For the first four batters of Wednesday’s game against Eastern Michigan, the MSU baseball team appeared to be on the way to a solid day at McLane Baseball Stadium and Old College Field.
After senior right-hander Tim Simpson retired the Eagles in order on nine pitches in the top of the first, junior outfielder Jordan Keur led off the Spartans’ half of the inning with a double to left-center field.
Then three straight at-bats ended in outs for the Spartans, and head coach Jake Boss Jr. said not much else went right the rest of the game, as MSU (20-11 overall, 3-3 Big Ten) lost to Eastern Michigan (14-18) 13-5.
“It all just kind of went downhill from there,” Boss said. “(It’s) disappointing because this is a talented ball club. But you need to be ready to play every day. I guess that’s on me; I need to do a better job of stressing the importance of that to our guys.”
Even after the Spartans stranded Keur at second base in the bottom of the first, MSU seemed to be in decent shape, thanks to another 1-2-3 inning from Simpson in the top of the second.
However, Simpson recorded just one more out on the day, as Eastern Michigan blew the game wide open with a 12-run third inning.
The scoring started with a bases loaded, two-RBI single by center fielder Brent Ohrman. After a walk, Eastern Michigan added two more runs on a single by designated hitter Jamie Simpson.
That base hit ended Tim Simpson’s day but not the inning for the Eagles, who scored eight more runs against two different Spartan pitchers.
Although MSU’s first three pitchers came into the game with a combined 13.1 innings pitched on the season, Boss said there’s no excuse to allow such an inning to happen.
“We expect our guys to come in and throw well,” Boss said. “The bottom line is, when guys get their opportunity, even if they haven’t had many, they need to take advantage of that.”
Keur, who went 3-for-5 on the day, said there’s nothing to do but hope someone makes a play in an inning such as Wednesday’s top of the third. And mentally, he said it’s not easy to rebound knowing the deficit is so large.
“You got to come together as a ball club and start chipping away, get runs here and there,” Keur said. “You know you can’t get it all back at once. That’s what you want to do, but it’s tough to do that.”
The Spartans did add one run in the fourth and two in both the fifth and eighth innings while Eastern scored just one more run on the day, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
Freshman first baseman Ryan Krill, who went 3-for-4 with two RBI’s Wednesday said Boss was right in saying the Spartans need to be more mentally ready every game.
However, he said that shouldn’t be the coaches’ responsibility, as MSU prepares to return to Big Ten play with a three-game series against Indiana this weekend in Bloomington, Ind.
“We got to get ourselves ready to play,” Krill said. “We have to find it in ourselves to be energized and ready to go out there and get a victory every time we step on
the field.”
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