The Spartans came into the day with a one game lead over Minnesota (21-20, 12-9) and Illinois (22-25, 12-9) in the Big Ten with three games to play. A sweep over Northwestern guarantees an outright championship, although losses by the Golden Gophers (against Ohio State) and Fighting Illini (Indiana) could be to MSU’s benefit. With a win by Minnesota on Thursday, MSU needs to win Friday or have Minnesota and Illinois lose during the weekend to clinch the championship.

“(Kurt) was really good today,” MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. “We don’t have many (complete games) as a team. He was able to keep his pitch count down and was able to throw strikes early in the count and by keeping his pitch count down, he was throwing so well that we decided to ride him out.”

The action started with a scary moment for the Spartans when senior center fielder Brandon Eckerle was drilled in the head by Wildcat pitcher Luke Farrell. Eckerle would drop to the ground and stay there for several minutes before he was attended to by trainers. After receiving a mild cut from the helmet on his ear, Eckerle would take first base for the Spartans.

“The head is a little sore but the win helps it out a lot,” Eckerle said. “I was dazed a little bit and a little dizzy. My head was hurting but I wanted to stay in the game and give it a shot and it starting feeling better throughout the game so that was a good sign.”

After a single from sophomore second basemen Ryan Jones, Eckerle would come around to score on a ground out by senior first basemen Jeff Holm to give the Spartans the early 1-0 lead.

MSU turned Northwestern’s mistakes into runs in the bottom of the third inning.

After Eckerle led the inning off with a single, third baseman Torsten Boss would reach base by getting hit by a pitch and send Eckerle to second. A fielding error by Wildcast first baseman Jack Havey allowed Eckerle to score. The Spartans weren’t done as Boss would score on a wild pitch to give MSU the 3-0 lead.

Eckerle added two hits on the day to increase his MSU career hits record to 254.

Wunderlich proved why he’s been the ace of the Spartan pitching staff by holding the Wildcats to just three hits and collecting three strikeouts through nine innings of work to pick up the win and improve his season record to 9-2. It took just an hour and 56 minutes for Wunderlich to dominate the Northwestern lineup and move his team closer to the Big Ten championship.

The win also improves MSU’s record to 12-2 on the season in games Wunderlich has started.

“It’s huge to get the first win because it makes the whole weekend easier,” Wunderlich said. “We definitely want the (Big Ten championship). We just know that we have to go out and play well and get that BTC.”

MSU continued its success in game one of series’ against Big Ten opponents, stretching the record to 7-1 in the first game against conference opponents.

“(Wunderlich) has thrown on Friday every weekend for us and he’s been really good,” Boss said. “It takes a lot of pressure off. You know you’ve got to win one more game to win the series and that’s how you win championships – you have to keep winning series’.”

Game two of the series is at 3:05 p.m. Friday, and game three is at 1:05 p.m. Saturday. After the conclusion of all conference games, seeds for the Big Ten Tournament will be announced Saturday.

“It’s a great start for the weekend,” Eckerle said. “(We have) a couple more games left and hopefully we can end up on top.”