Michigan State traveled to Greenville, South Carolina to take on Western Michigan, Western Carolina, and VCU in a three game invitational at Fluor Field. Michigan State finished 1-2 in Greenville with their lone win coming against Western Michigan in game one.
Michigan State and Western Michigan faced off again in the First Pitch invitational on Friday in game one of Michigan State’s three game set. The Spartans and Broncos faced off last week in Greenville, with the Spartans coming out on top, 13-3. In this rendition, Michigan State sent left-handed starter Joseph Dzierwa to the mound to face off against Brady Miller from Western Michigan.
The Broncos got off to a great start by scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. However, Christian Williams had a quick answer for the Spartans as he drove in two runs on a double down the left field line to tie things up at two. Later that inning, the Spartans tacked on a few more runs to take a 4-2 lead after one inning of action. Both pitchers settled in and no runs were scored until the sixth inning when Western Michigan’s Cade Sullivan drove in a run to cut the Spartan lead down to one.
That run would not last long, as Randy Seymour answered immediately in the bottom of the sixth with a home run to take a 5-3 lead and that ultimately served as the final score. Michigan State starting pitcher Joseph Dzierwa went six innings and only gave up three earned runs while also striking out six batters. Michigan State closer Tommy Szczepanski notched his first save as a Spartan with a two-strikeout performance.
Michigan State improved to 5-7 and Western Michigan dropped to 7-7.
Michigan State faced off against Western Carolina in game two of a three-game weekend for the Spartans. The Spartans struck first with a Sam Busch RBI single to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The scoring would halt until the fourth inning as Nick Powers and Spenser Hamblen threw the ball well Saturday afternoon.
Western Carolina took the lead for the first time in the top of the fourth inning with a two-RBI double from James Hinson to take a 2-1 lead. Michigan State tied the game in the bottom of the sixth inning at two. From that point, Western Carolina scored seven unanswered runs to take a 9-2 lead in the eighth inning thanks to a Nate Stocum two-run home run.
Although it was a tough one for the Spartans, they fought back in the ninth inning by scoring three runs to cut the Western Carolina lead down to 9-5, but unfortunately no more runs crossed home plate for the Spartans.
Michigan State dropped to 5-8 and Western Carolina improved to 5-9.
In the third game of the weekend for the Spartans, they took on 10-4 VCU in Greenville. Michigan State got off to a great start by scoring two runs in the second inning to post a 2-0 lead.
Starter Nolan Higgins struggled mightily for the Spartans, as he went 2.1 innings, giving up seven earned runs and not recording a single strikeout. VCU held an 8-2 lead going into the bottom half of the eighth inning when Michigan State tacked on two more runs but - again, like game two - that would be it for the Spartans as they fell 8-4, and dropped to 1-2 on the weekend for two consecutive weekends.
Michigan State ended the weekend with an overall 5-9 record.