EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball was topped by Michigan in a wild 12-inning contest, and the Spartans were topped by the Wolverines, 10-8, Sunday afternoon at a sun-drenched McLane Stadium at Kobs Field

The loss denied the Spartans just their third-ever series sweep over the Wolverines and first-ever in a series fully at home, however Michigan State did win its first series over Michigan since 2016. It was also MSU's third-straight Big Ten Conference weekend series win and fourth overall, evening the Spartans' league ledger at 9-9 and Michigan State is now 21-23 overall.

Michigan State played without head coach Jake Boss Jr., who was attending his son's college graduation, and assistant coach/pitching coach Mark Van Ameyde was acting head coach.

"Sunday's have been a bit of a challenge for us," Van Ameyde said. "We're still trying to get those outs and it's a game that keeps getting away from us. The guys battled, what else can you say today. Every game (of the series) was like a boxing match. As disappointing as it was today, we won the series and won three of four this year against our rival and we feel good about."

Sunday's result also secured a win in the overall season series between MSU and UM, as the Spartans had won the previous three meetings this season and four in a row overall dating back to last season, with a 16-6 walloping of the Wolverines on March 26 in Ann Arbor in the non-conference match up, then a 3-2 10th-inning walk-off Victory for MSU in Friday night's B1G series opener and a 12-8 Spartan win on Saturday. 

"It's huge," Van Ameyde said about the importance of taking series from Michigan this late in the season. "That's our third-straight series win, when we started our conference season, that's the ideal goal: if you win every series, you put yourself in a good position, and that's where we're putting ourselves right now, and doing it against Michigan is even better."

Sunday's series finale was a similar back-and-forth high-scoring battle just like Saturday's. MSU led 4-1 after three frames, but UM rallied with four in the fourth for a short-lived 5-4 lead, before the Spartans countered with three in the fourth to regain the lead at 7-5. The teams traded runs in the fifth to make it 8-6 in MSU's favor, but UM scored one in the sixth and one in the top of the ninth to force bonus baseball, and tacked on two runs in the 12th for the win.

MSU knocked 13 hits, including five extra-base hits on two doubles and three home runs, executing the Spartans' game plan.

"I've coached with Coach Boss for so long, I felt good going into today's game. I also have some head coaching experience from when I was over at Eastern Michigan. Between the rest of the staff and me, I think we handled it well but I'm sure Jake [Boss] won't let me hear the end of it," Van Ameyde said with a chuckle. "He trusts us as a staff and the guys battled, and we were able to put ourselves in the position to win, it just didn't work out that way today."

Seniors Jack Frank and Sam Thompson, along with junior Sam Busch all belted home runs for the Spartans. Outfielder Frank knocked his second in as many days including second in his last two innings of play with a solo shot to start off the bottom of the first on Sunday after homering in the bottom of the eighth in Saturday's game with the go-ahead run. 

Infielder Busch also blasted his second round-tripper in as many days with a deep two-run blast to right center, after also bashing a homer on Saturday. 

Senior catcher Thompson knocked a solo homer in the fifth.

Frank finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI, while freshman infielder Ryan McKay was 3-for-6 with two RBI and senior outfielder Greg Ziegler was 2-for-6 with two runs scored and knocked a two-run RBI double in the fourth.

Thompson also finished 2-for-6 with two runs scored and the RBI on the solo homer that was just over the out-stretched glove of the Michigan left fielder.

Busch was 1-for-4 with the two-run round-tripper.

On the mound, senior Nick Ferazzi (3.1, 3 K) started, before turning the ball over to freshman Garrett Brewer (1.0 IP, 1 K), freshman Logan Pikur (2.1 IP, 3 K), sophomore Tommy Szczepanski (1.1 IP, 3 K), senior Aaron Mishoulam (2.0 IP, 2 K), freshman Gavin Moczydlowsky (1.2 IP, 2 K) and sophomore Nolan Higgins (0.1 IP).

MSU wraps up its five-game homestand at McLane Stadium at Kobs Field on Tuesday, May 7 against Bowling Green in a non-conference contest. First pitch is slated for 6:05 p.m.

The Spartans then resume B1G weekend action for its final regular-season road trip, heading to Minneapolis to play a three-game weekend series at Minnesota, Friday-Sunday, May 10-12, with the series-opener starting at 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT on Friday. Saturday's first pitch is slated for 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT, before wrapping up with the series finale on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT.

Fans can follow the action with "Tickets," "Watch Live," "Listen Live" and "Live Stats" links at MSUSpartans.com.
 
Michigan State's schedule is subject to change, stay tuned to MSUSpartans.com and @MSUBaseball on Twitter for schedule updates.

Individual game tickets are also on sale through the Spartan Ticket Office.