Five Games For Spartans Will Wrap Spring Break

March 6, 2014

MSU at Florida International
Date	Thurs., March 6, 2014; 3 p.m.
Location	Miami, Fla.; FIU Softball Stadium
Video Webstream	www.fiusports.com
Radio	none
Live Statistics	Click Here
Download Game Notes	MSU
Social Media	@MSU_Softball \| Facebook

MSU at the Florida Atlantic Parents Weekend Tournament
Dates	Fri-Sat, March 7-8, 2014
Location	Boca Raton, Fla.; FAU Softball Stadium
Video Webstream	vs. None
Radio	none
Live Statistics
Download Game Notes	MSU
Social Media	@MSU_Softball \| Facebook
Tournament Central Website	http://fausports.com/

SERIES NOTES

• Michigan State wraps up a nine-day road trip over Spring Break with five games over three days. The Spartans play Thursday (3 p.m.) at Florida International, then two games each on Friday and Saturday at the Florida Atlantic Tournament.

• MSU owns a 9-1 record against Florida International in the all-time series. The Panthers own a 14-6 overall record in 2014, which includes wins over Big Ten schools Minnesota and Wisconsin.

• MSU has already played two of its four opponents in the FAU Tournament, as it saw Hofstra last weekend at FGCU (an 8-0 loss) and played FAU on Tuesday, a 6-5 come-from-behind victory for the Owls.

TEN FOR TWITTER
Spartan Softball in 140 characters

• .@MSU_Softball plays Thursday at @FIUSoftball, then at @FAUOwlsSoftball Tourney w/@HerdSB, @HofstraSoftball & @VT_Softball.

• Gametracker software has been upgraded, now available on cell phones & mobile devices. Follow from links at MSUSpartans.com

• .@MSU_Softball fell, 8-0, to @HofstraSoftball last week at FGCU, Heartbreaking 6-5 (8) loss to @FAUOwlsSoftball on Tues.

• .@MSU_Softball looking to snap three-game skid on Thurs. at @FIUSoftball. Spartans 9-1 all-time vs. Panthers.

• Spartans are 0-3 in extra-inning games this season, two 8-inning gms , one 9-inning.

• DP @ShanWOWbaby hit .400 at FGCU Tourney, hit HR Tues at Florida Atlantic. Hitting .304 on the season.

• 3B @Sarah_Gutknecht leads MSU in RBI (11), doubles (4), and at-bats (44); 3rd on the team in both runs scored (5) and walks (4).

• 1B @McKinzie_Mae hit .545 w/2B, 3B, .818 Slg% at FGCU tourney.

• Sr. P @smith6kelly now 10th in career K's at MSU with 255. Had 222K's in 2013, third-best single-season performance in MSU history.

• Junior @SLSanders20 is 3-of-5 with 6 RBI as a pinch hitter in 2014; hit .400 as a pinch hitter as a sophomore.

TEAM NOTES

• The Spartans will look to snap a three-game skid on Thursday when it plays a single game against the Panthers. MSU dropped both games on Sunday at FGCU (to Hofstra and the host Eagles), then lost a heartbreaker in extra innings to FAU on Tuesday due to six fielding errors.

• MSU committed six errors in its loss to FAU on Tuesday, the most since a seven-error game vs. Purdue on April 9, 2009. FAU committed three errors of its own in the game.

• None of the six runs scored by FAU on Tuesday were earned. The Spartans rank 10th in the Big Ten in team ERA (4.41).

• A major frustration from Tuesday was the six the errors - particularly since the one area in which head coach Jacquie Joseph had been pleased is team defense. MSU entered the week ranked fourth in the Big Ten with a .969 fielding percentage, with just 12 errors on 391 chances, the third-fewest errors in the league behind Michigan's five and the 11 by Illinois.

• MSU has turned the third-most double plays in the league (7); Illinois has 11, and Iowa 8.

• Spartan batters have been hit by pitches 21 times, more than any other team in the league. Wisconsin batters have been hit by pitches 16 times to rank second.

• The Spartans lead the Big Ten in sacrifice bunts, with 17. Only Purdue (11) has also reached double-digits.

• MSU's bats went quiet in the second day of the FGCU Invitational against Hofstra and the host Eagles, with just four hits in the two games. Two players (McKinzie Freimuth and Shanin Thomas) accounted for all four hits, with each of them getting two hits in the same game.

• MSU has played three extra-inning games this season, and has lost all three. Two of the games went eight innings (Oklahoma and Florida Atlantic), while the SIU-Edwardsville game took nine innings.

• The Spartans are 10-for-13 overall on stolen base attempts this season, but was 0-for-1 last weekend at FGCU and 1-for-1 on Tuesday at FAU.

• The Spartans have scored a total of 57 runs in 16 games, with a total of 30 coming in the second, fourth, and seventh innings. The Spartans have allowed 85 runs, with 67 coming in the first (13), second (17), fourth (16), fifth (10), and seventh (12) innings.

• MSU will play nine games against five teams which appeared in this week's NFCA poll. MSU has already played single games against No. 19 Oklahoma and No. 6 Washington, and has a single game against current No. 21 Notre Dame along with three-game series against Big Ten foes No. 5 Michigan and No. 16 Nebraska. In addition, MSU has three games against Northwestern and two against Hofstra, both which sit just outside the top 25. Big Ten foe Minnesota is also ranked (No. 17), but is not on MSU's regular-season schedule this year.
Nineteen of MSU's 26 non-conference opponents finished fifth or better in their conference in 2013, and five are their defending conference champions. Washington and Oklahoma, as well as Big Ten foes Nebraska and Michigan, made the Women's College World Series. Four Big Ten teams received bids to the NCAA Tournament overall.

Carly Nielsen

• MSU was the fifth-most improved team in Division I softball in 2013 from its 2012 record. The 2012 Spartans suffered through an 11-42 campaign riddled with injuries, but went 24-25 in 2013, a 15-game improvement. Only four programs had more than a 15-game improvement from 2012 to 2013: Delaware (+19.5), Northwestern State (+18.5), St. Joseph's (+17), and UNC Greensboro (+15.5).

• MSU's infield features mostly underclassmen, with the exception being junior 1B McKinzie Freimuth. The middle infield of Jacquie Reiser and Destinee Luna are sophomores, while Sarah Gutknecht (3B), catcher Lindsey Besson, and two of MSU's three healthy pitchers (Valerie Kaff and Kristina Zalewski) are all freshmen. Four of MSU's five outfielders are juniors - Alyssa McBride, Carly Nielsen, Stephanie Sanders, and Ellie Stoffer - and left fielder Kassidy Kujawa is a first-year player.

• MSU returns 12 letter winners and six starters from last year's team which finished 24-25 and played in the Big Ten Tournament. Three starters were lost to graduation - center fielder and All-Big Ten pick Kylene Hopkins, third baseman and All-Big Ten selection Jayme O'Bryant, and second baseman Jenny Ramsaier. Ramsaier and O'Bryant are back with the team this year as student coaches.

PLAYER NOTES

• Junior McKinzie Freimuth was the Spartans' top hitter at the FGCU Tournament, smacking six hits, which included a double and a triple. She hit .545, posting a .583 OBP and impressive .818 slugging pct. On the season, she leads the team in hits (13) and runs (8).

• Freimuth recently had a five-game hitting streak, the team's longest hitting streak of the season. Over those five games (2/22 vs. South Carolina to 3/2 vs. Hofstra), Freimuth went 9-of-15 at the plate (.600) with two triples.

• Shanin Thomas returned to the lineup at DP, and hit .500 over the four games, with a double. She added a home run on Tuesday against FAU, her second round-tripper of the season. Thomas owns the team's longest active hitting streak (two games).

• Stephanie Sanders continues her prowess as a pinch hitter. The junior has had six pinch hit appearances and is 3-for-5 (.600), including a bases-loaded double on Tuesday at FAU which yielded three RBI. On the year, she's batting .286 and has the team's second-highest OBP (.400) behind Thomas. Sanders hit .400 as a pinch hitter in 2013.

• Freshman Sarah Gutknecht leads the team in RBI (11), doubles (4), and at-bats (44). She is third on the team in both runs scored (5) and walks (4).

• Thomas, Gutknecht and Kassidy Kujawa share the team lead in home runs, with two each.

• All six of Kristina Zalewski's pitching appearances have come in relief this season, which ranks second in the Big Ten that category. She is also second in the B1G in games finished (6).

• Valerie Kaff and Kelly Smith are tied for 11th in the Big Ten, each with 31 strikeouts. Smith has struck out 13 batters looking, which is ninth in the B1G.

• Kaff is tied for sixth in the league in innings pitched (48.1), while Smith is 10th with 42.1 Smith ranks sixth in hit batters

• Kelly Smith has moved into the top-10 all time at MSU in career strikeouts. Her 255 career strikeouts allowed her to move into tenth place past Keri DeJong (250). In 2013, Smith had 222 K's, good for third in MSU's single-season record book.

• Sophomore Jacquie Reiser set an MSU single-game record with four sacrifice hits in the 5-2 win over UNC-Wilmington on Feb. 21. Her four sacrifice bunts is the most by any Big Ten player in a game this season. Reiser has just 15 at-bats, despite starting all 11 games at second base.
The previous MSU single-game record was three, set by Lacy Hauxhurst vs. Detroit in March of 2001. Reiser's five sacrifice bunts this year is the second-most in the Big Ten.
Reiser ranks second in the big ten in sac bunts (6)