“I don’t get a chance to pitch that much, so it was great to get the start tonight. I have to thank coach for that a lot,” Doty said. “It was a great opportunity for me to come out and pitch in front of a lot of people and have a great night.”

It was the fifth meeting between the teams in the annual showdown. The win was MSU’s second in the event. Although the game was an exhibition, the Spartans took pride in winning.

“It’s not every day that you get to play against a professional organization in front of a good crowd,” Boss said. “It’s really something our guys look forward to.”

In each of the past two meetings, the Lugnuts had committed four errors. That trend continued with the first batter, as MSU senior outfielder Brandon Eckerle reached on a fielding error by Lugnuts shortstop Garis Pena. Eckerle stole second base, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch as MSU took an early 1-0 lead.

“It’s always good to get a run in the first inning, no matter how it happens,” Eckerle said. “It gives the team confidence going in and it shows we can play with these guys.”

The Lugnuts were able to get runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom of the second, but Doty got Pena to fly out to end the threat. Doty pitched two scoreless innings and gave up two hits, although the stats don’t go in the book. He pitched one scoreless inning in the showdown last year.

The Lugnuts got two runners on with one out in the bottom of the third, but a diving catch by Eckerle and a subsequent force out at second base got the Spartans out of another jam.

In the top of the fourth, sophomore outfielder Jordan Keur was hit by a pitch with one out. He stole second and was brought in on a single by freshman catcher Joel Fisher to increase MSU’s lead to 2-0.

The Lugnuts left two men on base in the second, third, fourth, fifth and eighth innings, with the Spartans able to get out of jams.

“We work every day on pitching in clutch situations and our pitchers came through and made the pitches they had to make and that’s what did it for us tonight,” Doty said.

The Lugnuts were able to put a run across the plate in the bottom of the ninth, but it wasn’t enough. Freshman Jeff Kinley, who began the game in right field, picked up the save on the mound.

The Spartans used eight pitchers in the game, and only freshman Zak Wilkerson had seen innings previously this season (1). MSU also used 16 position players.

“There are a lot of guys that haven’t had many opportunities,” Boss said. “They continue to work hard in practice every day and they finally had a chance to get out there and perform tonight and they played well.”