Spartans' bats fall silent. Texas' early lead, pitching dominance, and a controversial overturned call seal Michigan State's 4-0 defeat.
The Spartans had one last opportunity to defeat the third-ranked Texas Longhorns. After dropping the first two games by a combined 11-2 score, MSU knew they'd need superb pitching and out-of-this-world hitting to pull off the upset.
It didn't take long for Texas to open the scoring. In the bottom of the first, leadoff man Ethan Mendoza—a thorn in the Spartans' side all series long—got things started with a hit. Another single followed, pushing Mendoza to third and putting men on the corners. Two walks from Spartan starter Logan Picur loaded the bases, leading to a walk-in run. A groundout and flyout then plated another, making it 2-0 Texas after one. Given that MSU had scored just two runs total in the first two games, that early lead looked daunting.
The Spartans fought back in the top of the second. An infield single and a rope to the right fielder put men on first and second with two outs. Then came a surprise two-out bunt that dropped perfectly—confusing even the umps. The Texas pitcher made a bare-hand play to throw out the runner, and it was initially ruled out. But Jake Boss Jr. and the entire Spartan team knew something wasn't right—they challenged immediately. The call was overturned, loading the bases with two outs. Unfortunately, a strikeout ended the inning, stranding all three runners and keeping the score 2-0 Texas.
MSU went right back to work in the top of the third. Their fourth infield hit of the day got leadoff man Ryan McKay on base. Randy Seymour crushed one just foul before grounding out to move McKay to scoring position. But a flyout to center and a strikeout left him stranded.
In the bottom of the third, the Longhorns got a man in scoring position when two-way star Jonah Williams knocked a ball past second baseman Ryan McKay, driving in Texas' third run. A passed ball advanced Williams to second with two outs, but he was stranded there. Still, the damage was done: Texas led 3-0 through one-third of the game.
The Longhorns kept the pressure on in the fourth. The leadoff man reached, and Picur allowed another hit that put men on the corners with one out. That's when Boss pulled Picur and brought in Tommy Szczepanski from the bullpen to keep it close. But the runners forced Szczepanski into a 360-degree pivot on the mound, resulting in a balk that advanced them and pushed the lead to 4-0.
From there, the pitchers settled in—especially Texas' Dylan Volantis, who dominated with eight strikeouts through seven shutout innings. He allowed just five hits (four of them infield singles) and issued only one walk, which didn't come until the seventh.
The game ended 4-0 Texas, sending the Spartans on a four-game losing streak. They mustered just one earned run against the Longhorns across the three-game series. The pitching was iffy at times, but the bats were absent all weekend.
The Spartans will need to dive deep into their swings and get them going. It's still early in the season, and a sweep by the third-ranked team in the nation isn't going to make MSU quit. I expect them to fail forward after this series and come back better because of it.