Mother Nature kept the MSU baseball team from turning a good weekend into a great one.
After walk-off wins in the first two games of their series against Minnesota, the Spartans (19-18 overall, 8-8 Big Ten) managed only a split after losing the rain-shortened finale, 6-3, on Sunday.
With a spring shower steadily sprinkling at Kobs Field, the Golden Gophers (20-17, 8-8) scored in each of Sunday's first three innings to take a 4-1 lead.
MSU started its comeback with one out in the fourth when junior outfielder Adam Tripp homered off Minnesota starter Cole DeVries. Senior second baseman Alan Cattrysse followed with a triple, and, after sophomore first baseman Steve Gerstenberger walked, the Spartans had the go-ahead run at the plate.
But that's when the home plate umpire called timeout and after inspecting the mound, suspended the game — a delay that ended up lasting more than an hour.
When play resumed, DeVries was replaced by closer Andy Peters, who struck out junior catcher Sean Walker and senior third baseman Oliver Wolcott to defuse the rally.
"If we would have had a little bit more time to just finish that inning, we might have been able to scratch across that run," MSU head coach David Grewe said. "But they had to come out there and throw strikes and we had to come back and hit, and we didn't do it."
Trailing 6-3 in the bottom of the seventh, MSU got the tying run to the plate with one out, but couldn't push it across. Peters got junior outfielder Ryan Basham — MSU's clean-up hitter and Friday's hero — to strike out swinging, then got Tripp — Saturday's hero — to line out to short.
The delay then factored in again, as the game was called after seven innings because Minnesota had to make its flight home.
"Two more innings would have definitely helped us," Tripp said.
On Friday, the Spartans scored the game's first four runs but trailed 6-4 going into the bottom of the ninth. But they pieced together four hits in that frame — three of them with two outs — and took the win on an RBI single by Basham.
Saturday's first game followed a similar script. Trailing 8-6 entering their last at-bat, the Spartans loaded the bases with a walk, an error and a hit batsman. A wild pitch made it 8-7 before Tripp won it with a two-run single up the middle.
"It's probably not good that we have to (come from behind) a lot this season, because then we're down early," junior shortstop Troy Krider said. "But it's good to know that we're never out of games."
But after a 20-6 beating in Saturday's second game and Sunday's weather-altered defeat, the Spartans were left with a disappointing conference split.
"I was really expecting to compete for four games and go away with three wins," Grewe said. "You have to think that way."
MSU resumes play at 3 p.m. Wednesday against Toledo.
