Gina Guy
ANN ARBOR, MI — Following a three-game set in College Park this past weekend where the Spartans dropped two out of three, they headed into Tuesday’s matchup with Michigan looking to get their second win of the season in Big Ten play.
MSU put its first three runners of the game on base on two walks and a base hit; however, the early rally was foiled by a subsequent line out and a double play to end the inning.
Graduate pitcher Aaron Misholulam took the bump for MSU, tossing four innings, allowing two earned runs and four hits while walking one batter and striking out four.
The Spartans struck first with a two-out RBI double from freshman Landon Lozier in the top of the second. The Wolverines struck back with two of their own in the bottom half of the frame, taking advantage of a few MSU fielding errors.
Michigan State answered with two runs in the third, courtesy of an RBI single from Christian Williams and a bases-loaded walk from Sam Thompson. Yet again, Michigan didn’t allow MSU to hold the lead for long, knotting the game up at three via a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning.
Shortstop Randy Seymour ripped a two-run double down the right field line to return the lead to Michigan State in the top of the fourth. The Spartans extended the lead in the seventh on back-to-back two-out RBI singles by Thompson and Lozier.
MSU recorded its fourth two-run inning of the game on another RBI double from Seymour and a sacrifice fly by Greg Ziegler
Redshirt Junior Noah Matheny dazzled out of the bullpen for the Spartans as well, going three shutout innings with two strikeouts and no hits to hold the Michigan State lead at 7-3 for three innings.
After a brief rain delay, Michigan State capped off its dominant performance with a seven-run ninth inning, tallying 16 runs on the day, their second-highest run total in a game this season. Matheny notched his first win of the season as the Spartans dominated en route to a 16-6 victory.
Michigan State picked up its third road win of the season and improved its overall record to 10-12. The Spartans are back at it today, Mar. 27, as they face the 9-14 Oakland Golden Grizzlies at McLane Stadium. First pitch is set for 4:05 pm.