Tough seventh seals 2-2 split with Spartans

The Hoosier baseball team entered this weekend's four-game set with one goal in mind. They wanted to take at least three of four games from Michigan State and gain some ground in the Big Ten standings.\nInstead, IU split the home series with the Big Ten bottom-dwelling Spartans and are now tied with Ohio State for second in the conference with Illinois and Purdue looming just one game back. The Hoosiers now stand at 22-9 overall and 7-5 in the Big Ten, four games back of Big Ten leader Minnesota, which still owns an unblemished conference mark of 10-0.\n"You'd like to win three out of four at home, but baseball is a funny game," coach Bob Morgan said. "Give them credit. They swung the bats and made a run at us."\nIU rode to a 4-2 win in the series opener on the back of its ace, Jacob Cary. The senior hurler tossed his fifth straight complete game, scattering eight hits and surrendering just two runs. Cary now posts a perfect 7-0 record with an impressive 2.25 earned-run average. \n"I felt good coming in, and I was throwing the ball really from the start," Cary said. "I kind of slumped off in the fourth, fifth and sixth but the defense has always kept me in games. We're never off on the same day."\nThe Hoosiers dropped the first game of Saturday's double-header and used some late inning heroics to salvage the split on day two of the series.\nJunior pitcher Adam Pegg had another rough outing on the mound in game two. Pegg gave up five runs on five hits and walked three in three innings of work as the Spartans won 6-1. He is 2-3 on the year and his ERA has ballooned to 7.39. \nIt looked as if the Hoosiers would drop game three as well. MSU led 5-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh and closer Ryan Golem retired the first two Hoosier batters with ease. But senior Mark Calkins sparked a two-out rally with a base on balls that was followed by base hits from senior Vasili Spanos, sophomore Corby Heckman and the eventual game-winner from junior Kevin Mahar.\nSpanos also smacked two home runs in the the 6-5 win finished the day four for seven with four RBIs and three runs scored.\nSpanos picked up right where he left off Sunday drilling a solo shot to left field in the third inning to put the Hoosiers up 1-0 in game four. IU held that lead until the top of the seventh when junior starter Chris Behrens' game was spoiled by an eight-run output from the Spartans. \nMSU third baseman James Moreno reached on Heckman's second error of the day to open the inning. Behrens then gave up consecutive singles before he was taken out in favor of senior reliever Kevin O'Brien. With the bases loaded, O'Brien struck out MSU outfielder Jim Deliz but then surrendered four straight singles that plated four Spartan runs.\nSenior Ryan Smith was brought on to minimize the damage, but his first offering was sent to the gap in left by Moreno, scoring three more runs. \n"Chris pitched well. He was throwing strikes and that was his big goal today was to get after people," junior catcher Cody Wargo said. "Our goal coming in was definitely to win three out of four, and it's upsetting that we took a split. We had that game, we just had one bad inning."\nThe Hoosiers mounted a small comeback in the late innings but fell short 8-5. They take on Wright State in a mid-week match-up before heading to Ohio State next weekend for a huge series with the Buckeyes, who they are tied with in the conference standings. \n"Minnesota is out in front, but it looks like things are starting to bundle up in the middle with us and Ohio State," Wargo said. "Next weekend is going to be a huge series especially since we can take sole possession of second place"