April 28, 2004

Box Score

LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State baseball team used a seven-run third inning to surge past Eastern Michigan in a 12-8 victory on Wednesday night at Lansing's Oldsmobile Park. On the night, the Spartans pounded out 14 hits, including three home runs and five doubles. Erik Morris (Orchard Lake, Mich.) paced the attack, going 2-for-4 with three RBI and scoring three runs, recording a home run and a double. A crowd of 2,164 packed Oldsmobile Park on "Green and White Night", as the Spartans played in front of their largest home crowd of the season. With the win, Michigan State improved to 21-18, while Eastern Michigan fell to 22-16.

The Spartans opened the scoring in the bottom of the first as Travis Gulick (East Lansing, Mich.) drove in Erik Morris (Orchard Lake, Mich.) with a sacrifice fly to left field. Morris had walked to lead off the inning and advanced to third on a wild pitch and an infield groundout. Eastern Michigan answered with two runs in the top of the second on a home run by Matt Moffett over the centerfield fence. The Eagles then added a third run in the top of the third as a Brian Bixler single plated Patrick Dean.

Trailing 3-1 entering the bottom of the third, Michigan State exploded for seven runs on seven hits. Troy Krider (Coldwater, Mich.) opened the inning with a single and advanced to third on a double by Morris. Oliver Wolcott (Plymouth, Mich.) lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to score Krider. After Gulick walked and stole second, James Moreno (Holt, Mich.) doubled to left center, driving in two runs. Sean Walker (Round Lake, Ill.) then crushed a pitch over the leftfield fence onto Cedar Street, recording his seventh home run of the season and his fifth in his last seven games. After a pitching change, David Miller (Whitehall, Mich.) singled and later scored as Alan Cattrysse (Chatham, Ontario) hit his third home run of the season, just clearing the fence in straight-away centerfield.

Eastern Michigan scored twice in the top of the sixth narrowing MSU's lead to 8-5. The Spartans, however, responded with three runs in their half of the inning. Cattrysse doubled to lead off the inning and advanced to third on a Krider single. Morris followed with his seventh home run of the year to extend MSU's lead to 11-5. Each squad added a single run in the seventh and the Eagles scored two unearned runs in the top of the ninth, but it was not enough to mount a serious threat.

Spartan righthander Chris Toepper improved to 2-2 on the year, pitching three innings and allowing three runs on five hits. EMU's Matt Dillard took the loss, allowing six earned runs on five hits in 2.1 innings. He falls to 2-2 on the year.

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