Spartans Prepare for Midweek Doubleheader at Indiana

April 7, 2014

MSU (8-24, 1-8 B1G) at Indiana (10-26-1, 2-7 B1G)
Dates	Wed. April 9, 2014
Location	Bloomington, Ind.; Andy Mohr Field
Television	Big Ten Network
Radio	www.SpartanSportsNetwork.com
Live Statistics
Team Information	MSU Roster \| Schedule \| Stats IU Roster \| Schedule \| Stats
Download Game Notes	Michigan State
Social Media	@MSU_Softball \| Facebook

SERIES NOTES

• Michigan State heads to Bloomington, Ind. for the second time this season, and will play Indiana in a doubleheader on Wednesday at 4 and 6 p.m.

• The Spartans trail the all-time series against the Hoosiers by a 49-60 margin, but the Spartans trail 21-22 in games played in Bloomington.

• Last year, the teams played a three-game series in East Lansing, and the Spartans swept all three contests (5-0, 10-7, 2-1 (8 inn.)). That snapped a five-game winning streak in the series for the Hoosiers.

• MSU provides a radio broadcast of all softball games, both home and away, at www.spartansportsnetwork.com. Ken Friend will have the call, and will be joined in the booth for home games by Ali Grant, a four-year Spartan letterwinner (2009-12). In addition, Spartan Sports Network's 24/7 app allows listerners to hear all games carried by the network on their mobile devices.

• Live stats will be available each game of the doubleheader via Gametracker. The Gametracker program has undergone an upgrade, allowing smartphone and tablet users to utilize it on their mobile devices. All links can be found for this weekend's games at www.MSUSpartans.com.

TEN FOR TWITTER
Spartan Softball in 140 characters

• .@MSU_Softball heads to Bloomington, plays @B1GSoftball DH vs. @IUSoftball. DH starts at 4, will air live on BTN.

• All remaining @MSU_Softball games are on @Spartan_Radio (www.spartansportsnetwork.com) with @KFriend500 on the call.

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

• .@MSU_Softball fell to @PennStSB last weekend in 3-gm series (3-9, 3-7, 0-6).

• Spartans swept 3-gm series from @IUSoftball in 2013; trail all-time series 49-60. MSU is 21-22 in Bloomington.

• Jr. @SLSanders20 is 7-of-12, 10 RBI as a pinch hitter. Leads team with .295 BA overall.

• .@Sarah_Gutknecht leads team in hits (25), RBI (23), homers (6), doubles (7), slugging pct. (.532). Has played 29 games at RF, 1B, 3B, DP.

• .@Alyssa_McBride has reached base safely in 11 straight gms, has hits in 8 of last 9.

• Sr. P @smith6kelly ranks 7th in B1G in app. (20) - 14 starts (T-11th), 8 in relief (T-11th), 4th in saves (2).

• .@JacquieReiser leads B1G w/9 sac bunts; @Lindsebess is T-1st in B1G games only (4).

TEAM NOTES

• MSU has dropped five straight, and was swept by Penn State (3-9, 3-7, 0-6) last week in the season-opening series at Secchia Stadium. MSU also lost in a midweek tilt at Notre Dame.

• MSU's opponents have been the beneficiary of MSU's thinning pitching staff, which has just two healthy hurlers. Freshman Valerie Kaff threw 11.2 innings over the weekend, as well as the Wednesday tilt vs. Notre Dame, while senior Kelly Smith threw a complete game on Sunday and 2.1 innings on Friday.

• MSU has already had five games this season washed away due to weather, including the March 25 home opener against Western Michigan. In addition, the Purdue series was originally to be played in East Lansing but was moved to West Lafayette.

• MSU (along with Penn State and Wisconsin) has played 32 games, the third-fewest in the Big Ten; Iowa has played a league-low 28, and Northwestern 31. Purdue leads the league with 39 games played, while Nebraska has 38 and Indiana 37.

• MSU's 10-inning win over Toledo (3/15) is the longest game in the Big Ten this season. MSU's 30 putouts in that game is also a league-high this season, as is MSU's five sacrifice hits that it had against UNC-Wilmington on Feb. 22.

• Through 32 games, MSU has had only two players appear in every game this season - the middle infield duo of 2B Jacquie Reiser and SS Destinee Luna. Lately, MSU has been hit by the injury bug, as head coach Jacquie Joseph has had to patch together lineups. Junior 1B McKinzie Freimuth returned in the OSU series after missing the previous five games, the first missed games of her career. Lindsey Besson has returned after missing the OSU series behind the plate, senior Dana Briggs has been out since suffering a leg injury on the spring break trip, and junior Stephanie Sanders has been limited in recent games. However, the most affected group has been the pitching staff - sophomore Dani Goranson is now not expected back this season (the coaching staff was hoping to have her back in action for the Big Ten season), and freshman Kristina Zalewski was injured during the Purdue weekend and is now out for the remainder of the season.

• MSU has played five extra-inning games this season, and lost the first four before breaking that streak on March 15 against Toledo. Three of the games went eight innings (Bethune-Cookman, and both against Florida Atlantic), while the SIU-Edwardsville game took nine innings, and the Toledo game 10.

• MSU's 2014 schedule 12 games against six teams which appeared in this week's NFCA poll (April 2). MSU has already played single games against No. 22 Oklahoma and No. 5 Washington, and No. 23 Notre Dame. Still on tap is three-game series against Big Ten foes No. 6 Michigan, No. 20 Nebraska, and No. 25 Northwestern. In addition, MSU has played two against Hofstra and one against Virginia Tech, both which sit just outside the top 25. Big Ten foe Minnesota is also ranked (No. 15), 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.

• 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 (1B/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.

PLAYER NOTES

• Both Shanin Thomas (.333, 2-for-6) and Sarah Gutknecht (3-for-10, HR, 2b, 2 RBI) hit better than .300 against Penn State. Gutknecht hit her team-best sixth home run of the season, and has hit one homer in each of the three Big Ten series this season. Her three HR in B1G play is tied for fourth.

• Gutknecht owns the team lead in hits (25), RBI (23), homers (6), doubles (7), slugging pct. (.532), plate appearances (107), and at-bats (94). She is second in batting average (.266) and third in walks (11). She also owns the team's longest active hitting streak (four games).

• Gutknecht has played the most positions on the field of any player on the roster. She has logged games in right field, third and first base, in addition to being the designated player. She has played all of the Big Ten season, and the most games overall, at third base.

• On the season, Kassidy Kujawa leads the team in batting average (.286), runs (13), and OBP (.421), while ranking second in hits (22), doubles (5), walks (13), and total bases (33), She ranks third in homers, and had a season-best six putouts in the series finale against Purdue. On the year, her fielding percentage is perfect, with 54 putouts in left field.

• Alyssa McBride's team-best active hitting streak came to an end at six games when she failed to get a hit on Friday vs. Penn State, but rebounded with a hit in each of the last two games of the series. She has reached base safely in 11 consecutive games, the team's longest active streak. Her seven walks in Big Ten play ranks fifth in the league.

• Junior Ellie Stoffer hit her second home run of the season on Saturday against Penn State. She and Sarah Gutknecht hit back-to-back homers in the fifth inning.

• Spartan batters have been hit by pitches 39 times, the most in the league. Destinee Luna has been hit a team-high eight times, which ranks sixth in the Big Ten; McKinzie Freimuth has been plunked six times, which ranks 11th. She was injured on her most recent HBP against Marshall (March 7), which caused her to miss five games - the first games missed in her MSU career.

• Luna, Kujawa, and Jacquie Reiser have each been hit by a pitch three times in B1G play, which is one shy of the league-high four.

• Stephanie Sanders hit .400 last weekend against Penn State with a pair of doubles and two RBI. One of those doubles (and both RBI) came as a pinch hitter. In game one of the series. On the season, the junior has had 14 pinch hit appearances and is 7-for-12 (.583) with 10 RBI. In the Big Ten, only Purdue's Katy McJunkin (7-for-10 (.700), 4 RBI) and Kelsey Susalla of Michigan (5-for-5, 3 RBI) are at the same level of proficiency as Sanders. She hit .400 last year as a pinch hitter.

• The Spartans lead the Big Ten in sacrifice bunts (37), 10 more than second-place Indiana. Jacquie Reiser set an MSU single-game record with four sacrifice hits in the 5-2 win over UNC-Wilmington on Feb. 21. Those four sacrifice bunts is the most by any Big Ten player in a game this season. Reiser's nine sacrifice bunts this year is the most in the Big Ten, and ranks 22nd nationally. Lindsey Besson has four sac bunts in Big Ten play, which ranks in a tie for first.

• Kelly Smith has been versatile for the Spartans this season, ranking seventh in the B1G in appearances (22), which includes 14 starts (T-11th) while entering eight games in relief (T-11th). Her two saves ranks fourth, and her 83 IP ranks 12th.

• Valerie Kaff ranks 11th in the league in innings pitched (92.0), and is eighth in starts (11). She threw 10.2 innings on March 30 against Purdue in the doubleheader, threw a complete game last Wednesday at Notre Dame, and threw 11.2 innings over two games in the Penn State series.

• Among league pitching leaders, Kaff is second among freshmen in both innings pitched and starts - only Illinois' Brandi Needham (122.1 IP, 19 starts) has gotten the ball more than Kaff among first-year players in the league.