"It was great," Sokolove said. "Going into that at-bat, I was getting kind of frustrated to be honest with just how the day had gone, but just reminding myself, just give my stats, give it all to God, and he’ll take care. I think that was all him right there."

Sokolove, who wasn’t trying to go deep, got a pitch he could handle and let the wind help take it the rest of the way.

"I was just trying to hit something to the right side of the field and get something going in the inning," he said. "Didn’t know it was out necessarily, but I mean, you get it up in the wind like that—it was gonna go."

The Spartans wasted no time getting on the board. With two outs in the bottom of the first, redshirt senior first baseman Sam Busch launched a two-run homer to right, giving MSU an early 2-0 lead.

But the Buckeyes responded immediately in the second. After tying the game with a two-RBI single from Maddix Simpson, they jumped ahead 4-2 on a two-run double down the line from Trey Lipsey.

With Ohio State threatening to break the game open in the third — runners on second and third with one out at that point — MSU sophomore starter Joseph Dzierwa delivered two clutch strikeouts to escape the jam and keep the deficit at two.

OSU extended the lead to 6-2 in the fourth, aided by an RBI single and a costly fielding error by Sokolove in center field. But MSU clawed back.

A two-run double from sophomore catcher Ryan McKay in the fifth sparked the Spartan comeback. Then, in the sixth, junior infielder Randy Seymour delivered a two-run single to give MSU its first lead since the opening frame, 7-6. Seymour later scored on back-to-back throwing errors, pushing the lead to 8-6.

Still, Ohio State wouldn’t go away. The Buckeyes plated three runs in the top of the seventh, including a two-RBI triple from Sal Mineo and an RBI single by Simpson to reclaim the lead, 9-8.

MSU tied the game in the bottom of the eighth thanks to a solo shot from senior outfielder Will Shannon — one that required video review after initially being ruled foul. The call stood, and the Spartans had new life.

Despite five defensive errors, MSU’s bullpen settled in, and the game remained deadlocked until the 11th, when Sokolove sent the home crowd into a frenzy.

MSU baseball head coach Jake Boss Jr. acknowledged the team didn’t play its best, but praised the toughness and grit shown to pull out the win.

"We didn’t really play well," he said. "But if you can win and not play well, I think that’s a good sign… We made five errors and won. You feel fortunate, very fortunate."

Defensive inconsistency has been a recurring theme for the Spartans this season.

Friday’s dramatic win provides MSU with momentum heading into the rest of the weekend series with Ohio State. For Sokolove and the Spartans, the focus is now on building off this gritty victory.

"We’ve had a couple games where we were down, made some mistakes, came back, and it didn’t go our way," Sokolove said. "So to finally see one go through and end up in our favor was excellent."

The Spartans and Buckeyes will meet again Sunday at 1:02 p.m. at McLane Stadium for Game Three of the series.