The following is courtesy of the Notre Dame Athletic Department:
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Notre Dame (23-20) held on to a 4-3 midweek victory at Michigan State (19-22) Tuesday evening, staving off a ninth-inning run by the Spartans after holding them scoreless through eight innings.
RHP Will Jacobsen (2-0) earned the win for his two three-up, three-down innings. RHP DJ Helwig started on the mound, going three full innings and allowing just one hit with no runs. On the day, Irish pitchers and defense forced five innings in which Michigan State batters went three up, three down.
C Joey Spence scored what would prove to be the deciding run on a leadoff homer in the third inning. The Irish manufactured three more runs on a groundout, a sac fly and a double steal. Notre Dame took advantage of Spartan gifted bases, as in seven-consecutive innings Tuesday, Michigan State allowed the leadoff Irish batter to take base, with two extra-base hits, three walks and two HBPs as Notre Dame’s leadoff rewards to start those innings.