The third day of action at the Big Ten Tournament saw both highs and lows for the MSU baseball team.
With one loss already under their belts, the No. 3 seed Spartans (38-19) needed to defeat both No. 4 Indiana (35-20) and No. 1 Minnesota (31-25) on Friday to advance to Saturday’s semi-finals.
In game one, MSU sent freshman right-hander Tim Day to the mound against the Hoosiers. The contest started at 1 p.m. at Siebert Field in Minneapolis.
Facing elimination, Day shined. He threw eight masterful innings for his 11th win of the season, a new single-season MSU record.
“He’s been awesome all year,” senior designated hitter Kyle Geswein said. “And he was awesome today.
“I really enjoyed watching him.”
Day (11-3) allowed just one earned run on five hits, while striking out a career-high 10 batters.
“I knew I had to do a job,” he said. “I just went out there and tried to do the best I could.
“It makes it a little more comfortable when the guys put up eight in the first.”
Day didn’t need much help, but after blanking Indiana in the top of the first inning, the Spartan bats exploded. MSU sent 12 hitters to the plate en route to eight first-inning runs.
After the quick start, the game was never close. The Spartans went on to win by a score of 14-1.
As for the records, Day said they haven’t sunk in yet.
“Yeah, it might sink in later,” he said. “But it was my job to go out and pitch.”
Too bad for the Spartans it wasn’t Day’s job to go out and pitch against Minnesota. After an hour break, MSU took the field for game two at 3:30 p.m.
With the home crowd behind them, the Golden Gophers ended the Spartans’ dreams of the title with a 6-0 shutout.
Junior right-hander Pat Gill (6-4) took the mound for MSU in game two, and looked sharp until the fifth inning.
Nursing a shutout with two outs in the inning, Gill allowed the game’s first run on an RBI single by Minnesota third baseman David Hrncirik.
The single scored Gopher first baseman David Roach. Roach reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced to second on a Spartan throwing error and took third after a wild pitch.
Gill was replaced by sophomore right-hander Adam White in the sixth. With the bases loaded, White hit the first batter he faced, starting a four-run gopher inning.
Minnesota left-hander Jay Gagner (4-1) puzzled the Spartan batters in the first five innings. He allowed just five hits and picked up the win.
“We’ve had trouble with lefties all season,” Geswein said. “And they threw a lefty at us.
“It’s a little disappointing. We know we’ve got a good team.”
Geswein said the tournament defeat can easily be traced back to Wednesday’s 4-2 loss at the hands of Northwestern.
“It really hurt us to lose the first game,” he said. “This tournament doesn’t favor a loser’s bracket.”
The future of the Spartans’ season remains in the hands of the NCAA selection committee. MSU will find out Monday whether it has made the NCAA regionals.
“I think we really got a shot,” Day said. “With a 38-19 record we’ve showed that we can play.
“And the Big Ten is not the easiest conference. I think the committee would be making a big mistake not to take us. We’re definitely one of the best teams in the nation.”
