A blown lead in the eighth inning leaves Michigan State’s postseason hopes in jeopardy, forcing the Spartans to rely on outside help to clinch a conference tournament berth.
The Spartans evened up the series Saturday night and entered Sunday’s rubber match understanding exactly what was at stake. For Michigan State, this was essentially a Game 7 — a do-or-die matchup with Big Ten Tournament implications hanging in the balance.
With the loss, the Spartans now need help.
If Michigan State misses out, they’ll need Washington to be swept in its final series. It’s possible, as the Huskies will face the still-No. 1 team in the Big Ten, the UCLA Bruins. UCLA sits at 25-1 in conference play, though the Bruins are starting to look a bit more beatable than they once did. Spartans fans know that firsthand, and UCLA also suffered its first Big Ten loss this past weekend.
Of course, the easier route would’ve simply been for the Spartans to win Sunday and give themselves a little cushion.
Michigan State tried to do exactly that, but ultimately fell short in heartbreaking fashion, losing 3-2 in extra innings.
The loss drops Michigan State to 11-19 in Big Ten play, and that’s where the Spartans will finish conference action. Currently, MSU sits 13th in the conference standings, with only the top 12 teams advancing to the Big Ten Tournament.
Right above Michigan State in 12th is Washington at 11-16, while Rutgers and Minnesota currently sit 11th and 10th, respectively, both at 11-16 as well.
Rutgers owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Spartans after taking two of three earlier this season. Meanwhile, Michigan State and Minnesota never met during conference play.
So, even if Rutgers gets swept in its final series, the Scarlet Knights would still hold the advantage over Michigan State.
As for the Spartans and Gophers, the tiebreaker would move to records against the top eight teams in the conference. Michigan State currently sits at 3-12 in those games, while Minnesota is 1-8. The Gophers close their season against second-place Nebraska, meaning if Minnesota gets swept by the Cornhuskers, the Spartans should move ahead of them in the standings.
There are still plenty of moving parts, including Penn State, which sits at 8-19 in conference play. If the Nittany Lions somehow sweep their final series and also reach 11-19, that would throw yet another wrench into the already chaotic postseason picture.
Ultimately, there’s now a lot of hoping and praying that needs to happen for Michigan State — something that could’ve largely been avoided with a win Sunday afternoon.
Early on, the Spartans looked poised to take care of business.
Michigan State jumped out to a 2-0 lead by the fourth inning and held that advantage all the way until the eighth.
In the first inning, Khamaree Thomas put the Spartans on the board with an RBI double that scored Nick Williams.
Then in the fourth, Parker Picot stayed red hot, blasting a home run for the second straight day. His 10th homer of the season — a solo shot — gave Michigan State a 2-0 advantage.
Unfortunately for the Spartans, the offense completely disappeared after that.
Outside of those two hits, Michigan State didn’t record another one the rest of the game. Simply put, it’s hard to win many games when you finish with just two hits total.
The pitching staff, meanwhile, was excellent for most of the afternoon.
Carter Monke got the start and delivered 6.1 strong innings, allowing just one run on six hits while striking out six. He kept Ohio State scoreless through six innings before surrendering his lone run in the seventh.
Logan Pikur entered and recorded the final two outs of the inning to preserve Michigan State’s one-run lead. However, trouble quickly followed in the eighth as Pikur allowed the first two runners to reach base, though one came as the result of a throwing error.
Nolan Higgins then came on in relief despite throwing two innings the night before. Even though those were perfect innings, it still felt like a risky move.
Higgins recorded the first out and briefly kept the runners stranded, but Ohio State eventually broke through with an RBI double to tie the game at 2-2.
Then came the crushing finish.
In the 10th inning, with two outs and two runners on, Higgins surrendered the game-winning single as the Spartans walked off the field with their heads down after a brutal 3-2 loss.
Michigan State still has one more weekend series remaining against Illinois State, along with an in-state home matchup against Eastern Michigan on Tuesday.
The Spartans’ hopes of reaching the Big Ten Tournament are slim, but they’re still alive.