Baseball Entertains Northwestern For A Four-Game Set
4/20/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 20, 2001
EAST LANSING, Mich. -
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TOP STORY: MSU enters its weekend series with the Northwestern Wildcats in ninth place in the Big Ten Conference standings. Earlier this week, the Spartans broke out the bats, crushing Oakland, 12-3. The Spartans are looking to improve their conference record to stay alive in the Big Ten Tournament race. Northwestern stands at 4-8 in the conference, one spot ahead of State.
Note of the Weekend:
AMONG THE NATION'S ELITE: Sophomore centerfielder Bob Malek has been one of the nation's top performers all season. Currently, he leads both Michigan State and the Big Ten Conference with a .463 batting average. Malek has led the conference all season in batting average and now stands tied for seventh place nationally in NCAA Division I batting, moving up three spots from last week. Malek also leads the Big Ten in hits with 63.
SCOUTING REPORT
Northwestern (15-22, 4-8) David Gresky and Eric Roeder lead the offensive attack for the Wildcats, hitting .321 and .277, respectively. Gresky leads the team in hits with 42 and is second in doubles with eight. Roeder leads the team in RBI with 27, total bases with 53 and runs scored with 22. Pitchers Zach Schara and Mike Nall are in the top 10 in the Big Ten in individual pitching with ERAs of 3.42 and 3.76.
The rotation for the Wildcats this weekend will be as follows:
Zach Schara-RHP
Mike Nall-RHP
Gabe Ribas-RHP
Ryan Bos-LHP
COMPLETING THE TASK: Three of MSU's four scheduled starting pitchers for this weekend have thrown complete games this season. Jon Huizinga threw yhe first of his collegiate career last weekend in MSU's 14-3 victory over Ohio State, Scott Brandell threw his first of the season in a losing effort vs. OSU in Saturday's second game. Kyle Geswein has thrown two complete games this season.
KILLER B'S: Bob Malek, Brady Burrill, and Brett Wattles are one, two, three in batting average currently for MSU. Each has been among the MSU offensive statistical leaders all season. At least two of the three are among the top three on the team in eight offensive catergories. Burrill led MSU last weekend with nine RBI in four games.
THE LAST TIME OUT
Michigan State traveled to Oakland University Wednesday and won convincingly, 12-3. The Spartans got homers from Chris McCuiston, Scott Koerber and Brady Burrill. State used a six-run first frame to jump ahead and stay ahead. Each team unloaded their bullpen, as the Grizzlies used seven pitchers while MSU used five.
Last weekend, MSU went 1-3 vs. Ohio State. The Spartans fell in a heartbreaker in game one, 10-9. After tying the game in the eight, Ohio State went ahead 10-6 in the ninth on a grand slam, MSU rallied in the ninth with three runs but came up short. In Saturday's first game, the Spartans came out swinging, send 12 batters to the plate in the first inning, scoring seven runs and eventually winning, 14-3. Saturday's second game saw the Buckeyes shut out the Spartans, 4-0 in a pitchers duel. Easter Sunday, the Buckeyes jumped out quick and never looked back, winning 13-3. MSU used five pitchers in the loss.
CHASING THE BOOK: Bob Malek is again chasing the MSU record books this season. Coming into this weekend, he has 63 hits, just 22 shy of breaking the single-season school record. Last year, as a freshman, he had 69 hits, good for 10th place. He is also looking to break into the single-season doubles record, as he now has 13 doubles, six short of first place.
STREAKERS: Bob Malek and Kyle Geswein enter the Northwestern series with hitting streaks of nine and seven games respectively. Earlier this season, Malek posted a team-high 11-game hitting streak, while Geswein's seven-game streak is his longest of the season.
LOAD `EM UP: State is hitting .441 this season as a team when the bases are loaded. This includes four players (Charlie Braun, Rick Court, Don Watchowski and Brett Wattles) that are hitting 1.000 with the bases jammed. MSU is also hitting .341 with runners in scoring position.
REP. CREWS: Junior Kevin Crews has been chosen to represent MSU at the NCAA Foundation Leadership Conference in Orlando this May 28-June 1. A total of 300 student-athletes from all NCAA divisions have been selected to participate.
NOTING THE NUMBERS:
*MSU is 1-10 when out-hit by opponents this season.
*MSU is 17-4 when they out-hit opponents.
*Largest margin of victory: 17 (vs. Lynn)
*Largest margin of defeat: 19 (vs. Ohio)
*Longest winning streak: 6 games
*Longest losing streak: 5 games
*MSU has out-scored its opponents, 228-223.
