After a slow start to the season, the baseball team (15-14 overall, 2-4 Big Ten) seems to have finally kicked it into gear. The team had its best weekend of the season in a three-game sweep of the then-No. 23 Oregon Ducks.
“It was a shorter trip home than they usually are, coming off of a sweep. The bus is a fun bus after you win,” head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. “Logistically, it’s not an easy trip, but when you go out and play well it certainly makes things a lot better.”
The team had a mid-week tune up with Eastern Michigan last Wednesday before it traveled out west.
Looking to gain some confidence before the trip to Eugene, Oregon, the Spartans were looking for a win over their in-state foe.
However, the Eagles rose to the occasion in a 10-5 win over the Spartans. The game was not the confidence booster the team needed heading into the weekend.
Despite not taking advantage of the opportunity to get back in the win the team traveled out west and made a statement against a ranked team.
The team opened the three-game set with a 2-1 win in 11 innings. The Spartans tied it up at 1-1 in the eighth before taking their first and final lead of the game in the 11th.
The second game of the series, a 9-4 win for MSU, brought the team to .500 again at 14-14. The team trailed the game 2-0 before tying it up in the third and ultimately taking the lead for good with a four-run fifth inning.
The third and final game of the series, a 7-4 win over the Ducks, completed the sweep for the Spartans. MSU opened the game up with a four-run first inning and never trailed after jumping on Oregon early.
Boss has been looking for the team to find some offensive consistency all season and after putting five or more runs in five of the last six games the team seems to of done just that.
“Consistency is something that I think was the big question going into the year, we’ll see what happens this week but hopefully we’ve kind of turned a corner,” Boss said. “I think offensively we’ve swung it really well over the last two weeks which has been good to see.”
The team will play Western Michigan on Wednesday before taking a break from regular-season play to square off against the Lansing Lugnuts, the Class A Toronto Blue Jays minor league affiliate, in the annual Crosstown Showdown.
The team will round out the week with a three-game series against Northwestern (8-22 overall, 2-4 Big Ten) over the weekend.
Boss said it is important to the team to play well in games against Western Michigan and the other in-state opponents because they want to be “state champs.”
“There’s good baseball in the state with the teams in the MAC, with Oakland University (and) with Michigan,” Boss said.
