Michigan State Baseball: Purdue recap
Michigan State and Purdue baseball will open a three-game series on Friday in East Lansing at 4:05 p.m. Eastern Time on the Big Ten Network.
The Spartans and Boilermakers open up Big Ten Conference play on Friday at McLane Stadium with both teams coming in on two different streaks. Michigan State will look to continue its current six-game winning streak, while Purdue will look to stop its three-game losing streak.
Michigan State is coming off an 8-3 win on Wednesday in a midweek battle against in-state opponent Western Michigan, while Purdue will be looking to bounce back after dropping its midweek game against Illinois-Chicago, 6-4.
Both Michigan State and Purdue enter this weekend series with electric offenses, led by a few outstanding hitters. The Spartans are led by junior infielder Brock Vradenburg, who has a whopping .455 batting average and an OPS of 1.302, while also hitting six home runs.
Purdue's Evan Albrecht leads the Boilermakers' attack with an outstanding batting average of .424 and an OPS of 1.019. Vradenburg and Albrecht are both in the top-four in batting average in the Big Ten coming into this weekend.
Two hitters who also should not be slept on in this series are infielders Trent Farquhar (MSU) and Paul Toetz (Purdue). Farquhar has registered a .418 batting average for Michigan State with a 1.046 OPS, which would be the statistics for the top hitter on many teams in the nation. Purdue's Toetz has cashed in eight home runs, while posting a .371 batting average and a team-leading 1.263 OPS.
Both pitching staff's leave a bit to be desired coming into this series, with Michigan State posting a team ERA of 6.21 and Purdue has posting an ERA of 4.84. One pitcher to look out for is Purdue's junior right-handed starter, Kyle Iwinski.
Iwinski has posted a 2.01 ERA with an opponent's batting average of .190. Iwinski pitched a one-hit shutout against Akron on March 4, earning himself the Big Ten's Pitcher of the Week award. Keep an eye on Iwinski's battles with Vradenburg and Farquhar as a potential key matchup during this weekend's series.
Saturday's game is set for 3:35 p.m. Eastern Time, while first pitch on Sunday will be at 1:05 p.m. Eastern Time.
Game One Recap (5-4 loss)
Michigan State and Purdue faced off on Friday in the Big Ten opener, with Purdue coming away with a comeback 5-4 victory in East Lansing.
The Spartans started Friday's contest off with a bang, scoring the first four runs of the game, and leading 4-0 through two innings. The Big Ten's leading hitter, Brock Vradenburg, added to his great 2023 campaign with an RBI-double in the first inning.
Purdue was held to three scoreless innings by Spartan starting pitcher Joseph Dzierwa before plating one run in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly. The Boilermakers would continue their comeback efforts in the fifth inning, by scoring three more runs, which was capped off by a Paul Toetz RBI-single.
Purdue starter Khal Stephen had a rough start to this game, giving up the aforementioned four runs to the Spartans in the first two innings of the game, but quickly responded by shutting out MSU over the next four innings.Stephen finished with eight strikeouts in his six innings of work.
Purdue and Michigan State entered the ninth inning in a 4-4 tie, but the Boilermakers would break that tie with a bases-loaded hit by pitch, taking a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
Purdue reliever Aaron Suval had the duty to close out the Spartans in the ninth inning, facing the top of the lineup. Michigan State would get its first baserunner on in the ninth with one out by way of a Mitch Jebb double. With Vradenburg up to the plate, Purdue would intentionally walk the Spartan slugger, not allowing him an opportunity to win the game with one swing of the bat. Suval would go on to strike out Sam Busch and induce a groundout from Bryan Broecker to seal a 5-4 Purdue victory.
The win ended the Boilermakers' three-game losing streak and subsequently ended Michigan State's six-game winning streak.
The two teams will meet for a doubleheader on Sunday because of the postponement of Saturday's game.
Game Two Recap (5-4 win)
Michigan State and Purdue faced off in a doubleheader on Sunday at McLane Stadium in East Lansing, with Michigan State pulling out the first game of the day, and second of the series, by a final score of 5-4.
In game one of the doubleheader, Michigan State sent Nolan Higgins to the mound to counter Purdue's Jonathan Blackwell. The Boilermakers struck first, scoring runs in the first and second inning on sacrifice flies to take an early 2-0 lead. Michigan State would respond in the third inning, thanks to a Mitch Jebb RBI-single, to cut the Purdue lead down to 2-1 after three innings. Purdue would answer in the fifth inning, however, with a run of its own to bump the lead back up to 3-1.
Purdue starting pitcher Jonathan Blackwell kept the hot Spartan offense at bay on Sunday, going six innings and only giving up two earned runs, while also striking out six batters. In the seventh inning, the Spartans cut the lead down to 3-2 with a Sam Busch RBI-double. The Spartans were not finished, though, as they would go on to add three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take a 5-3 lead going into the ninth inning.
Spartan closer Wyatt Rush closed the game down in the ninth after avoiding a bases-loaded jam. Rush recorded his fourth save of the season and the Spartans improved to 12-8 after Sunday's game one victory.
Game Three Recap (12-6 win)
The third game of the three-game series between Michigan State and Purdue was the rubber match of the series after the Boilermakers won on Friday and the Spartans won the first game of Sunday's doubleheader. In a fun slugfest, Michigan State eventually pulled away in a high-scoring 12-6 affair.
In game three, Michigan State sent Nick Powers to the mound to counter Purdue's top starting pitcher, Kyle Iwinski. Purdue started game three like the previous game, with two early runs to take a 2-0 lead. The Spartans answered with four runs in the fourth inning, highlighted by a two-run home run by Sam Busch, which followed a Brock Vradenburg RBI-triple.
Michigan State chased Iwinski after just 3.2 innings. Coming into this game, Iwinski posted a 2.01 ERA, but after his outing on Sunday, his ERA was lowered to 2.77.
The Spartans would continue to strike against the Purdue bullpen, scoring eight runs in the fifth and sixth innings to take a 12-3 lead. Vradenburg continued his great play with three more hits in game three of the series, finishing a home run shy of the cycle. Vradenburg exits the Purdue series with a Big Ten-leading .455 batting average.
Purdue added three total runs in the last two innings, but still ended up dropping the rubber match of the three-game set, 12-6. Michigan State improved its record to 13-8 on the season, while the Boilermakers dropped to 10-12.
Michigan State will continue play against the Western Michigan Broncos in Kalamazoo on Tuesday at 3:05 p.m. Eastern Time. The game was originally scheduled for Wednesday because of potential inclement weather.