After dropping both games of a doubleheader to Illinois on Saturday, MSU baseball coach David Grewe declared Sunday’s twin bill against the Illini as “Survival Sunday.”
The Spartans split Sunday’s games with Illinois, losing the first one 5-3 before coming back to win the nightcap 3-2. While it wasn’t exactly what Grewe was looking for, all that matters is that the opening weekend of the Big Ten season is over.
“Today was a survival day, but being a survival day I still think we should have won two,” said Grewe, whose Spartans now stand at 8-12 overall and 1-3 in the conference. “Winning the last game doesn’t (necessarily) feel good, but it feels “phew” — a little weight is off our back by getting one victory.”
In the finale, MSU began to rally in the bottom of the eighth with the score tied 2-2. After getting hit by a pitch to open the inning, junior right fielder Kyle Day stole second to get into scoring position. Day moved to third after senior designated hitter Justin Potes grounded out to second, and came home on an RBI single to right field by junior catcher Eric Roof.
Senior third baseman Steve Gerstenberger and senior first baseman Evan Friedland each went 3-for-3 to lead the Spartans’ offense, while freshman Tyler Newsome picked up the victory in relief of fellow freshman A.J. Achter, who pitched seven strong innings allowing two runs on five hits.
“We just had an unbelievable pitching performance from two freshman pitchers,” Grewe said afterward. ‘I’m so proud of A.J. Achter because if you don’t get that pitching performance, we don’t get that last game and he saved the day for us.”
In the first game, the Spartans scored three runs in the third inning to take a 3-1 lead, which stood until the seventh and final inning.
In the seventh, the Illini came rallying back, scoring four runs off senior Nolan Moody and freshman Kurt Wunderlich to take a 5-3 lead and hang on for the win. Moody took the loss to drop to 2-2, while senior Chris Cullen pitched the first six innings for the Spartans, allowing one run on six hits while striking out six.
Sophomore left fielder Chris Roberts led the Spartans with two hits and an RBI, while Gerstenberger had one hit and an RBI.
Achter said the key to the second game was the team’s ability to get out on top early, saying the Spartans need to work on keeping their heads up.
“We can’t fall behind,” Achter said. “In this game we got ahead early and that kept our morales up. When we get down we kind of keep our heads down and don’t fight as much so we just have to work on that.”
The Spartans next play at 3:05 p.m. Wednesday when they host Eastern Michigan at Kobs Field. The Eagles are 5-17 overall and beat the Spartans 10-3 on March 26.
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