Friday, March 15
Greenville, SC / Fluor Field
5 PM ET
Michigan State University
3-12
6
vs
10
UConn
8-6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
UConn
0
2
1
2
1
2
1
0
1
10
12
1
Michigan State
0
1
0
1
3
1
0
0
0
6
12
2
Photo by: Jeremy Fleming
MSU Clipped By UConn Friday Night
3/15/2019 10:10:00 PM | Baseball
Spartans open four-game series at Flour Field with loss to Huskies.
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Michigan State baseball was clipped by UConn, 10-6, Friday night at Flour Field, home of the Greenville Drive, to open a four-game weekend series between the Spartans and Huskies.
Senior shortstop Marty Bechina was 2-for-3 with two RBI, two runs scored and two walks, along with belting a solo home run in the sixth inning and adding an RBI double in the fifth. Freshman outfielder Zaid Walker was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, scoring two runs and driving in another. Junior outfielder Bryce Kelley was 3-for-6, with a double and two singles, adding a stolen base. Senior catcher Nic Lacayo added two RBI.
Sophomore starting pitcher Mason Erla was dealt the loss, going 5.0 IP, while striking out three. UConn relief pitcher CJ Dandeneau earned the win with 3.0 IP of relief, while Jacob Wallace earned his fifth save of the season with 1.1 IP of work.
After Erla worked around a leadoff walk in the first, sandwiching a pair of strikeouts around a ground out to end the frame, the Spartans threatened in the bottom of the first. Kelley laced a single to the right side and later stole second, but the inning ended on a nice play by UConn shortstop Anthony Prato, robbing Bechina of a base hit up the middle.
The Huskies plated a pair of runs in the second with an RBI triple and later a sac fly, before Erla got out of the jam with a fly out to strand two UConn runners on the basepaths.
The Spartans got a run back in the home half of the second stanza after Walker smacked a one-out double to left center, and he moved to third on a wild pitch and later scored on a Lacayo groundout. However, UConn regained the two-run cushion with a run in the third. The Spartans tried to counter in the bottom of the third, getting two on with two outs after a one-out double by Kelley and later a two-out walk by Bechina, but the rally fizzled without a run after a fly out to end the inning.
UConn added two runs in the fourth for a 5-1 lead before Walker sparked an MSU rally with a leadoff double and later scored on a Lacayo sac fly to close to 5-2.
After the Huskies scored a run in the top of the fifth on a two-out home run by Cole Brodnansky, the Spartans rallied. Senior outfielder Dan Chmielewski and Bechina belted back-to-back doubles down the left field line and senior infielder Royce Ando followed with a single without any outs, to chase UConn starter Mason Feole. Walker followed with a sac fly and sophomore infielder Justin Antoncic later drew a bases-loaded walk to plate Ando. When the dust settled in the fifth, MSU had three runs on four hits to pull within, 6-5, but left the bases loaded, part of 15 runners left on base for the night.
UConn countered with two runs in the top of the sixth for an 8-5 lead after a bases-loaded RBI walk of their own and an RBI single, before senior relief pitcher Evan Flohr induced a 6-4-3 double play on a grounder to Bechina, who flipped to Ando at second, who spun and fired to Antoncic at first to end the inning.
The Bechina blast in the sixth pulled MSU within 8-6. Bechina now shares the team home run lead with sophomore catcher Adam Proctor with three round-trippers each. It was Bechina's 18th career home run.
However, the Spartans were unable to get anything else going, and the Huskies added a run in the seventh and one in the ninth for the final scoring.
Michigan State and UConn return to the Fluor Field diamond for 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.
Senior shortstop Marty Bechina was 2-for-3 with two RBI, two runs scored and two walks, along with belting a solo home run in the sixth inning and adding an RBI double in the fifth. Freshman outfielder Zaid Walker was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, scoring two runs and driving in another. Junior outfielder Bryce Kelley was 3-for-6, with a double and two singles, adding a stolen base. Senior catcher Nic Lacayo added two RBI.
Sophomore starting pitcher Mason Erla was dealt the loss, going 5.0 IP, while striking out three. UConn relief pitcher CJ Dandeneau earned the win with 3.0 IP of relief, while Jacob Wallace earned his fifth save of the season with 1.1 IP of work.
After Erla worked around a leadoff walk in the first, sandwiching a pair of strikeouts around a ground out to end the frame, the Spartans threatened in the bottom of the first. Kelley laced a single to the right side and later stole second, but the inning ended on a nice play by UConn shortstop Anthony Prato, robbing Bechina of a base hit up the middle.
The Huskies plated a pair of runs in the second with an RBI triple and later a sac fly, before Erla got out of the jam with a fly out to strand two UConn runners on the basepaths.
The Spartans got a run back in the home half of the second stanza after Walker smacked a one-out double to left center, and he moved to third on a wild pitch and later scored on a Lacayo groundout. However, UConn regained the two-run cushion with a run in the third. The Spartans tried to counter in the bottom of the third, getting two on with two outs after a one-out double by Kelley and later a two-out walk by Bechina, but the rally fizzled without a run after a fly out to end the inning.
UConn added two runs in the fourth for a 5-1 lead before Walker sparked an MSU rally with a leadoff double and later scored on a Lacayo sac fly to close to 5-2.
After the Huskies scored a run in the top of the fifth on a two-out home run by Cole Brodnansky, the Spartans rallied. Senior outfielder Dan Chmielewski and Bechina belted back-to-back doubles down the left field line and senior infielder Royce Ando followed with a single without any outs, to chase UConn starter Mason Feole. Walker followed with a sac fly and sophomore infielder Justin Antoncic later drew a bases-loaded walk to plate Ando. When the dust settled in the fifth, MSU had three runs on four hits to pull within, 6-5, but left the bases loaded, part of 15 runners left on base for the night.
UConn countered with two runs in the top of the sixth for an 8-5 lead after a bases-loaded RBI walk of their own and an RBI single, before senior relief pitcher Evan Flohr induced a 6-4-3 double play on a grounder to Bechina, who flipped to Ando at second, who spun and fired to Antoncic at first to end the inning.
The Bechina blast in the sixth pulled MSU within 8-6. Bechina now shares the team home run lead with sophomore catcher Adam Proctor with three round-trippers each. It was Bechina's 18th career home run.
However, the Spartans were unable to get anything else going, and the Huskies added a run in the seventh and one in the ninth for the final scoring.
Michigan State and UConn return to the Fluor Field diamond for 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: Dandeneau, CJ (2-0)
L: Erla, Mason (1-3)
S: Wallace, Jacob (5)
Batting:
2B: Prato, Anthony 1 ; Fedko, Kyler 1
3B: Winkel, Chris 1 ; Moriarty, Conor 1
HR: Brodnansky, Cole 1
RBI: Woodworth, Michael 1 ; Prato, Anthony 1 ; Toppa, John 1 ; Winkel, Pat 2 ; Fedko, Kyler 2 ; Winkel, Chris 2 ; Brodnansky, Cole 1
SH: Toppa, John 1
SF: Woodworth, Michael 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Prato, Anthony 3 ; Winkel, Pat 2 ; Fedko, Kyler 1 ; Winkel, Chris 1 ; Brodnansky, Cole 1 ; Moriarty, Conor 2
SB: Toppa, John 1
HBP: Prato, Anthony 2 ; Toppa, John 1 ; Langer, David 1
Batting:
2B: Kelley, Bryce 1 ; Chmielewski, Dan 1 ; Bechina, Marty 1 ; Walker, Zaid 2
HR: Bechina, Marty 1
RBI: Antoncic, Justin 1 ; Bechina, Marty 2 ; Walker, Zaid 1 ; Lacayo, Nic 2
SF: Walker, Zaid 1 ; Lacayo, Nic 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Chmielewski, Dan 1 ; Bechina, Marty 2 ; Ando, Royce 1 ; Walker, Zaid 2
SB: Kelley, Bryce 1
Game Leaders
AB
6
R
0
H
3
RBI
0
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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OF
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RHP
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LHP
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/ BaseballOF
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