Sunday, April 13
East Lansing, Mich.
1:02 PM
Michigan State University
19-15, 6-9
3
vs
1
Northwestern
16-17, 7-8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Northwestern
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
6
0
Michigan State
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
0
X
3
7
1
Photo by: MSU Baseball Social Squad
MSU Downs Northwestern, 3-1, To Win Weekend Series
4/13/2025 8:46:00 PM | Baseball
Spartans’ timely hitting and solid pitching combine for triumph in rubber match.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Boosted by solid pitching and timely hitting, Michigan State baseball downed Northwestern, 3-1, in the Big Ten Conference weekend series finale, winning the rubber match to win the series, Sunday afternoon at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium.
With the win, the Spartans bounced back to win the series after dropping Friday night's series opener, 11-10 in 11 innings, then walloping the Wildcats, 10-0 in an eight-inning run-rule Victory for MSU on Saturday.
"I am really proud of our guys," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "I think after playing as poorly as we did on Friday for them to come back and win the series, I think speaks a lot to their character. I think they continue to play hard. We didn't have much to show for it early today, but we kept grinding out at bats and finally strung a few together."
Sunday's game started similar to Saturday's match-up, with neither team generating much offense through the first five frames that went scoreless, before both finally breaking through in the sixth inning when all four runs of the game were scored. MSU had only two hits through the first five innings, while Spartan starting pitcher Nolan Higgins had only yielded three hits in that span.
Higgins tied a season-high going 6.0 IP, scattering four hits while holding Northwestern to just one run, while posting a pair of punchouts and walking two.
Sophomore Garrett Brewer went the final 3.0 IP to earn his first career save, with just two hits, settling down after a leadoff double by the first batter faced, and allowing just one walk, and ringing up one strikeout, on a called strike three to end the game and spark the game and series winning Victory for MSU jubilation.
"That's what those guys are capable of," Boss said about Higgins and Brewer's stellar pitching on Sunday. "I thought we played really well defensively behind them today, we made a couple of errors, but we picked each other up after that. Nolan Higgins, his stuff is really good, he was in a little bit of traffic in the first two innings with runners on base, but he settled into it. He's got swing and miss stuff. Garrett Brewer coming out of the bullpen and doing what he did today, and the bullpen doing what they did yesterday, (Dominic) Pianto and his outing, the bullpen was really good and that's what these are capable of. Brewer threw great, he filled up the strike zone with his fastball and his breaking ball. Northwestern doesn't strike out much, so we knew the ball was going to be in play, and if that's the case, you better be able to locate in certain spots and Garrett was able to do that."
Despite Northwestern getting on the board and taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth, the Spartans countered with three runs on five hits in the home half of the sixth.
"Again, it's a high character group and they don't seem to get rattled," Boss said about his squad. "We've been talking about consistency from day one and I thought the approach today was consistent, from first innings to the last. They weren't too down, they didn't get too fired up when it was winning time, it was just about going out there and making the next play."
MSU improves to 19-15 overall and 6-9 in B1G action, while Northwestern is now 16-17 overall and 7-8 in conference competition.
The Spartans have now taken the last two series with the Wildcats, winning six of the last seven meetings as part being victorious in seven of the last 11, along with winning 13 of the last 20 and 21 of the last 30 match-ups, with a six, five and four-game win streak in the series. Overall, MSU now leads the all-time series vs. Northwestern, 105-56-1, including 56-23 in East Lansing.
It was an East Lansing native, senior infielder Sam Busch that helped the Spartan offense, with a team-high two hits on the day, including an RBI double in the sixth for MSU's third run of the frame.
"It was kind of similar to yesterday," Busch said. "We were getting no hits, until I think it was in the sixth inning yesterday too, we just had to fine tune our approaches. We were putting good swings on the ball early in the game and just hitting right at people. We knew if we kept sticking to that approach then eventually, they'd fall, and luckily, they did, and we got a couple of runs in the sixth."
With Busch's two hits Sunday, he finished the weekend series hitting .500 going 6-of-11, with eight RBI.
"I just think baseball is one of those things where you're hot or cold, and right now I'm hotter than colder," Busch said. "I'm seeing the ball well and just trying to be aggressive early in counts. I feel like that's been the biggest for me here in this stretch; just being up getting ready to go and put a good swing on the ball."
Busch put good swings on the ball in all four at bats, flying out to left in the fourth inning and flying out to right in the eight, denying him of more than his two hits, as he had at least one hit in all three of the weekend series and a hit in the last four games with Wednesday's game vs. Central Michigan and the weekend series with Northwestern.
"Sam's feeling really good right now, he's comfortable at the plate. He's seeing the ball well, both off of right and left-handed pitching," Boss said. "It's just another step in his career here, I think admittedly defensively, especially early on his career, he was not very good and offensively he struggled, he got hot for a little bit then would go cold. Last year he really struggled against left-handed pitching, and this year he's really starting to put it together, and it's fun to watch. You can see him comfortable at the plate. He's not afraid of the moment, we were scuffling at the plate a little bit there, and he came up with a big hit for us to kind of get our first run, and then kind of broke it open later in the game. That guy deserves everything he gets because he's worked his tail off and fought through adversity. He's a kid that is proud to wear the Michigan State Uniform, it means a lot to him and it's fun to watch him have the kind of success he's having."
In addition to Busch's two hits Sunday afternoon, junior infielder Randy Seymour was 1-for-2, while sophomore outfielder Parker Picot was 1-for-3 with an RBI, and senior outfielder Nick Williams was also 1-for-3. Senior outfielder JT Sokolove and sophomore infielder Ryan McKay were both 1-for-4 and scored a run apiece, with McKay adding an RBI, driving in Sokolove with an RBI double in the sixth.
After five scoreless innings, Northwestern broke through in the sixth with a leadoff double by Owen McElfatrick and back-to-back groundouts to plate McElfatrick with the game's first run and a 1-0 lead for the Wildcats, before Higgins induced a flyout to end the frame.
Sokolove led off the sixth with a double to right center, and McKay not only traded places, but knocked his double to nearly the identical location. Graduate catcher Caleb Berry followed with a groundout to move McKay up to third, bringing Busch and his scorching bat to the plate.
Busch delivered by smacking a double down the right field line and up the hill at the wall to drive McKay in. N.Williams reached on an infield single to push Busch to third, preceding Picot who laced a single to left to bring Busch in for the 3-1 Spartan advantage, and that remained the score for the remainder of the game.
MSU's solid pitching was backed up by solid defense, including three double plays, with two of them of the inning-ending variety to end the first and fourth frames, along with a phenomenal catch by Sokolove in the second stanza, with a leaping catch at the wall.
Michigan State continues its season-long nine-game homestand at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium by hosting Western Michigan on Tuesday, April 15 at 6:02 p.m., before hosting Ohio State in another three-game B1G series, Friday-Sunday, April 18-20. The homestand wraps up on Tuesday, April 22 against Purdue Fort Wayne.
The Spartans' schedule is subject to further change, fans can stay tuned to MSUSpartans.com and @MSUBaseball on Twitter for schedule updates, along with follow this weekend's action with "Watch Live," "Listen Live" and "Live Stats" links where available.
Michigan State baseball tickets are available online at msuspartans.evenue.net, by contacting the Spartan Ticket Office at 517-355-1610 or by email at tickets@msu.edu for questions or more information.
With the win, the Spartans bounced back to win the series after dropping Friday night's series opener, 11-10 in 11 innings, then walloping the Wildcats, 10-0 in an eight-inning run-rule Victory for MSU on Saturday.
"I am really proud of our guys," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "I think after playing as poorly as we did on Friday for them to come back and win the series, I think speaks a lot to their character. I think they continue to play hard. We didn't have much to show for it early today, but we kept grinding out at bats and finally strung a few together."
Sunday's game started similar to Saturday's match-up, with neither team generating much offense through the first five frames that went scoreless, before both finally breaking through in the sixth inning when all four runs of the game were scored. MSU had only two hits through the first five innings, while Spartan starting pitcher Nolan Higgins had only yielded three hits in that span.
Higgins tied a season-high going 6.0 IP, scattering four hits while holding Northwestern to just one run, while posting a pair of punchouts and walking two.
Sophomore Garrett Brewer went the final 3.0 IP to earn his first career save, with just two hits, settling down after a leadoff double by the first batter faced, and allowing just one walk, and ringing up one strikeout, on a called strike three to end the game and spark the game and series winning Victory for MSU jubilation.
"That's what those guys are capable of," Boss said about Higgins and Brewer's stellar pitching on Sunday. "I thought we played really well defensively behind them today, we made a couple of errors, but we picked each other up after that. Nolan Higgins, his stuff is really good, he was in a little bit of traffic in the first two innings with runners on base, but he settled into it. He's got swing and miss stuff. Garrett Brewer coming out of the bullpen and doing what he did today, and the bullpen doing what they did yesterday, (Dominic) Pianto and his outing, the bullpen was really good and that's what these are capable of. Brewer threw great, he filled up the strike zone with his fastball and his breaking ball. Northwestern doesn't strike out much, so we knew the ball was going to be in play, and if that's the case, you better be able to locate in certain spots and Garrett was able to do that."
Despite Northwestern getting on the board and taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth, the Spartans countered with three runs on five hits in the home half of the sixth.
"Again, it's a high character group and they don't seem to get rattled," Boss said about his squad. "We've been talking about consistency from day one and I thought the approach today was consistent, from first innings to the last. They weren't too down, they didn't get too fired up when it was winning time, it was just about going out there and making the next play."
MSU improves to 19-15 overall and 6-9 in B1G action, while Northwestern is now 16-17 overall and 7-8 in conference competition.
The Spartans have now taken the last two series with the Wildcats, winning six of the last seven meetings as part being victorious in seven of the last 11, along with winning 13 of the last 20 and 21 of the last 30 match-ups, with a six, five and four-game win streak in the series. Overall, MSU now leads the all-time series vs. Northwestern, 105-56-1, including 56-23 in East Lansing.
It was an East Lansing native, senior infielder Sam Busch that helped the Spartan offense, with a team-high two hits on the day, including an RBI double in the sixth for MSU's third run of the frame.
"It was kind of similar to yesterday," Busch said. "We were getting no hits, until I think it was in the sixth inning yesterday too, we just had to fine tune our approaches. We were putting good swings on the ball early in the game and just hitting right at people. We knew if we kept sticking to that approach then eventually, they'd fall, and luckily, they did, and we got a couple of runs in the sixth."
With Busch's two hits Sunday, he finished the weekend series hitting .500 going 6-of-11, with eight RBI.
"I just think baseball is one of those things where you're hot or cold, and right now I'm hotter than colder," Busch said. "I'm seeing the ball well and just trying to be aggressive early in counts. I feel like that's been the biggest for me here in this stretch; just being up getting ready to go and put a good swing on the ball."
Busch put good swings on the ball in all four at bats, flying out to left in the fourth inning and flying out to right in the eight, denying him of more than his two hits, as he had at least one hit in all three of the weekend series and a hit in the last four games with Wednesday's game vs. Central Michigan and the weekend series with Northwestern.
"Sam's feeling really good right now, he's comfortable at the plate. He's seeing the ball well, both off of right and left-handed pitching," Boss said. "It's just another step in his career here, I think admittedly defensively, especially early on his career, he was not very good and offensively he struggled, he got hot for a little bit then would go cold. Last year he really struggled against left-handed pitching, and this year he's really starting to put it together, and it's fun to watch. You can see him comfortable at the plate. He's not afraid of the moment, we were scuffling at the plate a little bit there, and he came up with a big hit for us to kind of get our first run, and then kind of broke it open later in the game. That guy deserves everything he gets because he's worked his tail off and fought through adversity. He's a kid that is proud to wear the Michigan State Uniform, it means a lot to him and it's fun to watch him have the kind of success he's having."
In addition to Busch's two hits Sunday afternoon, junior infielder Randy Seymour was 1-for-2, while sophomore outfielder Parker Picot was 1-for-3 with an RBI, and senior outfielder Nick Williams was also 1-for-3. Senior outfielder JT Sokolove and sophomore infielder Ryan McKay were both 1-for-4 and scored a run apiece, with McKay adding an RBI, driving in Sokolove with an RBI double in the sixth.
After five scoreless innings, Northwestern broke through in the sixth with a leadoff double by Owen McElfatrick and back-to-back groundouts to plate McElfatrick with the game's first run and a 1-0 lead for the Wildcats, before Higgins induced a flyout to end the frame.
Sokolove led off the sixth with a double to right center, and McKay not only traded places, but knocked his double to nearly the identical location. Graduate catcher Caleb Berry followed with a groundout to move McKay up to third, bringing Busch and his scorching bat to the plate.
Busch delivered by smacking a double down the right field line and up the hill at the wall to drive McKay in. N.Williams reached on an infield single to push Busch to third, preceding Picot who laced a single to left to bring Busch in for the 3-1 Spartan advantage, and that remained the score for the remainder of the game.
MSU's solid pitching was backed up by solid defense, including three double plays, with two of them of the inning-ending variety to end the first and fourth frames, along with a phenomenal catch by Sokolove in the second stanza, with a leaping catch at the wall.
Michigan State continues its season-long nine-game homestand at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium by hosting Western Michigan on Tuesday, April 15 at 6:02 p.m., before hosting Ohio State in another three-game B1G series, Friday-Sunday, April 18-20. The homestand wraps up on Tuesday, April 22 against Purdue Fort Wayne.
The Spartans' schedule is subject to further change, fans can stay tuned to MSUSpartans.com and @MSUBaseball on Twitter for schedule updates, along with follow this weekend's action with "Watch Live," "Listen Live" and "Live Stats" links where available.
Michigan State baseball tickets are available online at msuspartans.evenue.net, by contacting the Spartan Ticket Office at 517-355-1610 or by email at tickets@msu.edu for questions or more information.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Higgins, Nolan (2-3)
L: KOUSER, MATTHEW (3-3)
S: Brewer, Garrett (1)
Batting:
2B: MCELFATRICK, OWEN 1 ; KUCHERAK, RYAN 1
RBI: FREEMAN, JACKSON 1
Base Running:
RUNS: MCELFATRICK, OWEN 1
SB: MCELFATRICK, OWEN 1
Batting:
2B: Sokolove, JT 1 ; McKay, Ryan 1 ; Busch, Sam 1
RBI: McKay, Ryan 1 ; Busch, Sam 1 ; Picot, Parker 1
SH: Murphy, Dayton 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sokolove, JT 1 ; McKay, Ryan 1 ; Busch, Sam 1
CS: Busch, Sam 1
HBP: Seymour, Randy 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
C
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballPursuit to Greatness | Spartans All-Access
Monday, May 19
Jake Boss | Baseball Press Conference | April 17, 2025
Thursday, April 17
Jake Boss | Baseball Press Conference | Mar. 25 2025
Tuesday, March 25
Jake Boss | Baseball Press Conference | Mar. 11 2025
Tuesday, March 11