“I think we got a little sluggish at the end,” junior second baseman Ryan Jones said. “Twenty innings is a lot. We don’t do that, that much. I wouldn’t say we’re cooled off — I still feel like people are putting together good (at-bats). It’s just not finding holes, especially in the second game late.”

Much of the loss can be attributed to missed opportunities by the Spartans on offense. The Spartans left seven runners on base on the afternoon, including stranding multiple runners on base in the seventh and eighth innings.

“We had a good three or four games there in a row but give credit to Minnesota,” head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. “Those guys really pitch it well. They lead the conference in a lot of categories on the mound, and they made pitches today, and we didn’t take advantage of opportunities in game two the way we should have.”

The Spartans got on the board first in the second game, starting with a leadoff single by Jones in the top of the first. After getting on base five times and scoring twice in the first game of the double-header, Jones came around to score on a fielder’s choice by freshman first baseman Ryan Krill to go ahead by a run.

In the top of the second inning, the Golden Gophers added a pair of runs of their own to go ahead of MSU. Designated hitter Matt Halloran led off the inning with a single and moved up to third on a double by right fielder Bobby Juan. Both runners scored on a fielder’s choice and an RBI double, respectively, to take the 2-1 lead.

The Golden Gophers tacked on two more in the fifth inning following a two-out walk by second baseman Tony Skjefte. After a double by left fielder Andy Henkemeyer, both Skjefte and Henkemeyer scored on a single by third baseman Kyle Geason to increase the lead to 4-1.

MSU junior pitcher Andrew Waszak saw his day end in the sixth inning. Waszak finished the day having given up eight hits and four earned runs before being replaced by junior Trey Popp.

With one out in the seventh inning, freshman right fielder Jimmy Pickens grounded out to the second baseman, allowing senior shortstop Justin Scanlon, who reached base on a single, to score and pull the Spartans closer to a comeback.

But in the eighth, the Spartans saw three runners reach base but a trio of fielder’s choice ground outs killed any chance to claw back against Minnesota on Saturday afternoon.

The Spartans return to McLane Baseball Stadium on Sunday for a 1:05 p.m. rubber match with Minnesota. And for Jones, picking up the win in the final game of series to move up in the Big Ten standings starts with pitching and execution at the plate.

“We gotta execute; we didn’t do that (in game two), and we lost,” Jones said. “We just gotta execute early. David Garner, we’ve got him on the mound, and he’s been pitching good lately so I feel like he’s going to have a good game. All together, we have a good shot.”