Michigan State University Athletics
Baseball Takes on Michigan in Home-and-Home Series
4/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 17, 2009
Michigan (20-14, 4-5) vs. Michigan State (12-21, 3-6)
Fri. & Sun. - McLane Baseball Stadium • East Lansing
Sat. - Wilpon Complex/Fisher Stadium • Ann Arbor
Friday, April 17, 3:05 p.m., McLane Baseball Stadium
Sr. RHP Nolan Moody (4-4, 3.25) vs. Sr. RHP Chris Fetter (5-1, 2.35)
Saturday, April 18, 1:05 p.m., Wilpon Complex/Fisher Stadium
So. RHP A.J. Achter (1-3, 3.49) vs. Jr. LHP Eric Katzman (5-2, 3.07)
Sunday, April 19, 1:05 p.m., McLane Baseball Stadium
TBA vs. TBA
GameTracker available for all games at MSUSpartans.com
Pitching matchups probable and subject to change
Complete Spartan Baseball Notes
Leading Off...
Spartans Take On Michigan in Home-and-Home Series
The Spartans enter this weekend's series after a 6-0 win over Western Michigan on Wednesday (April 15) at McLane Baseball Stadium. Michigan enters Friday's game in sixth place in the Big Ten with a 20-14 overall record and a 4-5 mark in conference play. MSU is currently eighth in the Big ten at 3-6 in league play and 12-21 overall.
Spartans Pound Lugnuts in Third Annual Crosstown Showdown
The Spartans got their first win over the Lansing Lugnuts in the third annual Crosstown Showdown on Thursday night, defeating the Midwest League club, 12-2. A.J. Dunn, Max Miller and Kurtis Frymier combined to pitch six innings and hold the Lugnuts to five hits while collecting a total of nine Ks. MSU jumped on the Lugs early, with a four-run second inning and a three-run third to go up 7-0. Seven different Spartans picked up RBIs.
The exhibition event also set a new Oldsmobile Park attendance record with a crowd of 12,992, breaking the previous attendance record of 12,862 which was set at the 2008 Crosstown Showdown.
Good To Be Home
Michigan State is a perfect 9-0 at home entering today's game with Michigan. This season marks MSU's best home start since 2004, when it won 12 straight at home to start the year.
Senior Roof Stepping It Up
Since his career-high 5-for-5 performance vs. Central Michigan on April 1, senior tri-captain Eric Roof has picked up a hit in all but one of the team's eight games since then. He enters Friday's game with a team-high seven game hitting streak.
Through 33 games this season, he has a .309 batting average and hits 38 hits are just two shy of the 40 he totaled in 46 games in 2008. His nine doubles lead the team.
Runners Beware
The Spartans have made it tough on opponents on the bases this year as the MSU pitching staff has picked off a conference-leading 12 runners. Junior pitcher Kyle Corcoran is the Big Ten leader with four runners picked off.
Overall defensively, MSU has thrown out 20 runners caught stealing which is good for second in the conference.
Pitchers Pick It Up
Through nine conference games, the Spartan pitching staff has given up a total of 42 runs. Since surrendering 10 runs in MSU's first conference game at Illinois, the Spartan staff has combined to give up an an average of 4.0 runs per game over their last eight contests.
MSU is currently third in the Big Ten in conference games with a 3.81 team ERA which is over one full run less than their ERA of 4.87 in all games. The Spartan pitching staff is holding opponents to a .248 batting average in conference games.
Booch Ks Nine In Win
Freshman pitcher Tony Bucciferro struck out a team season-high nine in MSU's 6-0 win over Western Michigan on Wednesday at McLane Baseball Stadium. Bucciferro went 7.0 innings and gave up no runs off just three hits. He is now 3-1 on the year and his 2.75 ERA ranks eighth in the conference.
Bucciferro has an outstading strikeout-to-walk ratio as he's fanned 32 this season while issuing just six walks.
Moody Christens McLane Baseball Stadium With No-Hitter
In the Spartans' opening game at McLane Baseball Stadium on April 4 in game one of a doubleheader with Northwestern, senior Nolan Moody threw the first MSU no-hitter in over 16 years. Moody pitched brilliantly and carried a perfect game into the eighth inning before issuing a two-out walk. The East Lansing native received spectacular defense all day and got a double play to end the game in the ninth, giving MSU a 2-0 win. Moody's five strikeouts in the game tied a career high.
Moody's no-hitter was the first by a Spartan since Dan Garman no-hit Purdue in a 1-0 win on March 28, 1993. The no-hitter is also the first in a Big Ten Conference game since 2006 when Northwestern no-hit MSU.
For his effort, Moody earned Big Ten Pitcher of the Week, National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Pro-Line Athletic National Pitcher of the Week accolades, and was named to the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Louisville Slugger's National Players of the Week list and also named to the College Baseball Foundation's National All-Star Lineup.
Moody enters Friday's game with a 3.25 ERA.
Miller Takes On New Role
Senior Max Miller, who has been a member of the Spartan pitching staff his entire career, has recently transitioned to the infield to due a rash of injuries that have left the Spartans with a lack of depth around the bases. Miller went 1-for-1, scored twice and got his first collegiate hit in MSU's 20-3 victory over CMU on April 1. He got his first start as MSU's designated hitter vs. Western Michigan on April 9 in a 5-4 loss.
Miller, who is still available to pitch, has made a career-high six appearances and struck out three on the mound this year.
McLane Baseball Stadium
The Michigan State baseball program added one of the biggest highlights to its illustrious 125-year history last weekend with the opening of McLane Baseball Stadium. The 2,500-seat stadium enhances one of the most pristine settings in college athletics and was made possible with the generous gift of Drayton and Elizabeth McLane who committed $4 million toward the project. Drayton McLane earned his masters in food marketing management in 1959 from MSU and is currently Chairman and CEO of the Houston Astros.
The stadium will be formally dedicated in a pre-game ceremony on May 2.
McLane Baseball Stadium is part of the "New Life for Old College Field" project which began in 2006 with one of the chief purposes of the project to enhance historic Kobs Field. The first step in the project was the replacement of the field in 2006 and the addition of a new indoor hitting and pitching facility in the fall of 2007. The ballpark's brick accents will architecturally match historic Jenison Field House and MSU's newly constructed hitting and pitching facility.
The MSU Board of Trustees approved the naming of the stadium in September 2008 and construction began in early December.
Roberts Collects 150 Hits
Through 33 games, junior infielder Chris Roberts ranks second on the team in hits this season with 37 and now has 150 for his career. He collected 48 hits as a freshman and 65 as a sophomore. Roberts is still a ways from moving into the MSU top 10 in career hits as Mike Davidson (1985-88) and Matt Riggins (1993-96) are tied for ninth place all-time with 203.
