Tuesday, April 15
East Lansing, Mich.
6:02 PM
Michigan State University
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Western Michigan
10-23
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Photo by: MSU Baseball Social Squad
Spartans Corral Broncos In 14-4, 8-inning Victory For MSU
4/15/2025 11:07:00 PM | Baseball
MSU scores in seven of eight innings to beat WMU for ninth-straight in series, the Spartans’ longest win streak in series that dates back to 1910.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball scored in seven of the eight innings, including erupting for six runs in the third inning to corral the Broncos of Western Michigan, 14-4 in an eight-inning, run-rule Victory for MSU Tuesday night at a chilly Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium.
With the game-time temperature an appropriate 42 degrees on Jackie Robinson Day in the baseball world, both teams battled the elements that included cold and wind, with intermittent gusts throughout the night.
It was MSU's third win over the season over WMU, as the Spartans and Broncos played on Opening Day on Feb. 14 in Cary, North Carolina, with Michigan State winning the 7/9 inning doubleheader, 2-0 and 6-3.
Tuesday was also MSU's ninth-straight win over WMU in the all-time series, now the longest winning streak by the Spartans and tying the longest by either team in the series, as the Broncos won nine in a row from 1982-84. Michigan State has now won 12 of the last 13, 13 of the last 15 and 21 of the last 24 meetings with Western Michigan, and have closed the gap in WMU's all-time series lead to 95-93 in the all-time series that starting in 1910.
The Spartans also improved to 24-7 against the Broncos under head coach Jake Boss Jr., and MSU is now 21-5 vs. WMU in Coach Boss vs. Broncos' head coach Billy Gernon, who was an assistant under Coach Boss from 2009-10 before Gernon became head coach at WMU.
With Tuesday's win, MSU has won three in a row, including two of the last three via the run-rule after last Saturday's 10-0 8-inning win over Northwestern, and the Spartans are now 20-15. The Broncos have lost two of their last three and are 10-23 overall.
Tuesday's game was also the halfway point of MSU's season-long nine-game homestand at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium, now 3-2 so far entering three games this weekend and another midweek next Tuesday.
The run-rule Victory for MSU was the Spartans' sixth run-rule triumph of the season, including their second by a 14-4 score in 8-innings, also beating Illinois by that score in the same amount of innings on March 29.
MSU's 14 runs was the third time in the last four games that the Spartans hung double-digit runs on the scoreboard, and the ninth overall time this season, as the Green & White is now 8-1 when plating 10+ runs.
On Tuesday night, the Spartans scored one run in the first frame, as they have done often this season, but then didn't score in the second for their only scoreless frame of the night. The home team erupted to hang a six-spot on the scoreboard in the third, followed by a run in each of the next three innings, then plating a pair of runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth, on senior infielder Sam Busch's two-run "walk-off" single for the Victory for MSU.
Busch's hit was one of the 14 hits by the Spartans, as all nine starters had at least one hit and eight of the nine scored a run.
"It's a good win. Any win is a good win. The conditions weren't great, but that was the case for both teams. The wind was tough, the temperature wasn't easy, but that's part of playing in the north, so I think we're used to it," Boss said. "I thought we pitched it well. Defensively, I'm not very pleased. I thought we kicked it around a little bit too much tonight. Offensively, it was a pretty good night. I think we left maybe one opportunity out there in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and took two called strike threes, but apart from that we were pretty productive at the plate, so it was a pretty good night."
Busch continued to swing a scorching hot bat Tuesday night, going 3-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored, leading the way as one of four Spartans with multiple hits. The Spartan first baseman is 9-for-17 (.529) in the last four games, with 11 RBI.
Sophomore infielder Ryan McKay was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and one RBI, coming on the game's lone home run, but one of six extra-base hits by the Spartans.
McKay socked his fourth home run of the season, all coming in the last 19 games in the past month after no homer in the first 16 games of the season, belting his first round-tripper of the season on March 14 at Iowa.
"It's a really long season and especially in Big Ten play, if you play bad the weekend before, you really have to wash it. That's something that you really have to learn in baseball, 90 percent of it's mental so we have been mentally really strong."
McKay continues to lead MSU in hitting, now batting .341 on the season and knocked his 10th double of the season, which now shares the team lead.
"Having a year under my belt in the college atmosphere and a really competitive summer has really helped me," McKay said about what has been his approach to help him succeed this season, his second in the Green & White. "Just coming in here and being very comfortable with myself, playing for my school, and having fun has helped me the most."
Graduate catcher Caleb Berry was 2-for-4 with two runs scored, while senior catcher Noah Bright was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI to round out the Spartan quartet with two or more hits.
Junior outfielder Parker Picot was 1-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored, with two of the three ribbies coming on his fourth triple of the season, which is now tied for tops in the Big Ten.
Senior outfielder Nick Williams was 1-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored, while fellow senior outfielder JT Sokolove was 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI, drawing three walks on the night. Junior infielder Randy Seymour was 1-for-3 with two runs scored, while freshman infielder Dayton Murphy was 1-for-5 and drove in a pair.
Defensively, four different MSU pitchers scattered four runs on eight hits, including freshman starter Aidan Donovan earning the first win of his collegiate career. Donovan went a season-long 5.0 IP and tied a season-high with three strikeouts, spraying five hits while yielding three runs, two of them earned, while walking one.
"I thought Aidan was great tonight," Boss said. "We put him in some tough spots defensively because we kicked it all over the place early, but he made pitches to get out of it. I think he started off (this season) pretty good, he had a little bit of a lull there where he got knocked around a little bit, but now he's throwing really well. He got a few strikeouts tonight, and I think he's got a really, really bright future ahead of him. We are excited about him."
After Donovan, sophomore Gannon Grundman, junior Noah Matheny and senior George Viebrock III went 1.0 IP apiece and kept the Broncos in check, yielding a combined one run on three hits. Grundman allowed one run on two hits with one K. Matheny made his home debut and only his second outing of the season after recovering from an injury, and rang up one K and one BB in his frame of work. Viebrock chalked up a strikeout and gave up one hit.
McKay jump-started MSU's offense in the first with a double down the right-field line, and two batters later, Busch laced a looping single to right to drive in McKay and get the Spartans on the board.
MSU scored in the first inning for the 15th time in 35 games this season, and was the Spartans' 43rd run scored in the opening frame out of their 235 total runs scored (18.3 percent).
WMU got on the board with a run in the second to knot it at 1-all.
The score only stayed tied until the third, when the Spartans erupted to hang a six-spot on the board, and once again, McKay was the catalyst, socking his home run into the Red Cedar River. Berry and Busch belted back-to-back singles, and two batters later, Picot pelted his triple to right center, driving Berry and Busch in. Seymour followed with a walk, and Bright came to bat and laced a single up the middle to drive in Picot.
After a WMU pitching change, Seymour scored on a throwing error on a failed pickoff attempt trying to pickoff Picot. Murphy then singled through the left side to drive in Bright with the Spartans' sixth run of the stanza and a 7-1 lead.
MSU scored a run in the fourth after Berry started the rally with a single and later scored on a sacrifice fly by N.Williams. WMU countered with two runs in the top of the fifth to close to 8-3, but Seymour led off the home half of the frame, and two batters later, scored on an RBI groundout by Murphy.
After the Broncos scored one run in the top of the sixth, the Spartans matched that with a run of their own, and didn't even need to put the ball in play, taking advantage of two walks and hit-by-pitch to load the bases and Sokolove later drew another walk to plate Picot for the walkie-talkie score of 10-4.
Following the stretching and singing in the seventh, Busch drew a one-out walk, preceding N.Williams knocking an RBI double to left to bring Busch in to score. After N.Williams moved up to third on a wild pitch, Picot roped a line drive to center, that was caught, but deep enough to bring N.Williams in on the sac fly.
Bright got the eighth-inning started with a single to left and Sokolove drew his third walk of the night two batters later. Both Spartan runners moved up a base on a wild pitch, and freshman pinch hitter Isaac Sturgess drew a walk to fill the bases full of Green & White, and Busch knocked a Texas Leaguer single to right to bring Bright and Sokolove in to score for the "walk-off" Victory for MSU.
Michigan State continues the nine-game homestand at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium by hosting Ohio State in another three-game B1G series, Friday-Sunday, April 18-20. The series is scheduled to open on Friday night, April 18 at 6:02 p.m., followed by game two of the series on Saturday, April 19 at 3:32 p.m., before the series finale at 1:02 p.m.
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 game-time temperature an appropriate 42 degrees on Jackie Robinson Day in the baseball world, both teams battled the elements that included cold and wind, with intermittent gusts throughout the night.
It was MSU's third win over the season over WMU, as the Spartans and Broncos played on Opening Day on Feb. 14 in Cary, North Carolina, with Michigan State winning the 7/9 inning doubleheader, 2-0 and 6-3.
Tuesday was also MSU's ninth-straight win over WMU in the all-time series, now the longest winning streak by the Spartans and tying the longest by either team in the series, as the Broncos won nine in a row from 1982-84. Michigan State has now won 12 of the last 13, 13 of the last 15 and 21 of the last 24 meetings with Western Michigan, and have closed the gap in WMU's all-time series lead to 95-93 in the all-time series that starting in 1910.
The Spartans also improved to 24-7 against the Broncos under head coach Jake Boss Jr., and MSU is now 21-5 vs. WMU in Coach Boss vs. Broncos' head coach Billy Gernon, who was an assistant under Coach Boss from 2009-10 before Gernon became head coach at WMU.
With Tuesday's win, MSU has won three in a row, including two of the last three via the run-rule after last Saturday's 10-0 8-inning win over Northwestern, and the Spartans are now 20-15. The Broncos have lost two of their last three and are 10-23 overall.
Tuesday's game was also the halfway point of MSU's season-long nine-game homestand at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium, now 3-2 so far entering three games this weekend and another midweek next Tuesday.
The run-rule Victory for MSU was the Spartans' sixth run-rule triumph of the season, including their second by a 14-4 score in 8-innings, also beating Illinois by that score in the same amount of innings on March 29.
MSU's 14 runs was the third time in the last four games that the Spartans hung double-digit runs on the scoreboard, and the ninth overall time this season, as the Green & White is now 8-1 when plating 10+ runs.
On Tuesday night, the Spartans scored one run in the first frame, as they have done often this season, but then didn't score in the second for their only scoreless frame of the night. The home team erupted to hang a six-spot on the scoreboard in the third, followed by a run in each of the next three innings, then plating a pair of runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth, on senior infielder Sam Busch's two-run "walk-off" single for the Victory for MSU.
Busch's hit was one of the 14 hits by the Spartans, as all nine starters had at least one hit and eight of the nine scored a run.
"It's a good win. Any win is a good win. The conditions weren't great, but that was the case for both teams. The wind was tough, the temperature wasn't easy, but that's part of playing in the north, so I think we're used to it," Boss said. "I thought we pitched it well. Defensively, I'm not very pleased. I thought we kicked it around a little bit too much tonight. Offensively, it was a pretty good night. I think we left maybe one opportunity out there in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and took two called strike threes, but apart from that we were pretty productive at the plate, so it was a pretty good night."
Busch continued to swing a scorching hot bat Tuesday night, going 3-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored, leading the way as one of four Spartans with multiple hits. The Spartan first baseman is 9-for-17 (.529) in the last four games, with 11 RBI.
Sophomore infielder Ryan McKay was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and one RBI, coming on the game's lone home run, but one of six extra-base hits by the Spartans.
McKay socked his fourth home run of the season, all coming in the last 19 games in the past month after no homer in the first 16 games of the season, belting his first round-tripper of the season on March 14 at Iowa.
"It's a really long season and especially in Big Ten play, if you play bad the weekend before, you really have to wash it. That's something that you really have to learn in baseball, 90 percent of it's mental so we have been mentally really strong."
McKay continues to lead MSU in hitting, now batting .341 on the season and knocked his 10th double of the season, which now shares the team lead.
"Having a year under my belt in the college atmosphere and a really competitive summer has really helped me," McKay said about what has been his approach to help him succeed this season, his second in the Green & White. "Just coming in here and being very comfortable with myself, playing for my school, and having fun has helped me the most."
Graduate catcher Caleb Berry was 2-for-4 with two runs scored, while senior catcher Noah Bright was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI to round out the Spartan quartet with two or more hits.
Junior outfielder Parker Picot was 1-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored, with two of the three ribbies coming on his fourth triple of the season, which is now tied for tops in the Big Ten.
Senior outfielder Nick Williams was 1-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored, while fellow senior outfielder JT Sokolove was 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI, drawing three walks on the night. Junior infielder Randy Seymour was 1-for-3 with two runs scored, while freshman infielder Dayton Murphy was 1-for-5 and drove in a pair.
Defensively, four different MSU pitchers scattered four runs on eight hits, including freshman starter Aidan Donovan earning the first win of his collegiate career. Donovan went a season-long 5.0 IP and tied a season-high with three strikeouts, spraying five hits while yielding three runs, two of them earned, while walking one.
"I thought Aidan was great tonight," Boss said. "We put him in some tough spots defensively because we kicked it all over the place early, but he made pitches to get out of it. I think he started off (this season) pretty good, he had a little bit of a lull there where he got knocked around a little bit, but now he's throwing really well. He got a few strikeouts tonight, and I think he's got a really, really bright future ahead of him. We are excited about him."
After Donovan, sophomore Gannon Grundman, junior Noah Matheny and senior George Viebrock III went 1.0 IP apiece and kept the Broncos in check, yielding a combined one run on three hits. Grundman allowed one run on two hits with one K. Matheny made his home debut and only his second outing of the season after recovering from an injury, and rang up one K and one BB in his frame of work. Viebrock chalked up a strikeout and gave up one hit.
McKay jump-started MSU's offense in the first with a double down the right-field line, and two batters later, Busch laced a looping single to right to drive in McKay and get the Spartans on the board.
MSU scored in the first inning for the 15th time in 35 games this season, and was the Spartans' 43rd run scored in the opening frame out of their 235 total runs scored (18.3 percent).
WMU got on the board with a run in the second to knot it at 1-all.
The score only stayed tied until the third, when the Spartans erupted to hang a six-spot on the board, and once again, McKay was the catalyst, socking his home run into the Red Cedar River. Berry and Busch belted back-to-back singles, and two batters later, Picot pelted his triple to right center, driving Berry and Busch in. Seymour followed with a walk, and Bright came to bat and laced a single up the middle to drive in Picot.
After a WMU pitching change, Seymour scored on a throwing error on a failed pickoff attempt trying to pickoff Picot. Murphy then singled through the left side to drive in Bright with the Spartans' sixth run of the stanza and a 7-1 lead.
MSU scored a run in the fourth after Berry started the rally with a single and later scored on a sacrifice fly by N.Williams. WMU countered with two runs in the top of the fifth to close to 8-3, but Seymour led off the home half of the frame, and two batters later, scored on an RBI groundout by Murphy.
After the Broncos scored one run in the top of the sixth, the Spartans matched that with a run of their own, and didn't even need to put the ball in play, taking advantage of two walks and hit-by-pitch to load the bases and Sokolove later drew another walk to plate Picot for the walkie-talkie score of 10-4.
Following the stretching and singing in the seventh, Busch drew a one-out walk, preceding N.Williams knocking an RBI double to left to bring Busch in to score. After N.Williams moved up to third on a wild pitch, Picot roped a line drive to center, that was caught, but deep enough to bring N.Williams in on the sac fly.
Bright got the eighth-inning started with a single to left and Sokolove drew his third walk of the night two batters later. Both Spartan runners moved up a base on a wild pitch, and freshman pinch hitter Isaac Sturgess drew a walk to fill the bases full of Green & White, and Busch knocked a Texas Leaguer single to right to bring Bright and Sokolove in to score for the "walk-off" Victory for MSU.
Michigan State continues the nine-game homestand at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium by hosting Ohio State in another three-game B1G series, Friday-Sunday, April 18-20. The series is scheduled to open on Friday night, April 18 at 6:02 p.m., followed by game two of the series on Saturday, April 19 at 3:32 p.m., before the series finale at 1:02 p.m.
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.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Donovan, Aidan (1-2)
L: LEHMANN, Adam (1-3)
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Batting:
2B: HARRITY, Brendan 1
3B: THIELMAN, Avery 1
RBI: THIELMAN, Avery 2 ; HARRITY, Brendan 1 ; PENA, Diego 1
Base Running:
RUNS: MALONEY, Michael 1 ; RICK, Lucas 1 ; OSTRANDER, Connor 1 ; HARRITY, Brendan 1
HBP: OSTRANDER, Connor 1 ; MEE, Grady 1
Batting:
2B: Sokolove, JT 1 ; McKay, Ryan 1 ; Williams, Nick 1 ; Seymour, Randy 1
3B: Picot, Parker 1
HR: McKay, Ryan 1
RBI: Sokolove, JT 1 ; McKay, Ryan 1 ; Busch, Sam 3 ; Williams, Nick 2 ; Picot, Parker 3 ; Bright, Noah 1 ; Murphy, Dayton 2
SF: Williams, Nick 1 ; Picot, Parker 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sokolove, JT 1 ; McKay, Ryan 2 ; Berry, Caleb 2 ; Busch, Sam 2 ; Williams, Nick 1 ; Picot, Parker 2 ; Seymour, Randy 2 ; Bright, Noah 2
SB: Murphy, Dayton 1
HBP: Seymour, Randy 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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/ BaseballPursuit to Greatness | Spartans All-Access
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