Erin Grady
EAST LANSING – Looking to wrap up a four-game home stand, the Michigan State University baseball team looked lifeless against in-state foe Central Michigan University.
Coming into the mid-week game on Tuesday at 14-15 overall and holding a 25-24 record against CMU, the Spartans struggled on all fronts of the game, unable to contain the previously struggling Chippewas.
“I’m embarrassed by what happened, I will take it, I clearly didn’t have these guys ready to play and we didn’t attack like we said we wanted to.” Michigan State head coach Jake Boss Jr. said.
Right-handed pitcher Harrison Cook got the nod for the Spartans, while senior Trey Mitchell took the mound for the Chippewas.
Central Michigan started the game with a quick 2-0 lead, sparked by a line drive double to left field from freshman Danny Wustenfeld, putting senior Jacob Donahue and sophomore Cole Prout in a good position to bring in two runs going into the bottom of the first.
A line drive double from senior Dillon Kark put the Spartans in position to score but stranded him at third going into the second inning.
Free bases seemed to be the name of the game for the Chippewas, with Spartan pitchers throwing a combined five walks and six batters hit by pitches.
“That’s 12 free opportunities that we gave them so that absolutely affects everything in the game,” Boss said when asked about the pitching struggles. “When you don’t attack the opponent, you’re passive; you end up walking guys, you end up hitting guys, you end up with weak swings on pitches that are good pitcher’s pitches and we end up getting beat 10 to nothing by a mid-major team.”
The sixth inning was the cherry on top for an already ahead Central Michigan team, scoring six runs. A solo home run from senior Marquis Jackson spurred CMU, putting it up 5-0. RBI’s from Wustenfeld and senior Ely Stuart put the Chippewas up 6-0 before the dominant sixth inning ended.
With the score tallying 10-0 after the bottom of the seventh, the game was called complete due to the mercy rule stating that if a team is up by 10 or more runs, the game is over in the seventh inning.
The Spartans moved to 14-16 on the season, while the Chippewas tied the all-time series record against MSU at 25 wins a piece.
Michigan State looks to bounce back from the shutout loss this weekend as they travel to Alexander Field in West Lafayette to take on the 20-12 Purdue Boilermakers.