Lansing — Oliver Wolcott pumped his fist, then disappeared into a mob of his teammates.
The senior third baseman's 10th-inning walk-off double had just scored junior catcher Sean Walker to give MSU a 9-8 win against Indiana on Sunday afternoon at Oldsmobile Park.
"It's been a couple years," Wolcott said of his last walk-off hit. "It's a tremendous feeling. It's just awesome."
Wolcott's heroics gave the Spartans (12-10 overall, 3-1 Big Ten) three wins in four games against the Hoosiers (8-14, 1-3) in the first weekend of Big Ten play.
"We've got to get better on a lot of things, but this is a building block," MSU head coach David Grewe said. "It's a process, but I don't want to say the process is going to take long because I want to win now, I want to win early and I want to win often."
The Spartans led for most of Sunday's game, but the Hoosiers pulled within one in the eighth when Keith Haas singled past an outstretched Wolcott to make it 7-6. David Trager followed with what appeared to be an inning-ending double play, but senior second baseman Alan Cattrysse's throw to first was in the dirt, allowing the tying run to score.
MSU regained the lead briefly in the bottom of the inning when a wild pitch brought a Spartans runner home from third, but the Hoosiers tied the game again with a run in the ninth.
With one out in the bottom of the 10th, Walker doubled, setting up Wolcott to win it with a fly ball that floated over the backpedaling Hoosiers right fielder's head and dropped onto the warning track.
"We're relentless as a ballclub," Wolcott said. "That's kind of been our mantra all year. Every pitch, every at-bat, no matter what the score is, no matter what the outcome may be, just battle, and good things will happen."
MSU pounded the Hoosiers 17-7 in Friday's game, thanks largely to the bat of Steve Gerstenberger. The sophomore first baseman finished the game 5-for-5 with a home run, two triples, two doubles and a career-high six RBIs.
"I don't think I've ever had a night like that," Gerstenberger said. "Pitching to me in the nine hole, I'm going to get a lot of fastballs. I've got guys in front of me and behind me that are swinging it well, so I'm going to get a lot of good pitches."
The Spartans took game two of the series as well, but in a completely different fashion. Senior pitcher Jeff Gerbe pitched his third seven-inning complete game of the year, scattering four hits as MSU squeaked by, 2-1, on Saturday afternoon.
The only drawback of the weekend came that night in the back end of the doubleheader. MSU committed five errors, allowed the Hoosiers to steal seven bases and left nine of their own runners on base, falling 12-7.
But the positives far outnumbered the negatives for MSU in the series. Freshman left fielder Kyle Day finished the weekend 7-for-13 with four doubles and four RBIs, Cattrysse drove in seven runs and junior shortstop Troy Krider had a stolen base in all four games.
"We've got to make our players tougher, and we've got to make our players understand the value of winning," Grewe said. "And this sure helps."
The Spartans will be back at Oldsmobile Park at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday when they host Eastern Michigan. Admission is free for MSU students with an ID.
