"We had chances and just didn't get it done," head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "Credit to Purdue for hanging in there. That was a fairly well-played ball game until the last inning. We had plenty of opportunities to win the ball game and just didn't get it done."

Junior outfielder Jimmy Pickens led MSU with two RBI's on two hits, and senior infielder Joel Fisher had one RBI. Junior RHP Mick VanVossen pitched seven innings and struck out ten batters. Sophomore Anthony Misiewicz pitched innings eight, nine and ten and allowed zero runs. Freshman RHP Jake Lowery pitched the final frame.

Shortstop Brandon Krieg had two RBI's for Purdue, and starting pitcher Jordan Minch went seven innings as well.

With the bases loaded at the top of the second, VanVossen struck out Steve Maniago for the second out of the inning. But Brandon Krieg came up big for Purdue on the next at-bat, hitting a single to left field to score two RBI's.

Cody Strong's single to third base loaded the bases once again, but Sean McHugh flied out to right field to bring the top of the second to a close.

With two outs on the board, Pickens came through for MSU by hitting a home run to right field. The homer tied the score 2-2 at the bottom of the third. 

Purdue managed to respond with a home run of their own, as Maniago slammed a pitch from VanVossen to right field. 

MSU missed a chance to retake the lead at the bottom of the fourth. Ryan Richardson doubled deep to right field to advance runners to second and third base. Purdue completed a double play to out Johnny Nate, ending the fourth inning with two MSU runners on base. 

Fisher tied the game at the bottom of the eighth, 3-3. Gibson singled to right field to advance Salter to third base. Fisher proceeded to fly out to center field, scoring Chase Toth who pinch ran for Salter. 

At the bottom of the ninth with the game tied at three, MSU fumbled an opportunity to win the game. With runners on second and third, Toth bunted the ball to look for a quick score. The ball struck the top of the bat and flew straight up, leading to an easy out to send the game into extra innings. 

The Spartans will finish the three-game series tomorrow in a doubleheader starting at one. Game three was initially scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday but was moved to Saturday to avoid inclement weather.

"It's tough to lose the first game of the series," Boss said. "Backs are against the wall now, and in order to win the series we have to come back and try to win twice tomorrow. Not an easy task, so we dug a hole for ourselves and we have to try to dig ourselves out of it."