Wolverines Drop Spartans 4-0 in Ann Arbor

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By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

Michigan's Brandon Sinnery proved to be too much for the Spartans as he tossed 8.1 scoreless innings in the Wolverines 4-0 victory of the series opener with Michigan State in Ann Arbor on Friday night.

Michigan State has ace Tony Bucciferro on the mound and, as always, he gave them a good outing, throwing 7.2 innings while striking out seven. The loss was reminiscent of Bucciferro's first Big Ten outing this season against Ohio State. During his two starts against the Buckeyes and Wolverines Bucciferro has allowed just four runs but has not received any run support of his own.

The Wolverines had their own ace on the mound in Sinnery, who turned in a stellar performance. He was eventually relieved from the mound, but only after throwing 127 pitches in 8.1 innings of scoreless ball while fanning five, walking just one and scattering nine hits.

UM shortstop Dylan Delaney gave the Wolverines all the runs they would need in the first inning when he connected with a Bucciferro pitch in the bottom of the first and drove it over the left field wall for a solo home run.

Bucciferro held the score at 1-0 until Patrick Biondi launched a pitch over the right field wall for a home run and John Lorenz plated a runner with a single to left. Coley Crank drove a Bucciferro pitch down the left field line in the eighth for an RBI double, giving the Wolverines a 4-0 advantage.

Michigan State outhit Michigan nine to eight, but struggled with runners in scoring position, stranding nine men on base in the game and four in the eighth and ninth innings.

The Spartans threatened in the sixth inning when the top of the order clicked and combined for three straight singles to load the bases with two out. Michigan stymied the rally when Sinnery was able to get Tony Wieber to pop out to end the inning.

In the eighth the Spartans threatened once again, getting Jordan Keur and Torsten Boss on base on back to back singles. But with the runners on and two out the Spartans were unable to cash in on the scoring opportunity.

Michigan State gave one last effort with one out in the ninth when they loaded the bases. But a Jared Hook grounder that was turned for a double play ended the rally and the game for the Spartans.

The Michigan victory is their first in their last four opportunities, with the losing skid dating back to the 2010 season. The series shifts to McLane Baseball Stadium in East Lansing on Saturday before closing out back in Ann Arbor on Sunday.

Spartans Finish Big East Challenge with Loss but with Honors for Bucciferro

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By Sean Gagnier

@SeanGagnier 

The Spartans dropped the final game of the Big Ten/Big East Challenge to No. 15 Louisville by a score of 7-6. The weekend wasn't a total loss for Michigan State, who took on the top three programs in the Big East and managed an 11-4 victory over No. 11 St. John's in the opening day of the tournament.

Michigan State scratched across an unearned run in the second before Louisville scored two off a home run but they quickly bounced back with a four run third to gain a 5-2 lead and chase Louisville starter Travis Tingle from the game. The Spartans had a big fourth, but it could have been much better for them as they had the bases loaded with no outs and failed to plate any more than four runners.

Louisville answered back in the bottom of the third scoring three times off starter David Garner who was replaced on the mound in the fourth by Trey Popp after the Cardinals scored again to give themselves a 6-5 advantage. Popp was unable to get a hold and the Cardinals singled home another run in the sixth to extend the lead to 7-5.

Garner's performance was vastly different than the previous two Spartan pitchers days - Garner lasted 3.2 innings, surrendering six runs on seven hits and fanning just four. Spartans starters Tony Bucciferro and Andrew Waszak posted impressive numbers in their outings going six innings with one hit and fanning six and seven innings with four hits and 3 K's respectively.

Michigan State was able to close the gap to 7-6 in the seventh after a bunt single and throwing error allowed Keur to reach second before advancing 90 feet on a flyout and scoring on a groundout to the right side of the infield. The Spartans were unable to get anything else going against the Cardinals closer, Derek Self who picked up his first save of the season.

The green and white don't have long to lick their wounds as they will be heading to Greenville, S.C. for the First Pitch Invitational from Feb. 24-26. The Spartans will face Miami-Ohio and Furman twice during the Invitational.

Bucciferro named Big Ten co-pitcher of the week

For his dominating performance in the Spartans opening game against St. John's senior Tony Bucciferro was named the Big Ten Co-Pitcher of the Week. In his start on Friday Bucciferro led the Spartans to an 11-4 win by retiring the first 13 batter he faced and allowing just one hit through his six innings of work.

Bucciferro managed to fan six Red Storm players while not surrendering a base-on-balls all day for his 21st career victory in the green and white. The win vaults him to sixth place in Spartan history, tied with Ron Perranoski.

This is Bucciferro's second time receiving this award, having earned the honor last April following his third complete game shutout for the Spartans in a game against Minnesota.

Spartan Baseball Picked to Repeat as Big Ten Champs

Photo from SpartanNation.com via MSU SID

By Sean Gagnier

Easton Baseball released their predictions for each of the major collegiate baseball conferences and has Michigan State repeating as the Big Ten champions in 2012. The Spartans took control of the Big Ten last season and won their first conference title since 1979.

2011 saw Michigan State win more than 30 games for the second year in a row and maintain the highest batting average in the Big Ten (.318). Despite losing several players to the MLB draft the Spartans are returning seven starters, four of which posted batting averages of .300+.

The bad news for Michigan State is that they lost Brandon Eckerle, who hit .379 last season, Jeff Holm a .376 hitter and ace-pitcher Kurt Wunderlich who went 10-2 with a 3.19 ERA. With their top two hitters having left the banks of the Red Cedar the Spartans will look to players like Torsten Boss, .370 in 2011, and Ryan Jones, .344, to pick up the slack and propel them back to the championship.

Michigan State could have fielded an all "Gold Glove" team in 2011 with a .976 fielding percentage. The Spartans will again field Boss at 3B, Justin Scanlon at SS, Jones at 2B and the nearly perfect Joel Fisher. Behind the plate Fisher was only credited with one error during the 2011 season and will be managing an experienced pitching rotation.

The pitching rotation is highlighted by Tony Bucciferro (8-3, 3.38 ERA), Andrew Waszak (4-3, 4.79 ERA) and  David Garner (5-4, 4.62 ERA). The top Spartan pitchers will need to maintain their output from last season in order to give their team a chance to get back to the Big Ten title game and beat Illinois for the outright Big Ten title.

Top Spartan relievers Tony Wieber (5-0, 3.64 ERA, 8 SV) and Bryce Jenney (0-1, 4.58 ERA, 5 SV) are returning and will be joined by a solid group of incoming players that will fortify the bullpen for Coach Jake Boss.

The highlights of Coach Boss' recruiting class are C Blaise Salter, 1B Ryan Krill, OF Jeremy Pickens and RHP Mick Van Vossen. All four were drafted, Slater, Krill and Pickens by the Detroit Tigers and Van Vossen by the Texas Rangers but decided to head to East Lansing instead of the minors.

This season could prove whether or not Michigan State was a fluke last year or if Coach Boss is truly building something special in East Lansing. With the amount of skill the Spartans possess, they should have no trouble reaching 30 wins once again, but it will take special effort by several players to get Michigan State back to where they were last season.