Spartan Newsroom (https://news.jrn.msu.edu/author/cotsonikajacob/)
Niagara walked into McLane Stadium Friday night carrying an eight-game win streak. Michigan State decidedly handed the Purple Eagles their largest margin of defeat this season, 9-0.
After six innings, Michigan State baseball’s offense looked lifeless as Rutgers held a 2-0 lead. The Scarlet Knights came into Easter Sunday 17-0 when they led at that point in the game.
The game ended with a freshman second baseman, Ryan McKay, lining a two-out, RBI single to drive in junior Nick Williams and deliver a 3-2 walk-off win and much-needed series victory for MSU (12-14, 3-3 Big Ten).
Michigan State was five outs away from its first shutout of another opponent in 115 games. It was about to be four.
MSU held a 2-0 lead and Rutgers had a runner on second when RU center fielder RJ Johnson Jr. hit a pop-up in foul territory. Senior third baseman Dillon Kark overran the ball as it harmlessly fell to the ground, extending the at-bat. Johnson tied it up with his second home run of the year a few pitches later.
MSU has an extensive history of falling short in the Big Ten Championships. The Spartans have watched in-state rival Michigan take the crown 27 times. Michigan State has finished second ten times with zero titles in the 41 years of the event.
The score flashed on a screen no bigger than a household television. Stephen got a 9.875.Â
Michigan State won the Big Ten for the first time in program history.
The Spartans were 0-8 this season when trailing after the seventh inning going into Sunday. The Purple Aces were 7-1 when leading after seven innings. MSU scraped together its first such win of the year after taking the lead with two runs in the eighth, winning 6-5.
Michigan State gymnastics celebrated its senior class and finished first in the MSU Quad Meet with a season-high 198.15 points on Saturday. That number is also the second-highest score in program history.Â
Long trends were broken Sunday as former Division II player Dale Bonner hit a three over the outstretched arm of senior guard Tyson Walker with only 0.2 seconds left to lift the Buckeyes to a 60-57 win.Â
Michigan State gymnastics stayed undefeated in conference play on Sunday with a 197.550-195.525 win against the No. 25 Maryland Terrapins.
Michigan State is emerging as the gymnastics program to beat in the Big Ten. It earned its first Big Ten regular-season championship and was just 0.150 points away from advancing to the NCAA Championship Semifinals last year.
The Michigan State women’s basketball team took another step towards returning to the NCAA Tournament with their 76-65 win over Minnesota on Monday evening. The victory moves MSU to 17-5 overall and 7-4 in Big Ten play, including four straight wins.