Spartans Drop Midweek Tilt With Oakland

Tuesday, March 29

East Lansing, Mich.

3:05 PM

Michigan State University

18-4

Oakland

11-11

Oakland

Michigan State

3/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 29, 2016

Box Score

EAST LANSING - The Michigan State baseball team had its four-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday, falling to Oakland, 3-1, at McLane Stadium. Six Oakland pitchers combined to hold the Spartans (18-4) to seven hits.

"The message before the game was we needed to play harder than Oakland," said MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. "We knew that they were going to come in and play very well and would be highly motivated. We needed to play harder than them and we didn't. Credit to Oakland, because they played hard today."

Oakland (11-11) broke open a scoreless game with back-to-back two-out hits in the top of the fourth inning. Ian Yetsko doubled to left field and then scored when the next batter, Connor Fannon, singled to give OU a 1-0 lead.

Oakland starting pitcher Chris Van Dyke limited the Spartans to just two hits through four innings. It wasn't until Van Dyke was lifted for Nate Schweers to start the bottom of the fifth that the Spartans were able to get on the scoreboard.

Jordan Zimmerman extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single to start the bottom of the fifth. Two batters later, Zach McGuire brought in Zimmerman with a double to deep left-center field, tying the game, 1-1.

MSU starting pitcher Andrew Gonzalez racked up a career-high six strikeouts and scattered five hits over 5.1 innings in another solid outing. After allowing a leadoff double to Zach Sterry and then striking out Mike Brosseau, Jake Lowery replaced Gonzalez. Lowery struck out the first hitter he faced, but Yetsko followed with a single to score Sterry and give the Golden Grizzlies a 2-1 advantage.

The Spartans put a pair of runners on base with one out in the bottom of the sixth, but a rundown on a double steal and then a groundout squashed the rally.

Oakland added a run in the top of the eighth inning on a two-out RBI single by Tyler Pagano.

Schweers, who pitched the fifth inning, earned the win, while Gonzalez was charged with the loss.

Gonzalez, Lowery, Keegan Baar and Joe Mockbee combined for 12 strikeouts.

"We limited their opportunities today, but they took advantage of the few opportunities they did have," said Boss.

Michigan State is back in action at McLane Stadium this weekend when it hosts Oregon in a three-game series beginning Friday at 3 p.m.