Spartan Baseball Produces Record Breaking Season
5/29/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 29, 2002
EAST LANSING, Mich. -
Year-End Baseball Notes
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MSU IN BIG TEN TOURNAMENT: Michigan State made its sixth appearance in the Big Ten Tournament and the first since 1994. After dropping the opening game of the tournament to Northwestern, 4-2, the Spartan bats exploded with a 13-9 win over Iowa and a 14-1 bashing of Indiana. Playing its fourth game in three days, MSU lost to Minnesota, 6-0, in its final game of the tournament.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Bob Malek earned a spot on the All-Big Ten Tournament team. Malek was 8-of-16 with three home runs, four RBI and six runs scored.
SPARTANS ON A ROLL: Michigan State finished the season winning seven of its last 10 games, including six of eight against Big Ten opponents.
RED CEDAR SLUGGERS SET OFFENSIVE RECORDS: This season, Michigan State's offensive attack rewrote nearly every school record. The Spartans set new team marks for hits (685), runs (500), RBI (456), doubles (126) and home runs (95).
OFFENSIVE ATTACK AMONG NATION'S BEST: MSU finished the season with a .344 batting average and averaging 8.8 runs per game. Both totals were among the nation's leaders with the Spartans ranking fourth in hitting and 10th in runs scored. Individually, Chris McCuiston ranked in the top 30 in the nation in RBI per game. MSU scored 10 or more runs in 10 of its last 14 contests.
THIRD PLACE NOT TOO SHABBY: The Spartans finished the regular season with a 16-12 Big Ten record, good for third place in the conference. This marked the best finish for Michigan State since 1994, when MSU tied for third with a 13-15 mark. Michigan State has not recorded 16 or more conference victories since 1992, when it finished 17-11.
38 WINS PLACE 2002 SPARTANS IN ELITE COMPANY: Michigan State finished the 2002 season with 38 wins. That total is good for second place on the Spartan's all-time win list. Only the 1988 Spartans won more games with 41 victories.
MSU'S HIT MEN: With a strong Big Ten Tournament, Chris McCuiston finished as the Big Ten leader in both hits (93) and batting average (.404). Bob Malek was third in both hits (88) and batting average (.402). Jared Koutnik was fourth in the conference with 79 hits, while Charlie Braun was fourth in the league with a .394 batting average.
SAFE AWAY FROM HOME: A large part of Michigan State's success was its ability to win away from East Lansing. This season, MSU was 23-5 on the road and 4-3 on a neutral site for a 27-8 mark away from home.
THE STORY OF THE LONG BALL: In 2002, the home run has been a friend of Michigan State. Not only did the Spartans hit a team record 95 long balls, but the MSU pitching staff allowed just 38 in 464 innings of work. That equates to one home run allowed for every 12 innings. Individually, Bob Malek tied for the Big Ten lead with 16 home runs, while Chris McCuiston ranked fourth with 15 round-trippers. Kyle Geswein tied for fifth with 14 home runs.
MALEK'S ATTACK ON THE RECORD BOOKS: In just three years, junior outfielder Bob Malek rewrote many of MSU's hitting records. In the last weekend of the regular season at Penn State, Malek became the Spartans' career RBI leader with 162 runs driven in. In the Big Ten Tournament, Malek passed Steve Money for the career hits lead. Both the record-tying and record-setting hits were solo home runs over the centerfield wall at Siebert Field. He finished the season with 166 runs and 245 hits for his career. Malek is also among the MSU career leaders in doubles (45, 2nd), home runs (29, 3rd) and runs (152, 2nd).
BIG TEN PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Bob Malek was named Tri-Big Ten Player of the Year. This marked the first time in Michigan State history that a Spartan has been named Player of the Year. Malek finished the season ranked in the top 10 in most every Big Ten offensive category, including hits (88, 3rd), runs (66, 2nd), doubles (21, 2nd), home runs (16, t-1st), total bases (163, 1st), slugging percentage (.744, 2nd) and stolen bases (16, 8th).
ALL-BIG TEN HONOREES: Along with being named Big Ten Player of the Year, Bob Malek was named First-Team All-Big Ten. He becomes just the eighth player in Michigan State history to be a two-time first-team all-conference honoree, joining Charles Matthews (1954-55), Joe Porrevecchio (1962-64), John Biedenbach (1965-66), Harry Kendrick (1968-69), Ron Pruitt (1971-72), Al Weston (1974, '76-77) and Mark Mulder (1997-98). Malek was joined on the first team by designated hitter Kyle Geswein. Pitcher Nick Bates and outfielder Chris McCuiston earned second-team honors.
A BRIGHT DAY: Tim Day finished the season with an 11-3 record, establishing a MSU single-season record for victories. Previously, Dick Radatz (10-1 in 1959), Rob Clancy (10-1 in 1971) and Stuart Hirschman (10-3 in 1992) were the only three Spartans to earn double-digit victories in one season. His 10th win of the season gave Day a MSU freshman record. He finished the season with a 3.21 ERA and five complete games.
RING 'EM UP: Nick Bates is leaving his name on the MSU single-season and career strikeout charts. He finished his career ranked ninth with 157 strikeouts. His 100 strikeouts rank fourth on the single-season list.
RBI GUY: Chris McCuiston also made an attack on the Spartan record books. The senior outfielder had a career year and set a single-season record with 71 RBI, 93 hits and 22 doubles.
GULICK IS GRAND: In Michigan State's 13-9 win over Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament, freshman Travis Gulick hit a grand slam. While hitting a grand slam is quite an accomplishment, it has become commonplace for the East Lansing native. The home run marked his third grand slam in under a week, as he had recorded two grand slams in the last weekend of the regular season at Penn State.
FUNDAMENTALLY SOUND: Besides having a great offensive attack and solid pitching, the Spartans were a very sound defensive team in 2002. Michigan State ranked fourth in the Big Ten with a .964 fielding percentage. This season, the Spartans committed 20 fewer errors than their opponents.
STREAKS OF SIGNIFICANCE: Six Spartans have recorded double-digit game hitting streaks this season, including Bob Malek (17), Jared Koutnik (14), Charlie Braun (13), Chris McCuiston (12), James Moreno (12) and Brady Burrill (11).
20 AND COUNTING: This season was the quickest the Spartans reached the 20-win plateau since 1988, when the Green and White recorded their 20th win in their 26th game. Last season, it took MSU 40 games to reach 20 wins, compared with just 26 in 2002.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Junior Brady Burrill was named Big Ten Player of the Week Feb. 25, after hitting .583 and knocking in nine runs. Sophomore Scott Koerber earned the award the following week after belting four home runs in a three-game series with Charlotte. Bryan Gale was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week on April 22 after a complete game shutout vs. Michigan on April 19. Bob Malek earned the first weekly honor of his stellar career on May 20.
SPARTAN BASEBALL GETTING AN UPGRADE: Facility improvements are on the way for the Spartan baseball team. After the final regular season game of the year at Kobs Field, construction crews removed the cement dugouts that had stood for many years. They will be replaced this summer with new larger dugouts. MSU will also benefit from a new lockerroom, featuring a team room and oak lockers in Jenison Field House.
MORE BASEBALL, DIFFERENT TEAM: The end of a season brings about the end of a Spartan career for some players. But it doesn't have to mean the end of a baseball career. MSU seniors and some juniors will be waiting by the phone on June 4-5, the dates of the 2002 First-Year Player Draft for Major League Baseball.