April 28, 2013
Boxscore: HTML | PDF >>> Series Stats | April Stats
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State posted a pair of big innings in the second half of the game to blow open a contest that was tied after four innings, defeating Purdue baseball, 8-1, in the rubber game of the Big Ten series Sunday afternoon.The Boilermakers (13-27, 5-13 Big Ten) left 11 runners on base in the loss while failing to score after the first inning. Purdue finished the month of April with a 3-13 record.
Michigan State (24-13, 7-5 Big Ten) scored six times over three innings against Brad Schreiber (1-7) after he took over for Kyle Wood on the mound to begin the fifth inning. Wood reached his 65-pitch threshold after four innings of one-run ball. It was Wood's third appearance on the mound since returning from a forearm strain that kept the redshirt-freshman from pitching for six weeks.
The Spartans surged ahead thanks to five singles and a walk in the fifth inning. Jimmy Pickens knocked in his team's first two runs of the day with RBI singles in the first and fifth innings, making up for a dropped fly ball in right center field in the top of the first that helped the Boilers score their lone run of the day.
Conner Hudnall, Josh Estill and Brandon Krieg each finished with a pair of hits for Purdue. Sean McHugh (walk & single) and Jake Hansen (hit by a pitch twice) also reached base safely twice. Jack Picchiotti's RBI ground out with the bases loaded in the first inning accounted for the only RBI of the day.
Michigan State freshman lefty Anthony Misiewicz (4-1) surrendered only four singles and did not issue a walk over six innings in his first college start. After falling behind numerous hitters in the first inning, he settled down retired 15 of the 20 batters he faced from the second through sixth innings. Purdue's leadoff man reached safely to begin an inning only once in the game and that wasn't until Krieg singled in the ninth after MSU had already gone ahead 8-1.
A single from Hudnall and walk to McHugh brought the potential tying run to the plate for the Boilers in the seventh. But MSU closer Justin Alleman responded by striking out Wood and Estill to end the threat. Purdue caught a bad break an inning later when Angelo Cianfrocco's ground ball that was ticketed for right field hit Kyle Johnson on the leg near first base for the final out of the inning. Krieg would have come to the plate as the potential tying run if not for the bad fortune.
Hudnall and Krieg teamed up to throw out a runner at the plate in the third inning, keeping the game tied 1-1. Anthony Cheky tried to score from first on Blaise Salter's double to right field. Hudnall hit Krieg as the relay man on the fly and the Purdue second baseman threw out Cheky at the plate by a wide margin. It was Hudnall's team-leading fifth outfield assist of the season.
At the plate Hudnall finished the weekend 7-for-16, hitting safely in all three games of the series. He has reached base safely in the last 20 games he has started. Johnson saw his 10-game hitting streak end but he did reach base safely for the 11th consecutive game thanks to a base on balls in the seventh inning.
Mike Lutz relieved Schreiber in the eighth inning, pitching for the third consecutive game. It marked the second time this season the freshman has appeared in all three games of a weekend series. In five of the first six Big Ten series, either Brett Andrzejewski or Lutz has pitched in all three games of the weekend.
The Boilermakers are idle from midweek play this week due to final exams on campus. They return to action Friday when they open a nonconference weekend series against Southern Illinois.