EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The Indiana State baseball team evened its weekend series with Michigan State Saturday afternoon with a 2-1 victory over the Spartans at Kobs Field behind a great pitching performance from junior right-hander Collin Liberatore.
 
Liberatore, a Greensburg, Pennsylvania native went a season-high seven and two-third innings and allowed just three base hits to the Spartans. The 6-foot-4 hurler retired five MSU hitters on strikeouts and was lights out in the middle innings, retiring 13-straight from the third to the seventh inning of action. After earning the victory, Liberatore moves to a perfect 5-0 on the season in eight starts on the mound.
 
After being shutout in the series opener, the Sycamores (23-5) ended any thought of a second consecutive shutout early when Clay Dungan recorded a triple to the gap in right field to score Luke Fegen who led off the game with a walk. Jake Means would make it a 2-0 lead for Indiana State on a ground ball that scored Dungan.
 
Following a tough opening frame, Michigan State (6-22) starting pitcher Mitchell Tyranski settled in and was strong for seven complete innings, allowing just three base hits in his outing. He retired 12-straight Sycamores from the third to seventh inning as he was charged with the loss, falling to 0-6 on the year.  
 
Michigan State picked up a one-out double in the bottom of the seventh on Royce Ando's ball down the left-field line. MSU's Dan Chmielewski brought home the first run of the game for the Spartans a batter later with a soft liner to center to cut the deficit in half.
 
That would be all the scoring the Spartans would be able to muster as southpaw Tyler Grauer entered late in the eighth inning with a runner on first and two outs. Grauer induced a fly ball to right-center to end the Michigan State threat before retiring all three batters he faced in the ninth to secure his team-leading fifth save of the season.
 
Luke Fegen recorded half of the Sycamore base hits in the contest, finishing with two on the day. Dungan and CJ Huntley also tallied base hits. No Spartan hitter recorded more than one base hit. Chmielewski led MSU with a base hit and a run batted in.
 
ISU edged the Spartans in the hit column 4-3 and both teams stranded four base runners. With the win, Indiana State improved to 7-2 over BIG 10 competition.
 
The two squads will wrap up the weekend series Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. with right-hander Tyler Whitbread set to make the start on the mound for the Sycamores.
 
For the latest information on the Sycamore Baseball team, be sure to visit GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.