For the first time all season it seems baseball found its groove to push further in the Big Ten standings.
MSU swept Northwestern in their three-game weekend series with final scores of 5-3 on Friday, 4-2 Saturday and 6-5 Sunday.
Baseball sweeps Northwestern in weekend series
The Spartans have now extended their winning streak to four, which is the team's longest streak all season thus far.
Senior starting pitcher Ethan Landon was unstoppable Friday afternoon and pitched through seven innings and throwing eight strikeouts. Landon's eight strikeouts were one away from his career-high of nine.
The Spartans came out hot in the first inning with senior first baseman Zack McGuire leading the way with a two-run homer, while senior designated hitter Chad Roskelly hit a two-run single.
MSU's Saturday victory secured the team's fifth-straight series win over Northwestern. Roskelly led the way once again in the third inning with a two-run double to put the Spartans on the board.
Redshirt freshman Mason Erla took the mound and thrw six innings and only allowed three hits and one run. Erla took home the win to improve to 5-2 on the season and leading all Spartans in wins.
“I just trusted my stuff and wasn’t trying to over-throw, and just let the defense work,” Erla said in a press release. “It was very good defensive effort today, getting two guys at the plate and getting diving plays in the infield and big catches in the outfield too.”
Sunday afternoon showcased another back-and-forth type of game for the Spartans to take the final game of the series.
McGuire hit his second home run of the weekend and fifth of the season. McGuire drilled a two-run homer to the left at the top of the eighth inning to give the Spartans the lead.
Sophomore pitcher Mike Mokma took the start Sunday and pitched through a career-high six innings to go along with a career-high of five strikeouts.
“I’m really proud of our guys,” head coach Jake Boss Jr. said in a press release. “We need our seniors to lead us and they certainly did that today."
The Spartans have now defeated the Wildcats in 14 of the last 17 meetings.
MSU's record now stands at 14-21 on the regular season and 6-5 in the Big Ten.
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The Spartans will head to Comerica Park Tuesday where they will face Eastern Michigan University, with first pitch set at 6:35 p.m.
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