Winkler, Nuts Romp 12-3 Over MSU, 10th Straight Showdown Victory
April 4, 2023 - Midwest League (MWL)
Lansing Lugnuts News Release
LANSING, Mich. - Jack Winkler drilled a pair of two-run doubles en route to a five-RBI game, and the Lansing Lugnuts scored eight unanswered runs to run away from the Michigan State Spartans on Tuesday night at Jackson® Field™, 12-3, in the 15th Crosstown Showdown presented by Delta Dental.
The Lugnuts have won ten straight meetings against the Spartans, improving to 13-2 in an exhibition series that began in 2007.
The game historically had been pitcher-dominated, typified by the 2022 exhibition in which a Winkler two-run double lifted the Nuts to a 3-2 victory.
But Lansing's bats were roaring despite a night marked by heavy wind, intermittent rain, and a spider web of lightning above that caused a twenty-minute delay between the third and fourth innings. The Nuts piled up 12 hits, with two apiece supplied by Winkler, Caeden Trenkle, Daniel Susac and Euribiel Angeles, drew six walks and took advantage of three Spartans errors on their way to a three-run second inning, three-run third and five-run fifth.
Leadoff hitter Trenkle opened the scoring in stirring fashion, making his unofficial Lansing debut with a leadoff triple in the first inning and then racing home - with an adroit dodge around catcher Bryan Broecker - on a Winkler sacrifice fly off MSU starter Brian Martin.
An inning later facing Dominic Pianto, Lazaro Armenteros doubled home Ángeles, Joshwan Wright singled, and Winkler doubled in both Armenteros and Wright with a liner into the left-field corner for a 4-0 lead.
The Spartans trimmed the Nuts' advantage to 4-3 with a three-run third against Lansing starter Christian Fernandez, but Fernandez ran up against pitch count difficulties and the half-inning was rolled over with two Spartans still aboard. Fernandez finished with 2 2/3 innings of work, allowing three runs on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
The same trouble befell MSU reliever Zach Hopman in the home half, but not before Junior Pérez barely missed a home run with an RBI triple to deepest left-center and Trenkle delivered a two-run single to rebuild the Lansing lead to 7-3.
Following the 20-minute delay due to lightning, Jorge Juan dominated the Spartans with two strikeouts in a perfect fourth, setting the tone for perfect Lugnuts relief: Brock Whittlesey induced two groundouts and notched a strikeout in the fifth, and Mac Lardner set the side down in order in the sixth and seventh innings, whiffing three.
Lansing had already closed out the scoring in the fifth inning. The first seven batters reached base against Max Chapman, including an RBI HBP for Jonny Butler and an RBI walk for Trenkle before Winkler sizzled his second two-run double of the game. The blow helped the former San Francisco Don set a new single-game Crosstown Showdown RBI mark, surpassing Chris Hawkins's four RBIs from 2013.
The game was played before a crowd of 4,212.
After a two-day break, the Nuts will open their 27th season with the first of a three-game series at Dow Diamond against the Great Lakes Loons, set for 6:05 p.m. on Friday, April 7.
Lansing opens its home schedule with a six-game series against West Michigan beginning April 11. To purchase tickets, call (517) 485-4500 or visit lansinglugnuts.com.
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