A good day for Maddix (Simpson)…but it wasn’t enough as the Buckeyes dropped the game, and the series, in the 11th. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
A back-and-forth effort that featured good plays and some individual good days. But in the end…a walk-off home run by Michigan State denied the Buckeyes their first conference win on the road.
East Lansing, MI – In the end it amounted to their 15th conference loss, their 26th, overall, and a crushing conclusion to a day when Gavin Kuzniewski took another step toward being a dependable weekend starter.
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Another freshman, Maddix Simpson, went 3 for 5 at the plate and drove in three runs.
Yet another freshman, Sal Mineo came off the bench with a key triple in the seventh to drive in a pair of runs and give the Buckeyes a late lead.
It saw Nick Giamarusti scale the wall to deny the Spartans’ Noah Bright a home run in the seventh inning.
And it saw freshman reliever Douglas Bauer take another step towards confidence in late-inning pressure spots.
But tied 9-9 in the eleventh, it also saw Michigan State centerfielder JT Sokolove lift a wind-blown fly ball to right field that went over the 310 foot fence and into the Red Cedar River for a walk-off home run to that secured the game and the series for the Spartans, 10-9.
Gavin Kuzniewski took another step towards becoming a dependable weekend starter.
It was also a day that saw MSU commit five errors…and they still won.
But they made the most of 9 hits to score 10 runs…while the Buckeyes fell to 9-26 (2-15 in BIG) with 9 runs on 11 hits and 2 errors.
“Disappointing day,” said Justin Haire. “Our guys played hard and I appreciated their response today after yesterday. I thought they were flat then, and today they were into it, especially facing a buzz-saw arm (Joseph Dzierwa). I thought we did a good job against him….and yeah,” he paused for the right words, “…just another tough finish.”
Michigan State took a quick 2-0 lead in the first on a 1-out home run by first baseman Sam Busch, but the Buckeyes came back immediately in the top of the second to score 4 on a Trey Lipsey double that scored two, and an RBI single by Maddix Simpson that scored two more.
Starter Gavin Kuzniewski made those four runs stand up into the fourth when the Buckeyes added 2 more on a pair of singles by Lee Ellis and Simpson, taking advantage of a Michigan State error, one of five on the day.
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But Kuzniewski, who’s yet to go five innings this year, ran aground in the fifth, allowing 3 runs on a pair of walks, a flaired single, and a double by MSU’s Ryan McKay that ended his outing…4.2 innings, 5 runs on 4 hits with 4 walks and 4 strikeouts. The Buckeyes, however, still held a 6-5 lead.
They lost the lead in the sixth when reliever Luke Carrell fell victim to a hit batsman and a pair of MSU singles, and before Doug Bauer could retire the final out the Spartans had taken an 8-6 lead.
Nick Giamarusti robbed MSU’s Noah Bright of a probable home run with this catch in the seventh.
Once again, the Buckeyes responded in the seventh when Sal Mineo’s pinch-hit triple drove in Matt Graveline and Ryan Miller, and an ensuing single by Simpson (his third of the game), gave the Buckeyes a short-lived 9-8 lead.
That lead vanished in the bottom of the eighth as Michigan State’s Will Shannon poled (literally) a pinch-hit homer to right off Hunter Shaw…that actually hit the top of the foul pole and caromed back into the field of play…9-9.
Neither team scored in the tenth, the Buckeyes failed to score in the top of the eleventh, and Shaw came back out for his fourth inning of work. One out deep, JT Sokolove came to the plate for the sixth time of the game and promptly ended it with a wind-blown homer to right field.
“I hate this for the sake of the record and the kids’ sake,” added Haire, attempting to explain away the frustration. “But the record is what it is. I don’t think we’re that caliber of a team, but like Dennis Green says, the record is what it is.
Reggie Bussey reaches for a stolen base during Saturday’s 10-9 loss to Michigan State.
“Our guys show up, the staff works incredibly hard, we just haven’t been able to flip that switch yet and get things going.”
And on a cold, blustery day in Lansing there was nothing left to say.
It took 3:51 to play.
A good crowd of 1,260 people came in shorts and flip flops to watch it, thinking it was spring.
And the beat goes on…..
“But the laws of baseball are like that,” Haire added. “But the worm is going to turn at some point. You just don’t know when that’s going to be.”
Hopefully, on Easter Sunday.
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