For the first time since 2016, Michigan State baseball won a series at University Park, taking two out of three games against Penn State. This is just another accomplishment that this team has achieved after many years of falling short of winning a series or not getting off to good starts to the season. This year, that has not been the case and it starts with the team’s starter on Fridays, Joseph Dzierwa.
When you have a starter like Dzierwa, you believe that every Friday you have a really good chance at winning. That is exactly what happened as he went five innings and allowed two hits with five strikeouts. Not only did he get the win, Dzierwa also accomplished something only five other pitchers have done at Michigan State, hitting the 200 strikeouts in a career. While getting five scoreless innings is important, having the bats come alive is also key and they were clicking.
Led by Ryan McKay, who went 5-for-5 on the day, the team was able to scratch five runs across home plate and shut out Penn State in Big Ten play for the first time since 2021. This win gave the Spartans momentum going into Game 2, which they had going early in the game.
Through 4.5 innings in Game 2, Michigan State was up 5-1 and it looked like Michigan State baseball was on its way to clinching the series already. That momentum did not last long as the big run innings that have plagued this team in losses happened twice including tying the game going into the top of the fifth inning. At 5-5, Michigan State would only score one more run while Penn State would have six more runs cross home plate, giving the team a 11-5 win over Michigan State to tie the series. Now onto the all important Game 3 and trying to get back to .500 in conference play.
Game 3 was a bullpen day for the Spartans.
It started with Gannon Grundman as the team gave him an early lead. That lead would never change as the bats continued to provide just enough to get the win. When things were getting close towards the end of the game, Michigan State had a big top of the ninth inning to blow things open. Going into the bottom of the ninth, up 10-4, Michigan State relied on Tyler Horvath to shut the door and he did that exact thing. While giving up one run, the score would read 10-5 as Michigan State improves to 16-7 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten.
This was a massive win for the Spartans as Penn State has had a good start to the year and it also helps them stay close in a very competitive Big Ten. The next step for this team is continue to take this momentum, win some more series, and try to build on this performance as the Big Ten schedule is not going to be easy this year.
