Rain delayed the start of a three game set between Purdue and MSU by an hour on Saturday, and both team’s bats had just as slow a start — but just like the rain, the zeros on the scoreboard wouldn’t stick around for long.
Senior right-handed pitcher A.J. Dunn worked two innings of relief to get the win as MSU (22-24 overall, 12-7 Big Ten) won 6-5 in a back-and-forth battle, piecing together runs in whatever way necessary.
The win gives MSU a spot in the Big Ten Tournament for the first time in five years.
“I think it’s something our guys really believe they can win,” said first-year MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. about the Big Ten Tournament. “Purdue is a good ball club and they played very well today.
“I think it does a lot for our confidence. We just hopefully can ride out some momentum here for the rest of the weekend and then the next week at Indiana and continue that into the tournament.”
The Spartans didn’t have momentum on their side in the eighth inning, as Purdue had tied the game at 5-5 in the seventh inning with a solo home run. It was the third home run allowed by senior right-handed pitcher Nolan Moody, who allowed five runs on three home runs and struck out five in seven innings.
With one out and a runner already on third base in the eighth inning, Purdue (20-23, 7-11) right-handed pitcher Drew Wurdack intentionally walked sophomore shortstop Jonathan Roof to try to force a double play. Wurdack, though, elected to pitch to the left-handed hitting sophomore first baseman Jeff Holm instead of walking him to face right-handed hitting sophomore left fielder Bo Felt.
Holm, who singled in the second inning to extend his hitting streak to 11 games and hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning, made Wurdack pay with the game-winning sacrifice fly.
“I always like to see a first pitch that I can hit hard, and it was off-speed but fortunately it was up enough to get a pretty good piece of it,” Holm said. “I love swinging first pitch and it was something I could hit.”
Holm’s recent hitting performance could be more than a streak, as he said he made adjustments earlier in the season that improved his play at the plate. No longer is his stance too wide, nor is he too far up in the box and too far away from the plate.
“A while ago, I changed my stance. I actually switched bats and I’ve been working a lot in the cages with changing it around,” he said. “But I’m getting really comfortable with it now. Hopefully I can just not try to do too much and just do what I have to do.”
MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said Holm’s improvement at the plate has been significant for the team’s offense.
“He’s been playing very well. He’s aggressive, he stays with a good approach at the plate and he’s getting good results,” Boss Jr. said. “When you’ve got a guy down toward the bottom of the order who can drive in runs for you like that it’s really, really important for the ball club.”
Sophomore shortstop Jonathan Roof, who was 3-for-3 with two RBI, said, “It gives us a lot of confidence after being down and coming back to win.”
“That game puts us in the tournament for the first time in a while, so it’s a good feeling,” Roof said.
The Spartans relied on other small ball tactics to generate runs, utilizing several sacrifice bunts and groundouts to move runners.
“It’s important for us to be able to play a little bit of small ball and do the things we need to do to get by and get runners in scoring position,” Boss Jr. said. “Guys are buying into the fact that when we have quality at bats, you know, that’s all it takes to drive a run in. We don’t have to hit a double, we don’t have to hit a home run. We just have to have a good, quality at bat, move the baseball and good things are going to happen.”
And it was the small ball Spartans who ended up beating a Purdue team that scored all its runs off three home runs.
MSU got the scoring started in the third inning when sophomore center fielder Brandon Eckerle led off the inning with a single up the middle and advanced on a bunt for a hit by right fielder Eli Boike. Two consecutive sacrifice grounders advanced the runners, scoring Eckerle, and senior catcher Eric Roof hit a single up the middle to score Boike to make it 2-0 Spartans.
Purdue responded to the Spartans’ two-run third inning when Purdue first baseman John Cummins hit a double off the wall to give Purdue its first hit with one out in the fourth inning. Moody, however, shook off the hit and struck out the next two batters to retire the side.
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But Cummins’ double off the wall gave the Boilermakers momentum for a big fifth inning in which they scored four runs off two home runs. Moody got two early outs but then surrendered a solo home run down the right field line to make it 2-1 MSU. Moody walked the next two batters and gave up another home run down the right field line, this time a three-run shot by Wolgamot.
MSU didn’t wait long to retaliate, stringing together three hits and a sacrifice fly — including a two-RBI triple from Jonathan Roof — to lead off the sixth inning. Eric Roof and senior designated hitter Johnny Lee led off with back-to-back singles and were hit home when Jonathan Roof took a pitch up the hill and to the wall in right center. Roof slid headfirst into third with a triple, capping his slide by yelling and pounding his chest.
Jonathan Roof scored on Holm’s sacrifice fly to left field to give MSU a 5-4 lead.
“It was a good feeling to tie the game up,” Jonathan Roof said. “I didn’t show any emotion too much this season and coach has been telling us to show some emotion and I got a big hit.”
MSU will play Purdue at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday at McLane Baseball Stadium in East Lansing.
