Michigan State University
Iowa
Spartan Baseball Downs Iowa in Slugfest, 15-10
4/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 24, 2009
IOWA CITY, Iowa - Eric Roof went 3-for-6 and Jeff Holm went 4-for-5 to help the Michigan State baseball team put up two five-run innings en route to a 15-10 win over Iowa on Friday (April 24) night at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City, Iowa.
"We got contributions from a lot of guys tonight," said Boss. "Most importantly, we executed and had guys that were selfless by moving runners over and getting guys in to score."
After a Kevin Hoef home run in the first inning to give Iowa its only lead of the game, 1-0, Jeff Holm picked up his first of four hits on the day in the top of the second with a three-run homer to right field. A lead off single by Johnny Lee followed by Jonathan Roof walk put the Spartans position to strike and Holm followed two batters later with his second home run of the year.
"Jeff really got us going with his three-run home run," said Boss. "He swung the bat well today and on Wednesday night against Central Michigan so, hopefully, he's starting to get hot at the right time."
After the teams traded solo runs in the third inning, MSU broke lose to score five times in the fourth. Holm again got things started when he singled to lead off and Eli Boike reached two batters later with an infield single. With the third baseman Hoef playing well off the leftfield line, A.J. Shindler ripped a double just inside third base, to score Holm for the first run of the frame. With two outs, Eric Roof cleared the bases with a two RBI bloop hit to shallow center field, putting MSU up 7-3.
After back-to-back walks to keep the inning alive, Bo Felt drove in the last two runs of the inning to boost the lead to 9-3.
The Hawkeyes continued the game's offense theme with one run in the bottom of the fourth and then a three runs in the fifth to make it a two run game at 9-7. Iowa's Mike McQuillian keyed the three-run fifth when the wind played havoc with his deep drive to right field that eventually landed just inside the fence for a two-run triple.
The Spartans then put the game out of reach with five more runs in the sixth. After scoring twice, three Iowa errors with two outs helped MSU tack on three more runs to go up 14-7. Eric Roof led off the inning with his third hit of the day - a solo shot to right field. Holm also picked up his third hit of the game in the inning, with an RBI single through the right side.
"I didn't think I would get anything off-speed to hit but I kept my normal approach and got one through," said Holm.
With two outs and Brandon Eckerle at the plate, the Hawkeyes committed their first of three consecutive errors. Eckerle reached on an error by the second baseman, scoring Holm, advanced to third off a throwing error by the catcher and then scored when Boike reached on a dropped infield pop-up. Boike scored the fifth run of the inning on a wild pitch.
MSU added another run in the eighth and Iowa scored three more times with two outs in the ninth to make the final score 15-10.
Nolan Moody started on the hill for the Spartans and went five innings to earn the win and improve to 5-4 on the season. A.J. Dunn struck out three and held the Hawkeyes hitless in three innings of relief work.
"A.J. Dunn did a heck of a job hanging a couple zeros on the board when we really needed it and allowed our offense to put the game away," Boss said.
The two teams will play game two of the series on Saturday (April 25) at 3:30 p.m. The game will be carried live on the Big Ten Network.
