inning with a single, and was followed by a Kelley single. Morrow followed Ahn with a two-run double to put MSU ahead, 3-1.
The Spartans plated three in the fifth, first with an RBI single by Walker, driving in Ahn, who sparked the rally with a leadoff single. Two batters later, with the bases loaded, Combs laid down a text book bunt for the suicide squeeze as Morrow scored from third and Mayes darted around and scored ahead of the throw to score from second for a 6-1 Green & White advantage.
Michigan State scored another run in the sixth, as Peterson started the rally with a single. Peterson stole second and moved to third on an error on the play. Ahn followed with a bloop foul that Kansas third baseman Skyler Messinger made a nice over the shoulder running catch, but it allowed Peterson to tag up and score from third on Ahn's sacrifice fly foulout.
After Erla, freshman reliever Adam Berghorst went 1.1 IP with three hits, then junior Wyatt Rush went 1.0 IP and senior Caleb Sleeman pitched the final 1.2 IP, ringing up three strikeouts, including a KL in the ninth to end the Jayhawk rally after they scored four runs, with three coming on a bases-loaded error.
First Pitch Invitational action continues Saturday with Kansas and Ball State playing a doubleheader starting at 10 a.m., followed by Michigan State and Western Carolina at 6 p.m. Sunday's schedule features Kansas and Western Carolina at 10 a.m., followed by MSU vs. Ball State at 1 p.m.
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