Sunday, March 10
Greenville, SC / Fluor Field
1 PM ET
Michigan State University
3-11
6
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9
Appalachian State
4-9
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9
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Appalachian State
0
5
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2
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10
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Michigan State
3
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10
4
Photo by: Matthew Mitchell
Spartans Topped By Mountaineers Sunday In First Pitch Invitational
3/10/2019 7:16:00 PM | Baseball
MSU wraps up 10th Annual First Pitch Invitational at Flour Field.
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Michigan State baseball wrapped up play at the 10th Annual First Pitch Invitational at Flour Field, home of the Greenville Drive, with a 9-6 loss to Appalachian State Sunday afternoon.
MSU was led by junior outfielder Justin Antoncic going 3-for-5 at the plate, while freshman infielder Reese Trahey was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Senior infielder Marty Bechina went 1-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. The Spartans matched App State in 10 hits apiece, but MSU committed four errors.
"Very disappointed in the way we played today defensively, we were not good today; offensively, we were maybe a little bit better at times, but it wasn't good enough to overcome some of our defensive miscues, and that's what's probably the most disappointing," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said, as the Spartans had four errors in the game. "We'll get back to practice this week, we'll make some changes and be ready to go for next weekend against a very good Connecticut team."
The sophomore duo of catcher Adam Proctor and Zach Iverson each hit a home run on Sunday. Proctor smacked his third homer of the season and second in as many days, both opposite field shots to deep left center field, with Sunday's a two-run blast in the fifth inning. Iverson belted his first round-tripper as a Spartan, with a solo shot to right center field, just below his head shot and profile on the videoboard at Fluor Field, on the first pitch of the bottom of the fourth inning. Proctor ended 1-for-4 with the two RBI and run scored, while Iverson was 1-for-4 with one run and RBI.
Iverson entered the weekend seeking his first hit of the season in limited plate appearance, but he rapped his first hit of the year on Saturday, before belting his first career home run on Sunday.
"Zach is a talented kid; he's young and after a pretty good freshman year, we're looking for him to take that next step. He's struggled out of the gates a little bit, but hopefully with yesterday and today, he's able to gain some confidence," Boss said. "We're going to need everybody, moving forward, offensively to be better, Zach included, so hopefully today was a good sign of things to come for him."
Junior outfielder Bryce Kelley was 1-for-4 with a run score and a stolen base. It was Kelley's fifth stolen base of the season and his 51st career swipe, passing former teammate Brandon Hughes (2015-17) with 50 stolen bases, for the No. 4 spot on MSU's career stolen base list. Senior infielder Royce Ando added a 1-for-3 outing at the plate Sunday, with an RBI sac fly.
Spartan junior starting pitcher Indigo Diaz worked a three-up, three-down top of the first, ringing up swinging strikeouts to the first two Mountaineer batters before getting a groundout to end the inning.
Just like in Saturday night's win over Ohio State, Michigan State bolted out of the gates plating three runs in the bottom of the first, with the infielder duo of Bechina and Trahey belting RBI doubles, with Bechina reaching on a Texas Leaguer to right center, and after Ando's RBI sacrifice fly, Trahey scorched his double down the right field line, just inside first base.
Diaz yielded a single and a walk to start the second, before striking out the next two Mountaineers. However, App State strung together three more hits and took advantage of three MSU errors to plate five runs in the inning and take a 5-3 lead.
The Spartans threatened in the third after Bechina and Trahey drew walks sandwiched around an Ando single to load the bases with one out, but a double play thwarted the threat and ended the inning.
In the top of the fourth, Diaz retired App State in an unconventional 1-2-3 order, yielding a one-out single, but then after a fly out,senior catcher Nic Lacayo threw out the runner trying to steal second, with Bechina making a nice tag for the final out of the frame.
Iverson jumped on the first pitch he saw from App State starter Cameron Kepley, smashing it over the wall in right center to close to 5-4.
The Mountaineers tacked on two runs in the fifth, chasing Diaz and MSU brought in freshman reliever Colten Panaranto, who got out of the jam with a groundout to Bechina at short, after App State had taken a 7-4 lead.
MSU got back within a run at 7-6 after Bechina led off the bottom of the fifth frame with a walk and Proctor followed with his second oppo home run in as many days.
However, that would be the closest the Spartans would get, as the Mountaineers added a two-run home run in the top of the ninth, and MSU went down in order in the bottom of the inning to end the game.
After returning to East Lansing for a couple days of class and practice, Michigan State will be back in Greenville next weekend and back at Fluor Field, facing UConn in a four-game, three-day series Friday-Sunday, March 15-17. The Spartans and Huskies open the series on Friday at 5 p.m., before playing a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1 p.m., then wrap up the weekend on Sunday at 11 a.m.
Any schedule updates will be posted on MSUSpartans.com and on twitter @statebaseball.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Bowman, Kaleb (1-0)
L: Diaz, Indigo (0-3)
S: Papp, Andrew (2)
Batting:
2B: Leek, Tyler 1
HR: Smith, Riley 1
RBI: Drumheller, Luke 1 ; Smith, Riley 2 ; Leek, Tyler 1 ; Allison, Luke 4
SH: Leek, Tyler 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Leshock, Alex 1 ; Williams, Dalton 1 ; Welch, Bailey 3 ; Young, Robbie 1 ; Smith, Riley 1 ; Leek, Tyler 1 ; Allison, Luke 1
SB: Leshock, Alex 1
CS: Drumheller, Luke 1
HBP: Welch, Bailey 1 ; Smith, Riley 1
Batting:
2B: Bechina, Marty 1 ; Trahey, Reese 1
HR: Proctor, Adam 1 ; Iverson, Zach 1
RBI: Bechina, Marty 1 ; Proctor, Adam 2 ; Ando, Royce 1 ; Trahey, Reese 1 ; Iverson, Zach 1
SF: Ando, Royce 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kelley, Bryce 1 ; Chmielewski, Dan 1 ; Bechina, Marty 2 ; Proctor, Adam 1 ; Iverson, Zach 1
SB: Kelley, Bryce 1
CS: Antoncic, Justin 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
0
H
3
RBI
0
2b/1b
AB
3
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
2
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
INF
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RHP
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OF
/ Baseball
INF/OF/RHP
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RHP
/ Baseball
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/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballPursuit to Greatness | Spartans All-Access
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