Michigan State baseball bounced from Big Ten tournament in 4-0 loss to Nebraska
No. 8 seed Michigan State (33-22) saw its baseball season come to an end in 4-0 loss to No. 4 seed Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament in Omaha, NE, at Charles Schwab Stadium. Michigan State was in this game until the eighth inning when the Cornhuskers scored three two-out runs to turn a one-run lead into a four-run cushion.
With the win, Nebraska advances to play Big Ten regular-season champion Maryland. The Terps beat Nebraska with a 10th inning walk-off home run on Thursday night in Omaha.
Michigan State struggled to get on track against slow-throwing Nebraska lefthander Will Walsh, who gave up four hits in a complete-game performance. Walsh, whom Nebraska coach Will Bolt hoped could get through the Michigan State line-up twice, confounded the lefty-heavy Spartan lineup with slow moving off-speed pitches that routinely found the edge of the strike zone.
Right-handed catcher Bryan Broecker was the only batter in the Michigan State lineup with multiple hits against Walsh.
Nebraska sealed the win over Michigan State by scoring three runs in eighth inning.
Trailing 1-0, Michigan State got a ground out and fly-out to start the eighth inning. After drawing a 3-2 walk, Nebraska pinch runner Lou Sartori stole second before coming home on two-out single by Ben Columbus. Nebraska went up 4-0 on a hard ground ball that took a funny bounce over the glove of Spartan first baseman Brock Vradenburg plating two more runs.
Michigan State freshman left-hander Joseph Dzierwa gave up six hits and recorded six strikeouts in just under five innings of work as the starting pitcher for the Spartans. Dzierwa gave up one earned run on a one-out single in the top of the top of the fourth inning. Junior right-hander Harrison Cook got the final out of the fifth inning for Michigan State and held Nebraska off the scoreboard until the three-run eighth.
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Nebraska took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning after Charlie Fischer scored on a one-out single by Columbus after reaching first on a lead-off base hit and advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt.
Michigan State came within feet of tying the game when outfielder Casey Mayes just missed a home run as the lead-off batter in the bottom of the sixth inning. Two batters later, Jack Frank nearly cleared the left-field fence in a deep fly ball that died on the warming track.
Michigan State earned the final spot in the Big Ten baseball tournament by taking two of three games from Indiana in the final weekend of the regular season. The Spartans had not made a Big Ten tournament appearance since 2018 prior to claiming the eighth seed in the eight-team tournament.
The Spartans posted their first win in the Big Ten Tournament since 2016 on Thursday afternoon with a 6-4 victory over Rutgers.
Michigan State lost a one-run game to Maryland in the opening game of the Big Ten Tournament.
