“It’s kind of a classic mid-week battle,” MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. told MSU Athletic Communications. “We’re throwing a lot of our younger guys that I think are going to have a lot of success here in the future, but they’ve been our mid-week starters all year long, and they found out what it’s like to pitch in the Big Ten today.”

Although both teams still are competing for a Big Ten championship at the end of the season, Wednesday’s game was a nonconference matchup, as each Big Ten team plays only eight of the other nine teams in the conference. The Wolverines and Spartans were left off of each others’ conference schedules so a nonconference set was scheduled.

Although the game meant nothing in the Big Ten standings, Boss said picking up a win against U-M still was important to his team.

“It’s huge for our program,” Boss said. “A win like this, on the road especially — we’ve struggled on the road the last couple weekends so to come in here against your rival and a very good opponent and play well enough to win is big for our program.”

It didn’t take long for the Spartans (30-16 overall, 8-10 Big Ten) to get the scoring started, as freshman third baseman Torsten Boss hit a solo home run in MSU’s second at bat of the first inning.

However, the Wolverines (29-18, 10-8) immediately responded in the bottom half of the inning, scoring two quick runs of their own off of a single by second baseman Anthony Toth and a sacrifice fly by catcher Chris Berset.

Although the first inning had its fair share of offense, it was only a preview of what proved to be a high-scoring matchup between the in-state rivals.

MSU scored 12 runs in the first five innings, including outbursts of four runs in the third inning and five runs in the fifth. Not far behind, U-M scored in each of the first five innings, but still trailed the Spartans by a score of 12-10 heading into the sixth.

After freshman second baseman Ryan Jones hit a single to drive in junior center fielder Brandon Eckerle and give the Spartans a 13-10 lead, the scoring came to a halt. Neither team was able to score in the seventh, making it the first scoreless inning of the game and the first time MSU failed to send a run across the plate since the second inning.

Sophomore pitcher Trey Popp proved to be exactly what Boss and the Spartans needed to stop the Wolverines.

After entering the game in the fifth inning, Popp pitched three and two-thirds innings, striking out five U-M batters without giving up any earned runs.

“(Popp) came in and really chewed up a couple innings so we could get to our closer at the end,” Boss said. “He was lights out.”

U-M pitcher Matt Broder finally slowed down the Spartan bats, throwing four and one-third innings of relief and giving up only one run, but it was too little, too late for the Wolverines.

“We kind of grinded it out,” Boss said of the win. “We were aggressive and that’s how we want to play. Guys were staying to that plan for the entire ballgame.”

The Spartans, who scored their 13 runs on 16 hits, were led by Jones and Eckerle with three hits a piece, while junior shortstop Jonathan Roof drove in three runs on two hits.

Popp recorded the win for MSU, his third of the season, and senior pitcher Kurtis Frymier came into the game to get his seventh save of the season.

The victory gives the Spartans 30 wins for the first time since 2004 and makes them the first Big Ten team to win 30 games this season.

Wednesday’s game was supposed to be the second between U-M and MSU, but their game scheduled for Tuesday was rained out and has yet to be rescheduled.

The Spartans return home for a three-game series against Indiana, which starts at 2:05 p.m. Friday at McLane Baseball Stadium at Kobs Field.