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Blue edges state in wild 10th, 5-4

LANSING -- Follow the ball. It's what the spectators did all afternoon, but what the Michigan State catcher couldn't do at the game's critical moment.

A wild pitch in the top of the 10th inning allowed Michigan to score the game-winning run as the Wolverines beat Michigan State, 5-4, before a crowd of 6,267 in the inaugural game at Oldsmobile Park in East Lansing.

Michigan had watched a 3-0 lead turn into a 4-3 deficit before tying things back up in the eighth and sending the game into extra frames. Third baseman Mike Cervenak started off the Wolverine 10th with a single to left, then moved to second when Spartan pitcher Marty Patterson walked rightfielder Derek Besco.

First baseman Bryan Besco moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt, leaving Cervenak on third as catcher Mike Haskell stepped to the plate.

Patterson ran the count to 0-2 on the Wolverine sophomore -- Michigan's eighth hitter -- before throwing outside and in the dirt. The ball squirted past Spartan catcher Carlos Fernandez and bounded to the backstop, allowing Cervenak to motor home with plenty to spare.

The Spartans tried to rally against Michigan closer John Arvai but fell just short.

Arvai got within one out of the win before allowing a single to right and a walk. But he was able to slam the door with Cervenak's help, getting Michigan State's sophomore designated hitter Kevin Kernen to ground out to third.

"I think I was trying to be too picky, as far as hitting corners," Arvai said after picking up his second win of the season. "But then I finally said, `Just throw it,' and that's when I started throwing strikes."

The Wolverines, behind starting pitcher Mike Hribernik, bounded out to a 3-0 lead behind slugging from shortstop Kelly Dransfeldt and Derek Besco.

Besco made history in the bottom of the second as he sent a Brian Murphy pitch well over the left-field fence, giving Michigan a 1-0 lead. The dinger was the first at the new field.

Dransfeldt soon followed suit. With second baseman Kirk Beermann having knocked a single off Spartan starter Brian Murphy (literally; Beermann's drive bounced off Murphy's right hip and forced him to leave the game), Dransfeldt put a Bernie Gibbons pitch off the wire fencing at the top of the left field fence.

A shaky couple innings for Michigan southpaw Pete Martay let the Spartans back into it. The rally was highlighted by shortstop Tom Grigg's deep -- indeed, unplayable -- shot to the nether reaches of left, which gave Michigan State a 4-3 advantage.

Although Michigan's opponent was from the Big Ten, the win -- due to the game's special circumstances -- will not count in the conference standings. The Wolverines (6-2 Big Ten, 9-15 overall) face Western Michigan tomorrow at home.