Michigan State University
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Western Michigan
Spartans Fall to Western Michigan, 7-1
5/4/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 4, 2011
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State baseball team fell to Western Michigan, 7-1, Wednesday afternoon at McLane Baseball Stadium. Jared Hook led MSU at the plate by going 3-for-3 and Ryan Jones went 2-for-4 with an RBI double to extend his school-record hitting streak to 30 games, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Broncos.
"Guys were given opportunities again in the midweek, and they've struggled, which is disappointing," said MSU head coach Jake Boss. "We're a young club that's struggling with some depth. That's kind of what these midweek games are for. Guys are going to have to change their approach and make some improvements if we're going to win these games. Western Michigan has some good players, they're turning the program around and they have scholarship guys too, so we're going to have to play well (to win midweek games), and we haven't done that."
Michigan State (27-14) was limited to seven hits in the loss and committed two errors on the day, leading to three unearned runs.
Red-shirt freshman Chase Rihtarchik, making his first career start, took the loss after giving up four runs, three earned, on six hits in his four innings of work. Rihtarchik (0-2) did strike out a career-high five.
WMU (19-25) led the entire game, starting with two runs in the top of the second. After a leadoff single and a walk to Tim Cross and Dan Shutes, respectively, the runners moved along to second and third on a sacrifice bunt. Jimmy Martinez then hit a grounder toward the hole in second and beat out the throw for an infield single, but Rihtarchik also dropped the ball at first, which allowed Shutes to score from second. Martinez was credited with one RBI on the play as Cross came into score on the hit.
The Broncos extended their lead to 4-0 with two more runs in the fourth, as Cross and Shutes were at it again with a leadoff double followed by an infield single. Cross later scored on a RBI groundout by Dustin Ditsworth, and Shutes came home on a sacrifice fly by Martinez.
Jones, who extended his hitting streak with a single to left in the third, put MSU on the board with an RBI double in the fifth to cut the lead to 4-1.
But it's all the Spartans would get.
Bronco reliever Monty Porter (1-3) earned his first victory of the season by striking out seven in 5.2 innings of relief. He allowed just the one run in the fifth while scattering five hits. Starter Mike Moyer threw two scoreless innings before giving way to Porter in third, and Troy Forton recorded the last four outs to seal the win.
Western Michigan scored one run in the seventh and tacked on two more unearned runs in the ninth to make the final 7-1.
The Spartans return to action for a three-game series against Purdue this weekend (May 6-8) at McLane Baseball Stadium, beginning Friday at 3:05 p.m.
