Spartans battle nationally-ranked Irish tough in second game of Cambria College Classic.
Michigan State Baseball gave No. 12 Notre Dame a tough and tight fight, 2-1, in the second game of both teams' 2022 Cambria College Classic on Saturday afternoon at US Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings.
MSU is 4-5 on the youth season, while Notre Dame went 7-1. Fighting Irish is ranked at number 12 in major baseball polls, as high as number 3, and as low as number 13 in other polls.
In a tight pitchers' duel, MSU and ND were scoreless through five, with Spartans senior pitcher Zach Iverson stopping the Irish bat without hitting it through four full innings, while Michigan State hit Notre Dame starter John Michael Bertrand's. Worked hard against
"I thought it was a really well played game with two excellent pitcher performances, defensively I thought both teams played well, and I think it was just a really good college baseball game." , and unfortunately, we were one run short," said MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. "They're excellent, I mean, it's about as good a Notre Dame team as I've ever played for and they don't give you a lot and when you have the opportunity, you have to take advantage of it."
The Spartans defeated the Irish 6–2 as the MSU defense put Notre Dame in the fewest runs and hits of the season. The Irish scored five or more runs in six of their seven matches in Saturday's competition, including Friday's 6–1 win over Illinois, as well as three games of 17 or more runs, but Iverson and junior reliever Conor Tomasik failed. ND retained. in investigation.
Bertrand entered Saturday with an ERA of 0.69, allowing only one earned run and a walk in two starts, and the Spartans walked in the second inning, and after their ERA sank to 0.47 through six innings, MSU Broke against Bertrand.
"Our guys competed today, and it was kind of a message after the game, that I think when they play well, they have a chance to beat anyone in the country, and believe me, but At the same time, there is no moral victory," Boss said. "I thought we had some opportunities in the ballgame, but we missed a missed attempt, which hurt us, and we made an error in the outfield that allowed them to get an extra base causing a sack fly Gone, and the margin against a good, good ballclub in games like this is really small.
MSU's six hits were performed by six different Spartans. There were hits for MSU along with sophomore infielder Mitch Jeb, Trent Farquhar, junior outfielder Jed Walker, redshirt-freshman catcher Brian Broker, junior infielder Peter Ahn and sophomore infielder Parker Pilate.
"We were a little low today, but I'm really proud of the way we competed, and gave ourselves some opportunities," said Boss. "I thought that even though we got out eight times, we had really competitors at bat, and we hit some balls hard at some guys. He made some good plays defensively, so you tip your hat to him "He played well. We had chances, but we will come back and be ready to go tomorrow."
Notre Dame's TJ Williams led fifth place with a double that went for three bags with an MSU error. Brooks Coetzee was the next Irish batsman and his sacrificial fly was brought into Williams for the first run of the game.
The Spartans tried to counter in their next bat, with Pilate leading with a single, and the two batsmen later singled out by Farquhar, but the rally faded without a run.
MSU broke through and got on board in the seventh, as Walker led the rally with a single. After sophomore outfielder Zack Frank was off the field to drive Walker to base, Broker singled out to the left to drive Walker into and knotted the ballgame to 1-all.
The tie was short-lived as Notre Dame's Jack Brannigan was the first batsman since the seventh inning and hit a single home run to lead the Irish 2–1.
MSU went down in eighth and ninth against ND's Ryan McLinsky to end the game.
Michigan State concludes Cambria College Classic action against West Virginia on Sunday, March 6 at 11 a.m. ET/10 p.m. CT.