Spartans stun No. 3 Ducks to keep them from clinching Big Ten regular season title

EUGENE, Ore. — After No. 8 UCLA fell to Northwestern early Friday evening, the No. 3 Oregon Ducks had a chance to clinch the Big Ten's regular season title before they were stunned by the Michigan State Spartans, who entered the night in 14th place in the conference. Michigan State exploded for six runs in a second inning that seemed like it would never end, holding on to upset the Ducks 6-4 in front of a shocked home crowd at Jane Sanders Stadium.

"We just didn't do enough to win the game," Lombardi said. "In order for us to win games, we've got to play better in all areas. You could see it, but it was just kind of up and down. It wasn't consistent how it normally is."

Oregon starter Lyndsey Grein worked cleanly through the first with some help from her defense, walking a batter before Paige Sinicki and Kaylynn Jones combined for a slick double play to end the inning. After a scoreless bottom of the frame from her offense, she returned to the circle to start the second, but things went downhill quickly.

Spartan first baseman Kaelin Cash tagged Grein for a solo shot out to left on a 1-1 fastball to lead off the inning and put Michigan State (16-27, 6-14) on the board first.

She answered with her first strikeout, but a double down the line and a throwing error by third baseman Katie Flannery would quickly bring another run across for the Spartans before a walk put runners on the corners and ended Grein's night as Elise Sokolsky entered in relief.

"She just needed to work on getting ahead," Lombardi said of Grein, who didn't land a first-pitch strike until the seventh batter she faced. "Thought we were just getting behind a little bit."

A walk on a changeup that just missed the zone loaded the bases, and a heads-up play by Sinicki to get the lead runner at home on a grounder to short would give the Ducks their second out. But after falling behind 1-2, Spartan center fielder Sydney Doloszycki scorched a ball to center field. Kedre Luschar misjudged it, taking her first step in before retreating as the ball landed over her head and bounced off the wall for a bases-clearing double.

After Doloszycki advanced to third on the throw home, a rare error on a grounder to Sinicki plated another run for the Spartans to make it 6-0. A single off of Sokolsky in the circle and another walk would re-load the bases, but a swing and a miss at a changeup diving off the plate gave Sokolsky her first strikeout to finally escape the jam.

"After that, I thought she was really efficient," Lombardi said of Sokolsky, who allowed an earned run in the second before facing the minimum across the game's final five frames. "She got quick outs, a lot of shutdown innings, did everything we needed her to do."

Needing to chip away at Michigan State's six-run lead, the Ducks (45-6, 17-3) were finally able to put runners on in the bottom of the third after Sokolsky worked a much-needed one-two-three inning in the top of the frame. Flannery walked to give Oregon its first base runner of the game before Ayanna Shaw followed with the Ducks' first hit on a single through the right side of the infield. After Kai Luschar grounded into a fielder's choice that got the lead runner at third, Sinicki was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Kedre Luschar, who lined a two-out single up the middle to bring home a pair and cut the Spartan lead to four.

Sokolsky continued with the momentum she found in the third, retiring the Spartans in order once again in the fourth. Emma Cox was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the inning for Oregon, but a double play that was upheld after a lengthy review erased the base runner before Jones fanned for the third out. After an infield single gave Michigan State a leadoff base runner in the top of the fifth, Oregon responded with a double play of its own, as Flannery fired to Jones to get the lead runner before she threw over to McCoy at first to end the inning.

With two down in the bottom of the fifth, the Oregon lineup flipped back over to Kai Luschar at the top, who dropped down a bunt single before swiping her 50th bag of the season to put a runner in scoring position. After falling behind 0-2, Sinicki drove a fly ball off the wall in center to score Luschar before racing to third and sliding in safely with her third triple of the season. Two pitches later, Kedre Luschar followed by slapping a single between the Spartan third baseman and shortstop to bring home Sinicki and cut Michigan State's lead to two runs.

Sokolsky continued to cruise in the sixth, facing the minimum for the fourth straight inning. Cox was hit by another pitch to lead off the bottom of the frame before Stefini Ma'ake walked and Jones reached on an error to load the bases with no outs. Lombardi decided to pinch-hit Braiesey Rosa and Dezianna Patmon for Flannery and Shaw at the bottom of the order, but Rosa struck out looking while Patmon's fly ball to center came up too shallow for a sacrifice. Kai Luschar came back up with two down, but chopped a grounder to short that Payton Conroy flipped to third to end the inning and hold the Ducks scoreless.

"We just kind of squandered away opportunities," Lombardi said. "We got down, which I get that, but there's a lot of game left. We had opportunities that we didn't take advantage of."

After Sokolsky's fourth one-two-three inning in the top of the seventh, Sinicki flew out to center, Kedre Luschar fanned at a high heater, and McCoy skied a fly ball to left-center for the final out of the upset as Michigan State's bench erupted.

"These guys have played well all year long, and I would expect them to be ready to go tomorrow," Lombardi said of her team. "All we can do is learn from this and move on."

Oregon's magic number remains at one following UCLA's loss, meaning they will have another chance to clinch the conference championship as the series continues on Saturday with the first pitch of game two set for 2 PM.