Michigan State University
Illinois (Big Ten Tournament)
Spartans Fall to Illinois in Big Ten Tournament, 4-1
5/27/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 27, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Michigan State baseball team fell to Illinois, 4-1, Friday night at Huntington Park in a matchup of the only teams left in the winners bracket of the Big Ten Tournament.
The Fighting Illini (27-25) now only need to win one more game to win the tournament, while the Spartans (35-20) would have to win three games.
MSU will play Minnesota in an elimination game on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.; the winner of that game will play Illinois Saturday at 7 p.m. Either Michigan State or Minnesota would have to beat Illinois twice to claim the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. If Illinois loses on Saturday night, the final game would be on Sunday at noon.
For the second time this season, Illinois starter John Anderson defeated the Spartans. Anderson (7-6) threw a complete game in a 5-2 win over Michigan State on April 23, and shut down the potent Spartan offense again tonight, scattering six hits and allowing just one run in 7 1/3 innings. MSU entered the week ranked third in the nation in batting average.
The Fighting Illini scored early with a run in the first, then added two more in the fourth to make it 3-0. Josh Parr delivered the big hit in the fourth with a two-out, two-run double to left.
Matt Dittman blasted a solo shot to right field in the sixth to extend the Illinois lead to 4-0.
Michigan State finally got to Anderson in the eighth, as Jeff Holm led off the inning with a walk, then Jared Hook drove him home with a double to the gap in right center. Hook was stranded on second, however, as the Spartans left nine runners on base in the game.
Chris Pack got the final five outs for Illinois as he earned his third save of the season.
The Spartans were limited to six hits in the contest, led by Justin Scanlon, who went 2-for-4.
Tony Bucciferro (8-3) took the loss for MSU after giving up four runs on eight hits while striking out five.
Michigan State will send sophomore right-hander Andrew Waszak to the mound against the Gophers on Saturday. The 3:30 p.m. game will be televised on the Big Ten Network and a live broadcast will be available at spartansportsnetwork.com.
