“Defensively, we didn’t pitch it well today,” Boss said. “We had too many guys that didn’t take accountability for what happened today. That’s my job as the head coach is to help these guys be accountable and we’ll make sure that happens.”

Five Spartan pitchers made appearances on the mound with sophomore right-handed pitcher Mike Mokma getting the start. He would exit after pitching four innings while giving up four hits and two runs. Altogether, the bullpen had nine strikeouts.

Niagara’s senior outfielder Trevor McCauley earned three runs, and brought in four RBIs on three hits in his four at bats to heighten the competition for the Spartan bullpen.

“It’s disappointing in how we played defensively all weekend really,” Boss said. “Today especially on how we pitched today. We went to the bullpen and we didn’t throw many strikes out of the bullpen. We got behind on the count and we really gave into their hitters.”

MSU came into the final game of the series leading 2-1 before dropping their last game where they made a total of nine hits in the finale. 

Despite the pitching condition, Boss feels that his team competed to get a comeback after losing their lead in the sixth inning. 

“I liked the way we competed today,” Boss said. “We gave ourselves a chance in the bottom of the ninth and got the tying run at the plate. Guys have done that all year long. It was good to see that guys did not quit.”

The Spartans will return to McLane Baseball Stadium to play against Central Michigan in their first matchup of the season with the first pitch scheduled for 3:05 p.m. on Wednesday March 21.

Heading into another game, Boss hopes his team remembers how they feel to improve their season especially splitting this weekend’s series on their home field. 

“I hope the mindset of this team right now is that they’re upset,” Boss said. “That’s because they should be. We take a lot of pride in doing things the right way around here and we didn’t play that way. They should hurt and hurt getting beat today.”