“It can happen in a hurry,” MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said.

“We have a line drive in left field we should have caught and then we throw the ball away. We’re leading the country in fielding percentage and for all of it to come undone in one inning is very disappointing.”

The Spartans (24-10), who came into the game with a nation- and Big Ten-best fielding percentage of .981 suffered from three errors in the contest, two of which came in the fifth inning.

After combining for 23 runs in their first meeting, it appeared fans were in store for a pitchers’ duel. As it turned out, both starters were chased in the fifth after surrendering respective leads.

“I felt focused and composed out there,” freshman starter Andrew Waszak said.

“I was feeling consistent and hitting my spots, but it just didn’t work out.”

Waszak — who was lit up April 14 to the tune of eight hits and seven runs in one and one-third innings against Western Michigan — surrendered two earned runs in four and one-third innings. He didn’t allow a baserunner to reach third base before the fifth, but consistent Central Michigan (21-13) threats eventually got the best of him.

At the plate, junior outfielder Brandon Eckerle was 2-for-5 with a run and freshman infielders Torsten Boss and Ryan Jones each had two hits for the Spartans.

“It was a pretty big change right there, that inning,” Eckerle said.

“We score three runs then come out and just didn’t make the plays. They hit us around a little bit but we had some plays that we should have made early to get out of that inning.”

The first scoring action came in the top of the fifth when the Spartans scored the first two runs of the game on the throwing error from Dean. Junior infielder Jeff Holm, the beneficiary of the error, scored on the next at-bat — a single from Torsten Boss, as the Spartans took a 3-0 lead.

But the MSU shutout was short-lived, as Central Michigan scored five runs in the bottom of the inning off four singles and two errors.

Once Waszak exited, junior reliever Tim Simpson came in for the Spartans and was excellent in two and two-thirds innings, striking out two and holding the Chippewas without a hit to stop the bleeding.

Senior reliever Kurtis Frymier allowed two singles in the eighth, leading to Central Michigan’s sixth and final run.

“Tim’s thrown well for us all year long,” Boss said.

“He did a good job and Kurtis Frymier needed to get some work, as well. We’ve got a lot of confidence in Kurtis.”

Junior shortstop Jonathan Roof came to the plate with two runners on and two outs in the ninth but struck out to end the game.