McKay And MSU’s Pitching Boosts Spartans To 4-0 Blanking Of Penn State Friday
Sophomore infielder goes 5-for-5, Dzierwa hits 200 career Ks; Spartans deal Nittany Lions first home shutout loss since 2022.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Boosted by Ryan McKay's bat and the collective arms of three pitchers, Michigan State baseball shut out Penn State, 4-0, Friday night at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park in the Big Ten Conference weekend series opener between the two teams.McKay went 5-for-5 at the plate, while junior starter Joseph Dzierwa rang up five strikeouts to give him 200 Ks for his career, becoming just the sixth Spartan pitcher to reach the 200 strikeout plateau.
MSU dealt Penn State its first home shutout loss of any kind since March 20, 2022 vs. Milwaukee, and its first B1G home shutout loss since May 16, 2021 vs. Rutgers.
Meanwhile, it was MSU's fourth shutout win this season, the Spartans' most in a season since 2021.
With the win, Michigan State improves to 15-6 overall and levels its B1G ledger at 2-2. Penn State is now also 15-6 with the loss, and 4-3 in conference competition. Friday was MSU's first win at University Park since 2018, snapping a six-game losing skid there, as MSU now leads the all-time series, 57-45.
Sophomore infielder McKay was 5-for-5 at the plate, becoming the first Spartan to do so this season, and the first since former teammate Jack Frank had a hit in all five at bats on March 2, 2024 vs. Western Michigan. McKay has now reached base in his last 10 at bats and 11 of his last 12, after going 4-for-4 in Wednesday's win over Oakland, as well as drawing a walk in his last at bat in last Saturday's game at Iowa, in addition to drawing a walk in his second at bat, with only a groundout in between to deny McKay from 12 in a row.
"Ryan is seeing the ball well right now, obviously he knows what kind of hitter he is," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "He's a guy that's going to spray the ball all over the park, and I think he's accepted that role, he understands that role, and he's certainly executing it really well right now. Hitting is really difficult, and when you see it well like that, you need to ride it out as long as you can."
On the mound, junior starter Joseph Dzierwa went 5.0 IP in holding PSU to just two hits, while chalking up five strikeouts, topping the 200 career strikeout mark, becoming the sixth Spartan pitcher to post 200 Ks in a career, and the first since Mason Erla reached the milestone on April 9, 2021. Dzierwa earned the win to improve to 5-0, becoming the first pitcher in the Big Ten with five wins.
Dzierwa was replaced by senior reliever Dominic Pianto to open the sixth, and Pianto went 3.2 IP, ringing up a career-high tying four Ks and only allowing one hit, before walking his only two batters in the ninth. Graduate reliever Tyler Horvath came on and got the final out with a strikeout, to seal the Victory for MSU, and register his second save of the week and fourth of the season, also finishing off Wednesday's win over Oakland.
"I thought our pitching was lights out tonight. Joe was really good. I thought Dominic came in and was just as good, and Tyler came in with to get to save," Boss said. "So, I'm really proud of our pitching staff for getting the shutout against a really good opponent tonight."
McKay had half of MSU's 10 hits, while senior outfielder JT Sokolove was 2-for-5, while graduate catcher Caleb Berry was 1-for-3 with an RBI double and scored a run. Senior designated hitter Will Shannon was 1-for-2 with an RBI and added two walks. Junior infielder Randy Seymour was 1-for-5 with a hustle-double on a bloop popup that fell. Senior infielder Sam Busch drew two walks, while senior outfielder Nick Williams drew one. Berry was hit by a pitch twice, while N.Williams and junior outfielder Jake Dresselhouse each drew one HBP.
The Spartans left 13 runners on base, leaving at least one on in every inning except the fourth.
"I'm proud of our offensive effort tonight, I thought for the most part we did a nice job of executing the plan at the plate. We had a lot of guys on base, a lot of traffic on the bases, but couldn't seem to get a big hit to drive the guy in. I think we had opportunities to score a lot, but credit to Penn State because they made a lot of good pitches, and made some nice plays defensively when they needed to, and held us to four tonight," Boss said.
After a scoreless first two frames, McKay sparked a Spartan rally in the third, leading off with a single to center. Berry followed by getting plunked by a pitch, and Busch followed with a walk to fill the bases full of Spartans. Seymour came to bat and popped up around the infield grass between first and second base, and was ruled an infield fly by the umpire, but Penn State's fielder's missed the ball, allowing McKay to scamper home to score and get the Spartans on the board.
Shannon followed with a sacrifice fly to right field, plating Berry for a 2-0 Spartan lead.
McKay again ignited the MSU rally in the seventh, leading off with a single, then stole second. Berry then knocked a double to left to drive McKary in to increase the Spartan advantage to 3-0.
The visitors added to their lead in the eighth, as N.Williams led off by reaching on a PSU throwing error. Dresselhouse came on to pinch run, and Sokolove reached on bunt single to move him up to second. That brought McKay to the plate and he laced an RBI single to right driving in Dresselhouse and the 4-0 score.
MSU threatened to increase its lead in the top of the ninth, loading the bases with only one out, but a double play thwarted the threat and kept it a 4-0 ballgame.
Pianto got the first two outs, with a flyout and a strikeout, before yielding his only two walks of his outing, and turned the ball over to Horvath. The Spartan closer needed just four pitches to ring up the victory-sealing strikeout.
MSU and PSU return to the diamond at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park for game two of the three-game weekend series on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Spartans and Nittany Lions then wrap up the weekend on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Michigan State then plays at Notre Dame on Wednesday, March 26 at 4:30 p.m.
The Spartans return home to host Illinois in their B1G home opening weekend series at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium, Friday-Sunday, March 28-30 at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium. First pitch in the series opener is slated for 3:32 p.m. on Friday, March 28, followed by game two's start time of 3:32 p.m. on Saturday, March 29. The series finale on Sunday, March 30 has a 1:02 p.m. first pitch.
MSU's schedule is subject to change, fans can stay tuned to MSUSpartans.com and @MSUBaseball on Twitter for schedule updates, along with follow this weekend's action with "Watch Live," "Listen Live" and "Live Stats" links where available.
Michigan State baseball tickets are available online at msuspartans.evenue.net, by contacting the Spartan Ticket Office at 517-355-1610 or by email at tickets@msu.edu for questions or more information.
Recap courtesy of MSU Athletics.
