Michigan State University
Penn State
Spartans Drop Game One at Penn State
4/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 30, 2010
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - With Michigan State leading, 7-6, in the bottom of the seventh inning, Penn State scored four times in the frame and followed with eight more runs in the next inning to defeat MSU, 18-7, on Friday night in State College, Pa. The loss snapped MSU's four-game winnings streak as it is now 28-12 and 7-6 in the Big Ten. Penn State piled up 25 hits in the win, the most surrendered by MSU this season.
After scratching for single runs in the third and fourth innings, the Nittany Lions broke loose and scored four times to knot the game at six in the sixth inning, forcing Spartan starting pitcher A.J. Achter from the game. PSU scored one run off Achter then tied the game with three more runs off reliever Tim Simpson.
An RBI groundout by Andy Johnson briefly gave MSU the lead back in the top of the seventh inning, but the Nittany Lions again put up four runs -all off RBI singles - to reclaim the lead for good in the bottom of the frame.
Penn State (18-23, 5-8) scored eight more runs off eight hits in the eighth inning to seal the win.
The Spartans took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning with RBI singles from Jonathan Roof and Torsten Boss and then doubled their lead in the second. With one out and Johnson on third and Brandon Eckerle on second base, Eli Boike made it 4-0 single to left field.
Penn State got a run back in the third, but the Spartans got the run back in the top of the fourth. With Jeff Holm attempting to steal second, PSU catcher Ben Heath made an errant throw, allowing Boike to score from third base.
The Nittany Lions again a got a solo run in the bottom of the fourth, but after Johnson's second double of the day in the top of the fifth, Eckerle drove him in with a base hit to reclaim the Spartans' four-run lead, 6-2.
Five Penn State players, including Elliot Searer who went 4-for-6, had multiple RBI. Boike and Roof each went 3-for-5 for MSU.
Trey Popp (2-3), who started the seventh inning for MSU, was tagged with the loss.
The two teams will meet in game two of the series tomorrow at 2:05 p.m. Kurt Wunderlich is scheduled to take the hill for MSU.
