Michigan State baseball is moving on in the Big Ten Tournament. Navigating their way through the double elimination portion of the tournament, the Spartans defeated Purdue on Tuesday before following it up with a big time win over Iowa on Wednesday.
It was a Ryan McKay single in the ninth inning that proved to be the winning play for the Spartans, defeating the Hawkeyes 4-3.
It was an outstanding start for Carter Monke, who went 5.2 innings and only gave up three runs on four hits. The bullpen backed up the starter’s efforts with Gannon Grundman and Nolan Higgins finishing the final 3.1 innings of the game with scoreless baseball.
Now the Spartans will move on to the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament, where they will have the daunting task of facing the No. 4 seeded USC and their ace Mason Edwards, who was named as the Big Ten’s Pitcher of the Year. In 14 starts, Edwards is 8-0 with a 1.49 ERA and a .949 WHIP, showing the daunting task the Spartans have ahead.
The Spartans and Trojans will square off at 10 a.m. on Friday morning in their Big Ten quarterfinal affair.
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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: Michigan State moves on to Big Ten Tournament QF, defeating Iowa
Reporting by Cory Linsner, Spartans Wire / Spartans Wire
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