Michigan State baseball defeats Ohio State 7-1 at Jackson Field
Max Chapman pitches the ball during the Crosstown Showdown on April 4, 2023. Photo Credit: Sarah Smith/WDBM
April 8, 2023
EAST LANSING – After flooding from the Red Cedar River this week, Michigan State announced that its scheduled series against the Ohio State Buckeyes would take place at Jackson Field. MSU won game one, 7-1.
Spartan bats connected early against Ohio State’s left-handed pitcher Isaiah Coupet. Bryan Broecker’s single drove in Mitch Jebb and Brock Vradenburg for the first runs of the game. Broecker had three RBIs in the game.
“He’s (Broecker) a pretty mature player,” said head coach Jake Boss Jr. “He’s gotten a lot better and came up with a big spot today, early in the first inning, that was really maybe the biggest at-bat of the game. So yeah, it was good to see him get the barrel to the ball there.”’
Before Coupet was taken out, he threw a wild pitch allowing redshirt freshman Jacob Anderson to score.
After an injury-related pitching change, Buckeye pitcher George Eisenhardt walked three straight Spartan batters, allowing one more run.
The Buckeyes used six pitchers in the series’ first game ahead of Saturday’s doubleheader.
“We put up seven runs, we found a lot of different ways to score and our guys didn’t expand the strike zone too much at the plate which is fun to watch. We are seeing the ball well right now,” Boss Jr. said.
Spartan starter Joseph Dzierwa came out of the gates firing for MSU. The freshman threw six innings, allowing only two hits and four walks while striking out four and giving up one run, including a lot of soft contact with eight flyouts and four groundouts.
Out of the bullpen for the Spartans, Andrew Carson threw up zeros through three innings, facing 11 batters.
“We needed a great effort on the mound tonight from Joseph and Andrew,” said Boss Jr.
MSU tacked on two more runs in the eighth to win the ballgame 7-1. However it wasn’t just an ordinary victory; it was Boss Jr’s 400th win. Boss Jr. is just the third MSU coach to get to 400 wins.
“That’s so awesome for coach,” said junior Trent Farquhar. “He’s working day in and day out. He deserves this, and it’s just awesome to play for a guy like Coach Boss Jr and to see him get his 400th win, especially here in the city of Lansing, is just awesome.”
“It means a lot,” said Boss Jr. “We’ve had a lot of good players here. I’ve been here for a while and had a lot of good coaches and I think this was the dream job for me a long time ago. So yeah, I think they all mean something. 400 is fantastic, but looking for 401 tomorrow.”
Michigan State took game one of the three-game set against the Buckeyes on Friday, improving to 17-9. They will conclude the series with a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1:05 p.m.
