Michigan State University
Minnesota
Gophers Drop Spartans, 7-2
2/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 22, 2009
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Jake
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Minnesota used strong pitching performances from starter Tom Buske and reliever Austin Lubinsky and held the Spartans to just six hits en route to a 7-2 win over MSU Sunday (Feb. 22) in St. Petersburg, Fla. The Spartans are now 1-2 while the Gophers improve to 2-1.
Junior third baseman Chris Roberts collected half of the Spartan hits by going 3-for-4 with one RBI.
"Chris is a good hitter and I think he really understands the game well," said MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. "He has a plan at the plate for each at bat and we expect him to hit in the three-hole for us all year long and get a lot of production out of him."
Minnesota scored one in the first off a wild pitch by MSU starter A.J. Dunn and the Gophers looked poised to do more damage but Dunn was able to get two fly-ball outs with the bases loaded to keep the game 1-0.
The Spartans then tied the game at one in their half of the first. After leadoff hitter Brandon Eckerle reached after being hit by a pitch, he stole second and was later driven in by a Roberts single up the middle.
Minnesota's Mike Kvasnicka gave the Gophers the lead back in the second with a two-run homer to right center field. A walk and a pair of Spartan errors in the top of the fourth helped Minnesota up its lead to 5-1 and also ended Dunn's day on the mound. Dunn finished the day with five runs off six hits and four walks.
Roberts got his second hit of the day in the fourth - this time a deep drive to right center that resulted in a double that ended a run of eight consecutive batters retired by Buske. Roberts later scored in the inning to cut the Gopher lead to 5-2.
The Gophers added another run off two hits and one error in the fifth and another solo run in the seventh to make the score 7-2.
With the score 7-2 in the bottom of the ninth, the Spartans looked to mount a comeback by loading the bases with no outs but came away empty.
Senior Max Miller made his first appearance of the year, coming on in relief of junior Kyle Corcoran in the seventh and gave up just two hits while striking out one.
"It was good to see Kyle Corcoran go out and throw well and Max Miller did the same thing in his first outing in quite a while," said Boss. "That was good to see."
The Spartans will head to Wilmington, N.C., for a four-game set with the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks starting Friday (Feb. 27) at 4 p.m.
"We'll continue to work hard this week and get ready to play in Wilmington next weekend," said Boss.
Sunday's game was the final game of the BIG EAST/Big Ten Challenge for both teams and will not count in the Big Ten standings.
