Bucciferro Tosses Complete Game As Spartans Shutout Hawkeyes

@StateBaseball

By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

Tony Bucciferro is supposed to be the ace of the Spartan staff, and on Friday against Iowa, he was. Bucciferro threw a complete game, five-hitter in the Spartans 6-0 victory over the Hawkeyes.

The complete game shutout was the fourth of Bucciferro's career, his nine strikeouts was just one shy of his career high, and with the full nine innings under his belt, Bucciferro took sole possession of the all-time innings pitched record for Michigan State University with 352.1.

With the win, their sixth in seven games, the Spartans move into a second-place tie in the Big Ten with the Indiana Hoosiers, but still trail Purdue for first place.

As has become the norm for Michigan State, they struck early, getting a first inning run off a Ryan Krill single. The Spartans would strike again in the third when Ryan Jones singled before coming home on a Torsten Boss sac fly to make the score 2-0.

Freshman catcher Blaise Salter hammered his first career home run in the fourth inning to give Bucciferro a 3-0 lead. Bucciferro would struggle in the fifth inning, hitting three straight batters to load the bases but was able to wiggle out of the jam without allowing a run.

In the seventh inning Bucciferro again appeared to lose a bit of control when he walked and then hit a batter, putting two men on base. Once again, he was able to focus and get three straight Hawkeyes out to avoid surrendering a run.

Bucciferro was rewarded for his performance in the stressful innings with three Spartans runs in the seventh, all with two outs. As the axiom goes, two out hits get you to heaven and if that's the case John Martinez is getting to heaven. With the bases loaded and two outs Ryan Krill drew a walk to force home a run to make it 4-0. Martinez then singled to center field, scoring Justin Scanlon and Jordan Keur extending the Spartans lead to 6-0.

At 108 pitches heading into the ninth, Bucciferro could have been one long plate battle away from not finishing the game, but he was able to come out and fan two more batters in the ninth frame to close out the win with 118 pitches.

Hoosiers Walk-Off Against Spartans, 3-2

MSU Baseball Facebook Page

By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

It wasn't the ending the Spartans had envisioned, Tony Wieber threw a wild pitch to the plate that allowed Indiana's Michael Basil to hustle the 90 ft to home to score the game-winning run. With Basil's intelligent play the Hoosiers beat the Spartans 3-2 on Friday night.

The game was billed to be a pitchers duel and Michigan State's Tony Bucciferro and Indiana's Joey DeNato proved to live up to that hype. Bucciferro, who lead the Big Ten in strikeouts heading into the game, gave the Spartans seven innings on the mound while surrendering just four hits, two runs and fanning seven.

DeNato, not to be outdone, also turned in seven innings of work while giving up two runs on seven hits.

The Hoosiers would score first when they got a solo shot from Dillon Dooney in the fourth to give them a 1-0 lead. Michigan State was able to answer in the fifth when a Justin Scanlon groundout scored Blaise Salter who had reached base on a double earlier in the inning.

In the bottom of the fifth Indiana would again grab the lead before the Spartans were able to drive home Ryan Jones who doubled to lead off the sixth inning.

With the game tied at two in the ninth, Michigan State threatened but did not score. Bases loaded and one out for Jordan Keur, who lined out to left field, but it wasn't deep enough to allow Anthony Cheky to score. Cheky took off down the third base line but was thrown out at home to end the inning.

Indiana also would threaten with the bases loaded in the ninth, but they are able to convert on the opportunity. With the bases loaded and two outs, Bryce Jenney was lifted for Wieber. Wieber was able to get a foul tip on his first pitch, but his second got past John Martinez and allowed Basil to score from third.

Saturday's game was postponed due to weather and the two teams were scheduled to play a double-header on Sunday.

Spartans Win Seventh Straight, Beat Bowling Green

From MSU Baseball Facebook Page

By Sean Gagnier

@SeanGagnier

The Spartans racked up their seventh consecutive victory on Tuesday afternoon when they beat up on the Bowling Green Falcons 13-3. Michigan State piled up 16 hits off Falcons pitching including four from Jordan Keur.

David Garner took the mound for the Spartans but only lasted three innings despite fanning a season high seven batters. In his three innings Garner surrendered just four hits and gave up one unearned run to Bowling Green.

The Falcons jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the 1st before the Spartans went on to score nine unanswered through six innings. Blaise Salter earned his first collegiate RBI in the 2nd that scored Joel Fisher.

Junior Trey Popp came in as relief of Garner in the fourth inning and gave the Spartans three more innings. Popp fanned three and gave up just one hit in his three scoreless innings of work.

The Falcons cut into the lead by scoring two in the seventh to make the score 9-3 but the Spartans tacked on four additional runs in the bottom of the seventh to extend their lead to 13-3. With the win the Spartans have won 10 of their last 11 games.

Michigan State takes on Central Michigan today at 3:05 p.m. with Mick VanVossen making his first collegiate start for the Spartans.