Michigan State baseball vs. Western Michigan recaps
The Michigan State baseball team plays at 3:05 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday against the Western Michigan Broncos.
The Spartans and Broncos will clash at Robert J. Bobb Stadium for their second of two contests this season. The first game resulted in a 8-3 victory for Michigan State in East Lansing. Michigan State comes into the game on Tuesday with a record of 13-8 and is currently riding a two-game winning streak, after winning their first Big Ten series of the season against Purdue.
Western Michigan enters the contest with a record of 5-16 overall and is on a six-game losing streak. It was a tough opener for the 2023 Broncos, facing No. 1-ranked LSU during the opening weekend for a three-game set. WMU was ultimately swept against the Tigers to begin the 2023 season.
Conference play has not been kind to the Broncos either, losing their first two series in the MAC against Ball State and Eastern Michigan, while being run-ruled by each team. Western Michigan is batting .259 as a team with 16 home runs in 17 games.
The bright spot in the Bronco offense has been junior outfielder Will Morrison. Morrison is batting .375 and has an OPS of 1.039. Morrison has been a consistent bat for the Broncos, and they will need him to create some magic to compete with a red-hot Spartan team on Tuesday.
The Western Michigan pitching staff has had a rough go during the 2023 campaign, posting a team ERA of 10.25, while allowing a team batting average against of .328.
It is safe to say the surging Spartan bats are licking their chops coming into Tuesday's game. The Michigan State offense has a team batting average of .314, which is second in the Big Ten. MSU also has the top hitter in the Big Ten, Brock Vradenburg, who has a .455 batting average.
Expect the Michigan State offense to continue to produce in Kalamazoo.
Western Michigan game one recap (8-3 win)
Michigan State opened up its home slate against the Western Michigan Broncos on Wednesday, March 22, and came away victorious by a score of 8-3.
The Broncos, who came in on a two-game losing streak took the lead in the second inning on an RBI single by Dylan Nevar. Western Michigan would add two more in the fourth inning to take a 3-0 lead on the Spartans.
Michigan State would answer in the fifth with three runs of their own by way of some Bronco miscues and the score was 3-3 after five innings of play. Junior reliever Nick Powers delivered out of the bullpen on Wednesday, giving the Spartans 4.2 shutout innings and only allowing one hit in that timeframe.
Powers kept the Bronco lineup at bay, giving the Michigan State offense a chance to take the lead and in the sixth inning they would do exactly that. Freshman Jake Dresselhouse singled in a run to take a 4-3 Michigan State lead and the Spartans would never relinquish the lead. Trent Farquhar would go on to produce a 2 RBI double, which was followed by a Brock Vradenburg RBI single to give the Spartans a 7-3 lead after six innings.
The Spartans would tack on an insurance run in the eighth and would bring on Noah Matheny to close the game out in the ninth inning to give Michigan State an 8-3 victory, pushing their win streak to six and overall record to 11-7.
Western Michigan game two recap (8-6 win)
Michigan State and Western Michigan faced off on Tuesday, March 28 in their second matchup against each other this season. Michigan State came away with its second win in as many tries against the Broncos 8-6.
Michigan State sent Adam Berghorst to the mound to counter Western Michigan's starting pitcher, Luke Thelen. Both starting pitchers worked three scoreless innings to start the ballgame, but the Spartans scratched the scoreboard with an RBI-single from Greg Ziegler to give MSU a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning.
The home Broncos struck back in the bottom half of the inning with two runs of their own, taking a 2-1 lead after four innings of play, but that would not last too long. Michigan State answered in the top of the fifth inning with four runs of its own, highlighted by Sam Busch and Jack Frank home runs.
The Broncos would continue to fight against their in-state foes by totaling two runs in the fifth and sixth innings to cut the Spartan lead to 5-4 after six innings of play.
With Dillon Kark on base, Sam Thompson delivered with a two-run home run in the seventh inning to give Michigan State a 7-4 lead, which would carry on until the eighth inning when the Broncos cashed in on a two-RBI double by third baseman Gavin Doyle.
Thompson delivered for the Spartans again in the top of the ninth inning with an RBI-single to extend the Spartan lead to 8-6 going into the bottom half of the ninth. Michigan State closer Wyatt Rush closed the door in the ninth inning, recording his fifth save of the season and improving Michigan State's record to 14-8.
Michigan State will be in action next in Piscataway, New Jersey for a three-game series against Rutgers this weekend, starting on Friday at 3 p.m. Eastern Time.
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