The MSU baseball team opened up Big Ten play by taking two out of three games against Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, this weekend.
The Spartans used a five-run fourth inning to take down the Hawkeyes, 7-2, in the series opener on Friday. On Saturday, MSU got a solid pitching performance from junior Tony Bucciferro en route to a 7-1 win. Bucciferro gave up one run and struck out five Hawkeyes in 8 2/3 innings of work.
After strong pitching performances in the first two games, MSU’s pitching and defense struggled in the series finale. The Spartans gave up 10 unearned runs in a 19-7 loss.
“We had a chance to put them away and we never did that and then it got away from us late,” coach Jake Boss Jr. said.
The Spartans gave up 10 runs in the seventh inning to Iowa (10-15 overall, 1-2 Big Ten), which was more than the previous four games combined (8). The Spartans committed five errors in the game.
“We were just looking for somebody to get somebody out and we couldn’t do that,” Boss Jr. said about the seventh inning. “We had the opportunity to make some plays and we couldn’t do that. We just didn’t do anything right in the inning.”
The Spartans are 17-7 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten.
“If you win the series every weekend, you put yourself in a position to win a championship,” Boss Jr. said. “So from that aspect of it, it was a good weekend. There are still some things with consistency we struggle with that need to be addressed and sured up.”
They will face the Lansing Lugnuts in the Crosstown Showdown in Lansing on Tuesday.
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