MSU Baseball: Late surge falls short vs. Notre Dame, Michigan series looms

Michigan State baseball was back in action on Tuesday night, as they welcomed the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for a non-conference matchup at McLane Stadium.

With the Spartans trailing Notre Dame 4-0 entering the bottom of the ninth, senior outfielder Greg Ziegler’s three-run home run cut the deficit to one.

Ziegler’s three-run blast wasn’t enough to spark a come-from-behind win for MSU, as they fell 4-3 to the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame struck first in the third inning with a home run by junior catcher Joey Spence to right field. Spence finished the night going 1-for-2, recording a home run and an RBI.

The Fighting Irish extended their lead to 4-0, with three runs in the seventh inning on just one hit, and took advantage of two fielding errors by the Spartans and three walks.

Both teams struggled to hit the baseball as the Spartans recorded four hits, and the Fighting Irish recorded three.

The Spartans were led by Greg Ziegler, who went 1-for-4 with an RBI and a home run. Junior outfielder Nick Williams, freshman second baseman Ryan McKay, and sophomore shortstop Randy Seymour also contributed with hits for MSU.

In his first career start for MSU, sophomore pitcher Tommy Szczepanski recorded four strikeouts allowing one hit and one run in 2.2 innings pitched.

Freshman pitcher Gavin Moczydlowsky also pitched, helping the Spartans get out of a fifth-inning jam, ending the inning with a strikeout with bases loaded.

Notre Dame graduate pitcher Will Jacobsen earned his second win of the season, recording one strikeout and allowing no runs and hits in two innings pitched.

With the loss, the Spartans fall to an overall record of 19-22. MSU will next face off against arch-rival Michigan (24-21 overall record) for a three-game weekend home series.

First pitch for the three games will be at 6:05 p.m., 3:35 p.m. and 2:05 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively. Also, Saturday will be Alumni Day at the ballpark as the 1954 College World Series team will be honored.

“It’s a big weekend, but they’re all big weekends,” head coach Jake Boss said. “We only play 24 conference games so every one of them is extremely important.”

This is also the final time that Michigan and Michigan State will meet in the regular season. It also means its the final time for senior pitcher Nick Powers and the other seniors will face the Wolverines.

“Especially just being a senior, not even just with me, all the seniors, this is our last opportunity to play them in the regular season,” Powers, a Flushing, Mich. native, said. “Being an in-state kid, you grow up being a Michigan or Michigan State fan. So, me being a lifelong Michigan State fan, this is definitely very meaningful to me.”

The last time these two teams met in Ann Arbor on Mar. 26, the Spartans dominated the Wolverines, winning 16-6. The Spartans were led by Williams and Ziegler, with three runs each.

The key for both teams in this matchup will be pitching. In the March matchup against the Wolverines, Spartan junior pitcher Noah Matheny had a strong performance. He pitched three full innings, allowed no hits and struck out two batters.

Michigan is riding a five-game winning streak coming into East Lansing. In that winning streak, the Wolverines have beaten Ohio State, Long Beach State three times and Kent State. Michigan State will be looking to put a stop to that streak.

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