The Michigan State baseball team qualified for the Big Ten tournament with a walk-off victory just three days ago. But on Tuesday night, the Spartans season was effectively ended by a walk-off single that gave Nebraska the 5-4 win in tournament pool play at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.
The team will still have one game left to play on Thursday night against top-seed Oregon, but due to tournament tiebreaker rules Michigan State would have no way of advancing. That game will begin at approximately 8 p.m. and air on the Big Ten Network.
The Spartans were one out away from scoring the upset over the defending champion Cornhuskers, but a hard-hit ball off the bat of Joshua Overbeek bounced out of the glove of MSU right fielder Parker Picot, allowing Robby Bolin to score from second and tie the game up for Nebraska.
After MSU went down in order in the top of the 10th, Nebraska's Dylan Carey led off the bottom half with a single and eventually stole second. The next two Cornhusker batters went down on strikes, before Bolin jumped on the first pitch of his at-bat to plate Carey from second base.
Tuesday night saw the Spartans jump out to a 3-1 lead after two innings, and extend the lead to 4-1 after five. The two runs scored in the second inning were manufactured without a hit. Michigan State drew three walks, scored one run on a balk and another on a ground out by Ryan McKay.
Spartan fans had reason for optimism with the early lead as their ace Joseph Dzierwa took the mound. The 6-foot-8 left hander was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Year earlier in the day, as well as being named a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award two days earlier. After giving up a run on two hits in the opening frame, Dzierwa settled down and allowed only two more hits through the next four innings.
The bottom of the sixth proved crucial as the Cornhuskers strung together three hits in four at bats, capped off by a 2-run single from Case Sanderson, one of his three hits on the night, Dzierwa was able to strike out the next better before his night was done after 104 pitches.
After McKay put the Spartans ahead 4-1 in the fifth inning on an errant pickoff attempt, Michigan State could only manage to get one baserunner into scoring position over the final five innings.