Michigan State University
Purdue
Baseball Holds Off Boilermakers, 6-5
5/9/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 9, 2009
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Jake
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Jeff Holm broke a 5-5 tie in the eighth inning with one-out sacrifice fly and made a spectacular defensive play in the ninth to help lift MSU to a 6-5 win over Purdue on Saturday (May 9) afternoon at McLane Baseball Stadium. The win ensured the Spartans a spot in this year's Big Ten Tournament as MSU will make its first appearance in the conference tourney since 2004.
Having won seven consecutive Big Ten games, the Spartans are now 12-7 in the league and 22-24 overall.
"Our guys played very well today, Purdue is a very good ballclub and we knew we needed to play well to have a chance to win," said MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. "We made a couple of big plays toward the end of the ballgame to give ourselves the chance to win."
After Johnny Lee moved Eric Roof over to second on well-placed sacrifice bunt, Roof stole third to get within just 90 feet of home plate with one out. Holm then drove the ball deep to right field, allowing Roof to score and put MSU ahead, 6-5.
With a man on first via a leadoff walk in the top of the ninth, first baseman Holm made the defensive play of the game - taking a sharply hit ball to start a 3-6-3 double play and move MSU within an out of the win. Reliever A.J. Dunn then got a ground out to end it and seal the win.
"Jeff made an unbelievable play to get that ball and turn the double play," said Boss.
Boss was also pleased with Dunn's performance, as the Grand Ledge native has now picked up wins in each of the Spartans' last two games.
"A.J. is becoming our go-to guy out of the bullpen," Boss said. "As soon as we got the lead, we thought A.J. would be the guy that we wanted to finish it up. Our pitching staff has really been doing a great job for us."
After stranding runners at the corners in the second inning, the first two hitters reached in the third to get the Spartans back into scoring position. Brandon Eckerle singled and then Eli Boike avoided a tag on bunt to reach safely. After a sacrifice bunt from A.J. Shindler to move the runners over, Chris Roberts grounded out to second but the ball was hit deep enough in the hole to score Eckerle for the first run of the game. Eric Roof hit a two-out shot up the middle to score Boike for a 2-0 Spartan lead.
Nolan Moody, who started on the hill for the Green and White, held the Boilermakers scoreless through four complete innings before running into trouble in the fifth. After retiring the first two hitters, Alex Jaffee hit a solo home run to left field. Purdue extended the inning with two walks and then Brandon Haveman hit a three-run homer over the short right field porch to give Purdue its first lead of the day, 4-2.
Jonathan Roof tied the game at four in the sixth with a deeply hit ball to right centerfield that resulted in a triple and scored Eric Roof and Lee. Holm followed with his first sacrifice fly RBI of the game, scoring Roof to reclaim the lead for MSU 5-4.
Having scored their first four runs off home runs, the Boilermakers' Havemen kept the streak going in the seventh frame with his second homer of the day to knot the game at five.
Purdue entered the game in sixth place in the Big Ten and is now 20-23 overall and 7-11 conference play.
Game two of the three-game set will be Sunday (May 10) at 1:05 p.m. at McLane Baseball Stadium. The Spartan senior class will be honored prior to Sunday's game.
Game Notes: Jeff Holm picked up a single in the second inning; extending his hitting streak to 11 games...The last time MSU won seven straight conference games was in 2007.
