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MSU baseball defeats Penn State 9-1

May 2, 2009

Sophomore right-handed pitcher A.J. Achter is getting the run support he had been looking for all season — and he didn’t even need it Saturday.

Fresh off a win against Iowa in which he received 10 runs of support, Achter worked eight innings and allowed one unearned run while striking out five to help MSU (20-24 overall, 10-7 Big Ten) beat Penn State (22-21, 5-12) 9-1. The win was a momentous one, as it came on the day of the dedication of the McLane Baseball Stadium, which was made possible by a $4 million donation from MSU alum and Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane.

The Spartans are 9-3 in their past 12 games and will try to sweep the Nittany Lions on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. at McLane Baseball Stadium in East Lansing.

Achter, who is now 3-3 this season, had three runs or less of offense behind him in six of his nine starts before Saturday.

“It just lets him go out and be more comfortable and just worry about throwing strikes,” MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. “He doesn’t have to press a whole lot, not feel like he has to do it all himself, which is pretty important when you sometimes are having a hard time finding the strike zone.

“His stuff is good enough to beat anybody. Give him a little boost, I think that’s what he needed.”

Achter eclipsed the 100-pitch mark in the sixth inning and worked himself into trouble by hitting and walking a batter with one out. With his game on the line, Achter was able to get freshman first baseman Joey DeBernardis to ground into an inning-ending double play.

“That was kind of the make or break point for me of the game,” Achter said. “If I give up a couple runs, I’m probably out of the game. I just threw a change-up down and away and he beat it into the ground to third and they made a nice turn.”

Boss Jr., though, said the Achter’s turnaround point came in the second inning when sophomore center fielder Brandon Eckerle threw out Penn State freshman third baseman Jordan Steranka at home plate after he tagged up on a fly ball out.

“We talked about pitching and defense, and we had some timely hits, but play good defense and make routine plays — we’re going to have some success,” Boss said.

The hits were timely, as 13 of the Spartans’ 14 hits were singles — and they collected those hits in every way possible.

Already ahead 1-0, the Spartans used every inch of the field in the third inning, scrapping together three runs off some creative hitting and a helpful fielding error.

Senior third baseman A.J. Shindler led off the inning with a hard-hit infield single to the shortstop and advanced to second on a balk. Junior second baseman Chris Roberts added another infield single when a fly ball dropped short in front of Penn State sophomore shortstop Michael Glantz.

After both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt by senior catcher Eric Roof and a walk by senior designated hitter Johnny Lee loaded the bases, sophomore shortstop Jonathan Roof hit a sacrifice fly to give the Spartans a 2-0 lead.

Sophomore first baseman Jeff Holm followed with a single to score Roberts and Lee advanced to third. Holm then stole a base, and an overthrow from the catcher sent the ball into the outfield and Lee to the plate to put the Spartans ahead 4-0.

“Those couple infield hits, that puts a lot of pressure on their defense to make the next play and their pitcher is probably a little upset that things didn’t go his way,” said Shindler, who went 3-for-4 with two runs. “We ended up having a big inning because of it.”

MSU put together another three-run inning to put the Spartans ahead 9-1 in the eighth inning, which was ignited by another Shindler single. Eric Roof then reached on a walk and Lee got to first after being hit by a pitch to load the bases. Jonathan Roof followed with a two RBI single and scored later on a double by junior left fielder Bo Felt, capping off Roof’s 3-for-4 day with three RBI and three runs.

“I was making sure I was staying up the middle,” Jonathan Roof said. “The past couple games I’ve been pulling off and coach was just telling me to make sure I stay up the middle because that’s when I’m at my best.”

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