IU Drops Series Opener At Michigan State, 6-2

Friday, April 15

East Lansing, MI

4:00 PM

Indiana University

22-18, 5-7

Michigan State University

21-20, 3-8

Indiana

Michigan State

4/15/2016 7:20:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

EAST LANSING, Michigan – The Indiana Softball team (22-18, 5-7 Big Ten) stranded seven on base and lost by a score of 6-2 to Michigan State at Secchia Stadium on Friday afternoon. Michelle Huber led the IU offense with two hits and an RBI while Erin Lehman added an RBI single.

Michigan State (21-20, 3-8 Big Ten) tallied 12 hits and scored in each of the first five innings to get the win.

The winning pitcher was Kristina Zalewski (10-11) for Michigan State, allowing two runs on seven hits and six strikeouts in a complete game effort. Josie Wood (10-7) took the loss for IU, as she gave up five runs – three earned – on eight hits in 3.1 innings. Emily Kirk came on in relief and surrendered one run on four hits in 2.2 innings.

In the bottom of the first inning, with a runner on first base and two outs, Rebecca Blitz came charging in on a soft fly ball to center field. She made a diving attempt to catch the ball but, as she hit the ground, the ball escaped her glove and rolled away, allowing the runner to cross the plate and put Michigan State on top, 1-0.

After the Hoosiers threatened but were unable to push across a run in the top of the second, the Spartans added another run on an RBI single to left field and a wild pitch in the bottom of the second to increase the MSU lead to 3-0.

Following a leadoff double in the bottom of the third inning, the next batter hit a ground ball up the middle that Rachel O'Malley was able to track down, but her throw to was offline and the runner was safe. As the ball trickled away, the runner tried to score from second but Huber's throw home was in time and Dotson applied the tag to get the out. The next two batters singled to load the bases for Michigan State when another sharp single up the middle drove in the fourth run of the game.

In the IU half of the fourth inning, Michelle Huber singled up the middle to lead off the inning. Dotson followed with a shot down the right field line that went in and out of the fielder's glove and Dotson ended up at second base, pushing Huber to third with no outs. However, the rally would end there, as the next three Hoosiers were unable to get the ball out of the infield and the score remained 4-0 in favor of Michigan State.

Indiana was able to get on the scoreboard in the top of the fifth inning when Rachel O'Malley started things with a single and moved to second on an error. A Rebecca Blitz ground out moved O'Malley to third with one out ahead of Lehman's RBI single back up the middle. Tsirigos followed by reaching on an error to put two runners on for Huber. The right-handed batter laced a double to right center to drive in one run, but the second runner was thrown out at home plate to end the threat and the Hoosiers trailed, 5-2.

Michigan State added their sixth run of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning, and that would be the end of the scoring for both teams, with MSU leading, 6-2.

The Hoosiers and Spartans will meet again on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. Fans can watch the action with a subscription to BTN2Go or follow along with live stats at IUHoosiers.com.