Michigan State lost a three game home series against Iowa over the weekend. The Spartans overall slid to 24-19 and 8-10 in the conference. While Iowa improved to 29-17 and 11-7 in B1G play.

MSU lost the series two games to one — Iowa won 3-2 during Friday’s opener before the Spartans fought back for a 2-1 Saturday victory. Unfortunately Michigan State was not able to keep it up during Sunday’s finale, losing 9-4.

The Spartans are trying their best to hold onto the eighth spot in the conference. The B1G Tournament is right around the corner and only the top eight teams qualify.

The Hawkeyes got on the board during the first inning to jump out to a early 3-0 lead. Iowa managed to put together a few quick hits before taking advantage of a Spartan error.

Michigan State was able to crawl back into the game during the sixth inning thanks to some nice hitting by our boys — making it a 4-3 ball game.

Iowa responded with a run of their own, extending the score in their favor, 5-3.

Sunday’s finale was a close one throughout until the Hawkeyes blew the game wide open with a five run ninth inning, spraying four hits around McLane Stadium and taking advantage of some more Spartan errors.

The rally pushed them ahead 9-4, which is exactly where the fans and players left it as Michigan State was unable to win the deciding game in the series.

Spartans Staying The Course

Michigan State had 10 hits Sunday, they were led by freshman outfielder Bryce Kelley. The young guy went 2-for-4 with two doubles and run scored. Following him up is third baseman Marty Bechina who went 2-for-3 with a RBI and a double on the day. The Spartans finished Sunday’s game with five total doubles.

• Bryce Kelley (LF): .342 (39-114), 5 2B, 2 3B, 17 RBI
• Brandon Hughes (CF): .337 (55-163), 10 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 31 RBI
• Alex Troop (P/1B): .324 (24-74), 6 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 10 RBI
• Chad Roskelly (DH): .310 (22-71), 4 2B, 2 HR, 14 RBI

Quick Takeaways

• The Spartans are hanging on by a thread in the B1G. With less than a month left to go in the season they are ranked 8th in the conference.
• Which means MSU is on the cusp of not even being eligible for the B1G Tournament coming up later in the month. A HUGE step back from 2016.
• Two Big Ten series are left on the Spartans schedule, even if they were to win all six of those games they would still be 14-10, likely not good enough for a top three finish.
• The season is awash — unfortunately it has been for awhile now.

Next Series

The Spartans have two mid-week games starting tomorrow where they will take the field at Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers. Michigan State will be facing Western Michigan at 6:35 p.m. before returning home for a game against EMU.