Greenville, S.C. – Western Carolina baseball scored six runs in the top of the ninth inning without the benefit of a base hit as the Catamounts rallied past Michigan State 10-7 on Wednesday evening in nonconference action at Fluor Field.
The win was WCU's third against the Big Ten Conference this season, coupled with the 2-1 series win over Maryland.
Trailing by three, 7-4, entering the final frame,
Brayden Corn drew the first of four consecutive freebies with a lead-off walk.
Hayden Friese was hit by a pitch on the 2-1 offering before
Trent Turner and
Cole Jones coaxed walks to push across WCU's fifth run and cut the deficit to two.
Elijah Smith pushed a run-producing groundout to first to score Friese and trim the deficit to one.
With first base open, Michigan State (9-2) intentionally walked
Trey Spees to load the bases again to bring the force at any base back into play. The Spartans moved to within one out of ending the game with a bases-loaded strikeout before
Cam Murray drove in the game-tying run with a five-pitch walk to knot the game at seven.
Reminiscent of WCU's 2016 championship walk-off victory,
Jaylen Jones – who was making his return to the lineup after an ankle injury sidelined the freshman – was plunked with the second pitch of his at bat to give WCU its first lead since the second inning. The opportunistic Catamounts capitalized on a fourth Michigan State error on a would-be infield ground out by Corn with an errant throw to first that allowed two more insurance markers to score.
Reliever
Brandon Langley (1-0) struck out two of the final three outs in the home portion of the ninth inning to secure the come-from-behind victory. Langley struck out six of the seven batters he faced in tossing a hitless, scoreless 2.1 innings to earn the win. Freshman
Carter Burnette struck out two over 1.1 relief innings with
Owen Austin fanning one as the Catamounts combined to strikeout 11.
MSU's Logan Pikur (0-1) took the loss after surrendering four earned runs without allowing a hit, walking three with a hit batter in an inning of work. Reliever Gannon Grundman – the second of eight total pitchers used by the Spartans – struck out four to lead the Spartans.
Michigan State scored in each of the first three innings with two in the first and second innings before Sam Busch put the Spartans in front 5-4 with a lead-off solo homer in the bottom of the third inning. The five-run rally overcame WCU's four-run top of the second that gave the Catamounts a short-lived lead 4-2 advantage.
WCU used four-straight extra-base hits to grab the lead in the top of the second as
Elijah Smith and
Trey Spees both legged out consecutive triples to put the first run on the board.
Jack Spyke then belted a two-run homer over the fence in right-center to push WCU in front 3-2.
Cam Murray drilled a double to left-center before eventually scoring on an infield single and a Spartan throwing error to cap the four-run frame.
Leading 5-4, Michigan State tacked on a pair of insurance markers in the seventh inning to lead 7-4, setting up the ninth-inning rally.
Jaylen Jones (2-for-4) led the Catamounts with a pair of singles in his return to the lineup, with the remaining six hits spread between six players. Spees reached base four times to lead the Catamounts with a triple and three walks, with Smith tripling and Spyke hitting a home run. Corn reached base three times with an infield single and two walks.
Sam Busch drove in four runs in a 3-for-5 effort to lead Michigan State with Parker Picot finishing 2-for-5 to cap the multi-hit games. Ryan McKay drove home two in a 1-for-5 effort for the Spartans.
Western Carolina (6-7) remains on the road for a three-game series against Georgia State at the GSU Baseball Complex in Decatur, Ga.
