Spartan Baseball Picks Up Big Recruit

Toledo Blade photo

By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

Michigan State baseball picked up a new commitment when they signed up Perrysburg, Ohio outfielder Hunter Smith. Perrysburg High School had used Smith as both an outfielder and as their designated hitter because of his unique mixture of speed and power.

The senior lead the Northern Lakes League, where Perrysburg High School competes, in home runs with seven. Smith brings a power left-handed bat to the Spartans lineup and can provide them with the speed on the basepaths that they appreciate.

During his senior year at Perrysburg, Smith stole 13 bases in 15 attempts, which compliments his power numbers which are themselves impressive. The 6'4" 215 lbs outfielder drove in a team-leading 25 RBI batting left-handed, but he throws with his right hand.

The rise of Spartan baseball has much to do with the commitment of Smith, who also had offers from Miami of Ohio, University of Cincinnati, Arizona State, University of Toledo, Ohio State and Pepperdine. Schools have reason to fight over Smith, who aside from his power numbers, hit .344 in his senior season.

Smith will be donning the green and white for Jake Boss, Jr. next season, most likely in the outfield.

Spartans Drop Chippewas, 5-2, in Clash at Comerica

By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

The Spartans beat the Central Michigan Chippewas in the second annual "Clash at Comerica," 5-2, completing the series sweep for the season. With the win the Spartans have won all three meetings with Central Michigan this season and extend their streak against the Chippewas to five. The loss also snapped Central Michigan's 10-game win streak.

It was Michigan State's second win in the "Clash at Comerica," having beat the Chippewas 3-1 last season in the inaugural game of the series in Detroit.

Freshman pitcher Mick VanVossen improved to 4-0 on the season, allowing just two runs on five hits in his seven innings pitched. Central Michigan struck early, getting a run in the first inning off VanVossen who then shut them down, recording 10 straight batters and 13 of 14 following the early run.

Michigan State pulled ahead in the second inning when sophomore catcher Joel Fisher launched his first collegiate home run over the left field fence for a two run shot. The homer cleared the bullpens in left and landed in the seats beyond.

In the third Justin Scanlon lead off the inning with a triple and was able to scamper home after an attempted pick-off throw by Chippewa pitcher Rick Dodridge sailed on the third baseman. John Martinez tacked on another run for the Spartans later in the inning when he singled home Torsten Boss.

To lead off the fourth inning Anthony Cheky drew a walk before stealing second base. When the Chippewas catcher Tyler Huntley overthrew second base attempting to catch Cheky stealing and the ball sailed into center field, Cheky was able to advance to third base. Scanlon then singled home Cheky to make the score 5-1.

Things got interesting in the sixth when Central Michigan's Nate Theunissen tried to score from first base on a double to left field by Sam Russell. As Theunissen rounded third and headed for the plate, the Spartans were executing a perfect relay play. Left fielder Jordan Keur grabbed the ball in the outfield and fired it into the cutoff man, shortstop Scanlon, who then was able to gun Theunissen out with a perfect throw to catcher Fisher. 

Central Michigan was able to get to VanVossen for the second time in the game in the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run to right field. VanVossen would finish out the seventh before turning the ball over to the bullpen to close out the game.

Jeff Kinley was called on in the eighth inning to continue his hot streak - and he did, throwing a scoreless eighth. Head Coach Jake Boss, Jr. then turned to his closer Tony Wieber in the ninth. Wieber, the Spartans all-time saves leader, earned his eighth save of the season, tying a career high for a season.

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.

Spartans Win 30th Game; Set School Record

MSU Athletics

By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

For the first time in program history the Spartans baseball team has won 30 games in three straight seasons; Michigan State secured their 30th win on Tuesday with a 15-7 win over the Western Michigan Broncos in Kalamazoo, Mich. Last season the Spartans won 36 games and in 2010 they won 34 on the year. With the win the Spartans move up to No. 44 in the RPI rankings and within range of a possible at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

In the game on Tuesday the Spartans were efficient with their offense, recording 15 runs on 15 hits, including a season high six doubles. John Martinez lead the offense with a career day, recording four hits, four RBI and two doubles while going four-for-four with two walks.

Michigan State got on the board early with three runs in the first inning, capped by RBI doubles by Martinez and Jordan Keur. Ryan Jones got in on the hit parade with a double of his own in the second that scored a run to extend the Spartans lead to 4-0.

The Broncos weren't going to stay down long and they answered with four runs of their own on five hits in the third inning. But Jones responded with yet another RBI double in the fourth inning before being plated himself by a Torsten Boss single to make the score 6-4.

Western Michigan cut Michigan State's lead to one with a run in the bottom of the fourth but the Spartans answered right back by bringing three more runs around in the fifth inning to make the score 9-5. Blaise Salter was the guy with the big bat in the fifth, scoring two runs with a double to left field.

The Broncos would once again cut into the Spartans lead in the bottom of the fifth by scoring twice making the score 9-7, but it was all they would be able to muster. Spartan starter Mike Theodore didn't have a sparkling game going only two innings while allowing four runs on five hits.

Lefty Trey Popp came in as relief for Theodore in the third and although being a bit shaky in his two plus innings of work, earned his third win of the season. Popp pitched two plus innings while allowing eight hits and three runs.

Bryce Jenney came in to relieve Popp in the fifth inning with runners on first and third and no outs. Despite fanning a batter and getting the other two to pop out an unearned run would score on him, completing Popp's line.

Jenney finished out the game for the Spartans, earning himself a five-inning save, his first of the season. During his five innings he allowed just two hits and one run.

Michigan State tacked on runs in the sixth and seventh before closing the game with a four-run ninth to make the final score 15-7.

Spartans Take Weekend Series Against Illinois

Sean Gagnier / Gang Green

By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

The Spartans traveled to Illinois to take on the Fighting Illini this weekend and took two of three games from them; winning the first two contests before dropping the final game on Sunday. During the weekend, freshman Jimmy Pickens had a career series and earned himself conference honors.

Friday

Illinois pitching didn't stand a chance as the Spartans blasted 17 hits for 15 runs, recording eight of those runs against Illini starter Kevin Johnson in his 4.2 innings. Johnson, who had been tied for second in the Big Ten with seven wins, turned in a line that included eight allowed runs, seven earned runs on eight hits.

Spartan starter Tony Bucciferro stayed on the mound for 6.1 innings while giving up four runs on five hits and fanning five. He was tagged with the victory on the day, his fourth of the season and 24th of his career.

Pickens had a career day, going 3-for-5 with 6 RBI, a team and personal high. Highlights of Pickens' day were his two run double in the fifth and his bases-clearing triple in the sixth. Pickens' other RBI came on a single in the fourth that plated a runner.

After scoring four times in the fifth and five times in the sixth the Spartans held a ten-run, 13-3, lead over the Illini. Jared Hook would add another run on a solo home run in the seventh and Ryan Krill singled in the 15th run in the ninth inning.

Saturday

Yet another game went into extras and yet another time the Spartans came out on top - Michigan State improved its record to 7-1 in extra innings by beating the Illini 6-5 on Saturday. The victory secured the Spartans their first series win at Illinois since 2003.

Andrew Waszak tied a season high five strikeouts during his six innings of work; while on the mound he allowed eight hits and five runs, including a three-run home run in the first inning. Waszak calmed down after his shaky first inning and didn't allow another run until the fifth when the Illini scored two more to tie the game at five.

Jeff Kinley entered the game in the seventh in relief of Waszak and continued his dominance of late. Kinley threw 3.2 innings of shutout ball, adding to his scoreless streak that now sits at 26 innings. He was credited with the win, giving him a team-leading six victories on the season.

With the teams tied at five in the 10th, Jordan Keur drew a walk with one out. He then was able to get himself in scoring position by stealing second. Krill then hit a grounder to first base, but due to a bobble Keur was able to come around and score.

With Michigan State up 6-5, Kinley returned to the mound but didn't quite have it any more. An Illinois base-runner was able to get to second base on a two-base error by Pickens with one out. After fanning the next batter and walking the following one, Head Coach Jake Boss, Jr. turned to his closer Tony Wieber.

Runners on first and third and two outs, Wieber recorded his seventh save by getting the batter to pop out and close out the win for the Spartans.

Sunday

Michigan State wasn't able to complete the sweep over Illinois on Sunday, losing to the Illini, 8-6. The Spartans never led in the contest, but were able to tie things up three different times.

The see-saw match began when Illinois plated a run in the bottom of the second ahead of a Ryan Jones solo home run in the top of the third to tie the game at one. Illinois regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning by scoring an unearned run, but Pickens homered in the top of the fourth to tie the game at two all.

In the bottom of the fourth the Illini scored three more and racked up two more hits in the fifth before Spartan starter David Garner was pulled. Bryce Jenney came in as relief for Garner but allowed a sac-fly to extend the Illini lead to 6-2.

But three runs in the sixth and one in the seventh by the Spartans tied things at six. It was a three-run shot by John Martinez in the sixth that allowed the Spartans to get back into the game. Torsten Boss was able to cross the plate in the seventh after drawing a walk and eventually scoring on a wild pitch.

Jenney allowed a lead off single in the seventh before being relieved by Trey Popp. Popp allowed a sac-bunt, walked a batter and then gave up a single, loading the bases before being given the hook. Wieber was brought in to stop the Illinois rally but hit the first batter he faced. A sac-fly would tack on another run, giving the Illini their final 8-6 lead.

Big Ten Honors for Pickens

Pickens was named Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week on Monday for his performance in the weekend series against Illinois. He went .500 in the series (6-for-12), racked up seven RBI, scored four times and hit his sixth homer of the season.

Comedy in the locker room

The Spartans aren't all business, take this picture from catcher Joel Fisher. It shows him and fellow backstop Blaise Salter engaged in what Fisher referred to as "locker room chicken."

@J_Fish32 / Twitter

Garner Tosses Complete Game As Spartans Shut Out No.13 Purdue

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 By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier

Spartans pitcher David Garner took things into his own hands on Sunday when he threw a complete game shutout, while fanning seven to lead his Spartans to a 5-0 win over the No. 13 Purdue Boilermakers.

During the nine innings that Garner was on the mound, he allowed just five Purdue hits - impressive as Purdue entered Sunday as the third best batting team in the country. The shutout was the first the Boilermakers suffered this season.

The win was Garner's first complete game of his career and the second in three days for Spartans pitching. Tony Bucciferro threw eight innings against Purdue on Friday in Michigan State's 6-2 loss that day. Sunday's win allowed the Spartans to avoid the sweep by the Boilermakers who won in walk-off fashion in the 14th inning Saturday night.

Michigan State got on the board first in the fourth inning when Torsten Boss, Ryan Krill and Justin Scanlon all contributed RBI singles to the effort. The three runs would be all Garner would need as he did not allow a runner to reach base on balls and surrendered just two hits in the final four innings of the game.

The Spartans would tack on two more runs in the eighth and ninth innings, with Jared Hook hitting an RBI single in the eighth and Scanlon with his own RBI single in the ninth. 

No. 13 Purdue Takes First Two Games From Spartans

MSU Baseball Facebook Page

By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

The Spartan baseball team traveled to West Lafayette, Ind. to take on No. 13 Purdue in a three-game weekend series. First on the mound for the Spartans was Tony Bucciferro, the ace of the staff, and despite giving Michigan State a complete game in the first game of the series, the Spartans fell 6-2. On Saturday, the Spartans lost a 14-inning heart breaker to the Boilermakers, 4-3.

Friday

Michigan State went up against Purdue's ace, Joe Haase, who improved to 7-0 on the season, allowing just one run and maintaining his perfect record. Haase gave the Boilermakers seven innings of work while giving up six hits and fanning three. 

In Bucciferro's eight-inning outing he scattered eight Boilermaker hits, while allowing six runs, four earned. Purdue struck big in the fourth inning when RF Barrett Sarrato turned on a Bucciferro pitch and sent the ball over the fences for a grand slam - erasing the one-run lead the Spartans had and putting the Boilermakers up 4-1.

Two unearned Boilermaker runs came across in the seventh inning to extend their lead to 6-1. With the win Purdue improved it's nation-leading winning percentage to .846 and their record to 33-6. Michigan State failed to scratch across another run until the ninth inning when they loaded the bases with no outs.

With the bases loaded and no one out the Spartans bounced into a double play, which allowed a run to score but all but put the nail in the Spartans coffin. 

Jordan Keur improved his team-leading batting average to .406, by going 2-for-4 and being the only Spartan with more than one hit.

Saturday

The Spartans were in familiar territory on Saturday when they took the Purdue Boilermakers into 14 innings, but for the first time in seven attempts, Michigan State did not come out on top in the extra inning match-up, falling to Purdue, 4-3.

Both pitchers were on their game on Saturday - with a pitchers duel going on, the Spartans did not score until they were able to get three in the eighth inning. Torsten Boss cleared the bases with two outs in the top of the eighth for the Spartans when he took a pitch and drove it into the gap.

Andrew Waszak was on the mound for the Spartans and went 7.2 innings, exiting in the eighth inning having allowed just one run on the day. Waszak was in line for the win with closer Tony Wieber on the mound with a 0.94 ERA. But Wieber didn't seem to have it on Saturday.

With one out in the ninth, Wieber loaded the bases, but after getting a fly out for the second out of the inning, a clutch hit plated the two tying runs, tying the game a three and sending it into extras. The Spartans threatened but did not score in the 11th inning when they squandered a Ryan Jones single and Torsten Boss reaching on an error with no outs.

Purdue took home the win in the 14th when Tyler Spillner was able to reach first base on a fielding error by Jones. The next batter, Eric Charles, got on first on a throwing error by Boss. With men on first and second, a wild pitch moved them each up 90-ft. Cameron Perkins then singled to right field to score Spillner and win the game for the Boilermakers, 4-3.

Spartans Baseball Take Two of Three Against Minnesota

MSU Baseball

By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier
 
After a rain soaked Friday forced a double header on Saturday the Spartans and Golden Gophers of Minnesota split the twin billing with Michigan State winning on a walk-off in game one before having their five game winning streak snapped in game two. On Sunday, the Spartans shook off their loss and beat the Gophers in the 10th inning on a Torsten Boss walk-off allowing the Spartans to win two out of three games on the weekend.

Saturday - Double Header

The first game of the double header featured some of the best pitchers, starting and relievers, in the Big Ten. Michigan State had Tony Bucciferro on the mound going against Minnesota's TJ Oakes. Oakes entered the game ranked No. 1 in the Big Ten in ERA, IP and wins.

Minnesota struck first in the game when they strung together three hits in the first inning and were able to plate a runner, but the Spartans Jordan Keur tied things up in the bottom of the third inning with an RBI single.

Michigan State got to Oakes in the fifth with two outs when Ryan Jones singled to center field and was able to scamper around the bases and score on a Boss double to left field. After a shaky first inning, Bucciferro was able to toss four scoreless innings for the Spartans, allowing them to get out to a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning.

The Gophers tied the game at two in the sixth when catcher Matt Halloran singled in a run. Minnesota was able to chase Bucciferro from the game in the seventh when they loaded the bases with two outs. Spartans coach Jake Boss, Jr. gave the ball to Jeff Kinley to get his team out of the jam. Kinley did his job and got the next batter to ground out to end the inning.

Oakes also left after throwing 6.2 innings; he left runners on first and second with two outs for his reliever who was able to get Boss to pop out to end the threat.

Kinley and Gophers reliever Tom Windle both continued the pitchers duel into the 11th inning when Joel Fisher singled with two outs to put Spartans on first and third. Minnesota turned to their closer Kevin Kray to stop the rally but he walked Jones, loading the bases. Then Boss was able to draw a five pitch walk that forced in the game winning run.

The win was the Spartans third walk-off of the season, the fifth win of the season for Kinley and expanded Michigan State's extra innings record to 5-0.

Game two did not go the Spartans way. Michigan State, looking for their sixth win in a row, jumped out to a early 1-0 lead in the first inning. Ryan Krill, continued to shine in his freshman season when he drove in an RBI in the first with a ground out. The Spartans struggled to bring runners home in the early innings, leaving four runners on in the first two innings.

Krill's RBI would be the only run the Spartans would get until in the late game as they struggled to get anything going against Minnesota's DJ Snelton. The Gophers would bounce back in the second inning and plate two runners before adding two more in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead.

After a shaky first two innings Snelton settled in and faced the minimum through the next four innings. In the seventh the Spartans were able to scratch across another run when Jimmy Pickens was able to ground out to the right side of the infield.

Snelton completed the game, his first of the season, while throwing 121 pitches, allowing seven hits and fanning three. His counterpart, Andrew Waszak allowed just four runs through 5.2 innings, but his offense wasn't able to bail him out and he suffered his third loss of the season, making his record 4-3.

Sunday

In another extra innings game, the Spartans counted on Torsten Boss once again as he drove in the winning run on an RBI single to lift Michigan State over Minnesota in the rubber match of the series by a score of 5-4.

Extra innings have been good to the Spartans this year, with Sunday's victory being the fourth walk-off win of the season and second of the series for the Spartans. Michigan State's bats were hot on Sunday, racking up 15 hits, lead by Jordan Keur who matched a career high four hits on the day.

Minnesota scored twice in the eighth to tie the game at four, then Michigan State loaded the bases with no outs for the second straight inning, but came up short in both instances. Jimmy Pickens attempted to break the tie with two outs in the eighth when he made a break for the plate on a fly ball to center, but Gopher's center fielder Jake Bergren cut him down at the plate to end the inning.

In the 10th inning the Spartans once again filled the bases with no one out when Pickens launched a deep hit to right-center field, but as he was rounding first base he ran into Gophers first baseman Dan Olinger. The collision with Olinger sent Pickens stumbling but he was able to round second base and dig for third where he was thrown out. The umpires called Olinger for interference however, and awarded Pickens third base on the play.

Joel Fisher hit a hard liner between the shortstop and third baseman, but Gophers SS Matt Puhl was able to knock it down before it got out of the infield and held Pickens at third while Fisher reached first on the infield hit. In the next at bat, Ryan Jones was able to hit a pop up that dropped just in front of the Minnesota left fielder; it allowed Fisher to advance to second and Jones to reach first but was not deep enough to score Pickens.

With the bases loaded and no outs Boss stepped to the plate. He had worked a five pitch walk to score the game-winning run in the first game of the double header on Saturday and now he looked to do the same. On the first pitch Boss saw he connected with it and drove it to left-center field to score Pickens and give Michigan State the 5-4 win.

Hoosiers Walk-Off Against Spartans, 3-2

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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.