EAST LANSING, Mich. (April 29, 2018) – Junior starting pitcher Whitney Jones pitched a three-hit complete game, but two early runs helped Michigan State top Rutgers softball, 2-0, to sweep the Big Ten series on Sunday at Secchia Stadium.
 
The Scarlet Knights (17-30, 2-15) outhit the Spartans (21-24, 7-11) by a 7-2 count, but could not get a hit with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 runners on base on Sunday.
 
Sophomore left fielder Hailey Hoklotubbe and senior catcher Sierra Maddox each had multi-hit performances, while Hoklotubbe tied Rutgers' longest streak of the season reaching base safely at 17 straight games.
 
Michigan State took the early 2-0 lead on a solo home run and an RBI single in the first inning, but junior starter Whitney Jones settled down over the next two innings with the support of her defense. Freshman left fielder Madyson Cole made an over-the-shoulder catch on the run to end the second, and Rutgers turned its nation-leading 32^nd double play of the season in the third on a lineout to junior Jess Hughes at shortstop.
 
Maddox chipped into the defensive effort with her 12^th caught stealing of the season to end the fifth.
 
Rutgers threatened in the fifth and sixth as Hughes and Hoklotubbe reached on back-to-back base hits, but MSU's Kristina Zalewski kept the sheet clean and stranded both on base. Then in the sixth, sophomore Anyssa Iliopoulos and Maddox hit in consecutive at-bats, only to be stranded again by Zalewski.
 
Jones picked up a strikeout in the fifth and sat down the Spartans in order in the sixth, but took the hard-luck loss without run support.
 
UP NEXT: The Scarlet Knights wrap up non-conference play on Wednesday, May 2 at 4 p.m. when they host nationally ranked Hofstra at the RU Softball Complex.
 
KNIGHT NOTES

• Hoklotubbe is now tied with Jess Hughes for the longest reached base safely streak this season at 17 games, which includes a career-long 10-game hit streak. Over the 17 games, Hoklotubbe is hitting .321 and getting on base at a .390 clip.
• MSU moves to 13-7 in the all-time series dating back to 1981, and 7-5 as opponents in the Big Ten since 2015.

 
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