EAST LANSING- The Michigan State baseball team wrapped up its regular season this past weekend at McLane Baseball Stadium.
MSU salvaged the series against Nebraska by winning on Saturday and sending the seniors off properly on senior day, but ultimately lost the series and came up short of reaching the Big Ten Tournament.
The Spartans lost a close game in a pitcher’s duel on Thursday night, dropping the game 2-1 under the lights despite an excellent performance from their bullpen, and escaping many jams throughout the game.
The MSU offense struggled all game, and left a runner on the bases in the seventh, eighth, and ninth inning, in what would be a back-breaking and potentially season-ending loss.
MSU was unable to bounce back on Friday, as Nebraska tallied an 11-run performance, including five early runs in the first two innings off of the Spartans ace, Joseph Dzierwa.
MSU rallied back to make the score 5-3 in the sixth, but were unable to produce any more runs, before allowing four-runs in the eighth, and another two runs in the ninth. MSU would go on to lose 11-3.
Friday’s game marked the fourth in-conference loss in a row, dropping their Big Ten record to 10-13 and effectively ending their postseason hopes.
The Spartans still had one more game remaining on their regular season schedule, which was Senior Day on Saturday at McLane Stadium. Reliable lefty Nick Powers got the start for MSU in what would be the senior’s final start in the green and white.
Powers worked a quality start, picking up his seventh win of the season, going six innings strong, allowing only four runs on five hits while picking up six strikeouts.
Graduate student Aaron Mishoulam would come on for the three-inning save, allowing only two more runs, picking up four more strikeouts, securing the victory for MSU on the final day of the season, and picking up his fourth save of the year.
SPARTAN SENIOR DAY VICTORY FOR MSU!!!!!
MSU sends the 6 seniors out in winning style!
High fives, handshakes & hugs allllll around!!!
Final score:
Michigan State 11, Nebraska 6#VictoryForMSU pic.twitter.com/tMavHAOaHJ— Michigan State Baseball (@MSUBaseball) May 18, 2024
Seniors also carried the Spartans offense, as right fielder Jack Frank delivered one more performance for Spartan head coach Jake Boss Jr. Frank picked up three RBI and four hits to close out his senior campaign, finishing with a .383 batting average and a 1.089 OPS.
Frank led MSU in nearly every offensive category this season, including nine home runs and a single-season career high in stolen bases with 19.
Nobody knows that hill in RF better than Jack Frank.
The @MSUBaseball star navigating it twice today, each time robbing Nebraska of an extra base hit. 🤯#B1GBaseball x @JackF_22 pic.twitter.com/6ozUS6HkWW
— Big Ten Baseball (@B1Gbaseball) May 18, 2024
Frank wasn’t the only senior with a hand in Saturday’s win, as Greg Ziegler came through with three RBIs of his own and two hits. Dillon Kark also contributed an RBI and a run scored on two hits, to up his team-high in RBI to forty-two to close out the season.
With the win on Saturday, MSU prevented Nebraska from picking up the shared regular season title for baseball in the Big Ten, as the loss knocked them down to second place in the standings with the regular season coming to a close.
As for the Spartans, this weekend series signifies the end of their season, as they failed to clinch a spot in the Big Ten Tournament, and a top-eight spot in the Big Ten standings by just one game.
Michigan State finishes the season with an overall record of 24-27, and an 11-13 record in Big Ten play. MSU won only two of their last seven games in conference, proving costly in such a tight race where they missed the postseason by only one game.
MSU honored seniors Harrison Cook, Frank, Kark, Nick Powers, Sam Thompson, and Ziegler on Saturday and will look to move forward without them.
The Spartans will miss these players as they were team leaders not only in the clubhouse but on the field, losing three of their everyday starters and their Saturday starting pitcher, leaving quite a few question marks for the summer off-season, heading into the 2025 campaign.
