Spartans Play Final Regular-Season Series at Northwestern

May 2, 2014

MSU (12-33, 4-16 B1G) vs. Northwestern (29-15, 11-9 B1G)
Dates	Fri.-Sun, May 2-4, 2014; Evanston, Ill.. Sharon J. Drysdale Field
Video Stream	none
Television	none
Radio	www.SpartanSportsNetwork.com
Live Statistics
Team Information	Michigan State: Roster \| Schedule \| Stats Northwestern: Roster \| Schedule \| Stats
Download Game Notes	Michigan State \| Northwestern
Social Media	@MSU_Softball \| Facebook

SERIES NOTES

• Michigan State heads to Evanston, Ill. for a three-game series against Northwestern. The teams play at 5 p.m. ET on Friday, 2 p.m. ET on Saturday, and at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.

• Both teams are looking to snap four-game skids. MSU dropped a 6-4 decision to CMU last Wednesday then was swept last weekend by Nebraska; Northwestern was swept by Ohio State, then fell to cross-town rival DePaul on Wednesday in a midweek non-conference tilt.

• Northwestern owns a commanding 69-29 lead in the all-time series, and swept the Spartans in 2012 in the last meetings of the teams. MSU owns a 18-29 record in road games between the teams, (but is just 7-37 at home against the Wildcats).

• MSU will play in Evanston in back-to-back weeks. The Wildcats are the host institution for the 2014 Big Ten Tournament, which begins next Thursday.

• All softball games, both home and away, will have a live broadcast at www.spartansportsnetwork.com. Ken Friend will have the call, and will be joined in the booth frequently by Ali Grant, a four-year Spartan letterwinner (2009-12). In addition, Spartan Sports Network's 24/7 app allows listeners to hear all games carried by the network on their mobile devices. Friend will have all the action from Evanston beginning at 4:50 p.m. on Friday.

• Live stats will be available 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 the game at www.MSUSpartans.com.

TEN FOR TWITTER
Spartan Softball in 140 characters

• .@MSU_Softball heads to Evanston for a 3-gm @B1GSoftball series vs. @NUSBcats this weekend. NU hosts #B1GTournament next week.

• 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

• Both @MSU_Softball and @NUSBcats looking to snap four-game skids.

• @MSU_Softball had just 10 home games this season.

• .@Smith6Kelly's 312 career strikeouts is 9th all-time at MSU. 40 of her 90 Ks this yr are batters caught looking.

• .@SarahBowin2 has hits in 3 of last 5 gms; has reached base in 6 straight gms. @SarahGutknecht has reached in 9 straight.

•.@SLSanders is hitting .253 (3rd on team) with 17 RBI; is 7-of-12 as PH .

• Three of top 4 hitters are freshmen: .@SarahGutknecht (.285, 24 RBI, 6 HR), @lindsebess (.273, 3 2b, 9 RBI), and Kassidy Kujawa (.252, 12 RBI, 6 2B, 3HR).

• .@mckinzie_mae one of top fielders in B1G; leads team w/.987 Fld%, 3 err.. Kujawa (.987, 77 po, 1 err.) and lindsebess (.981, 150 po, 3 err.) rank 2nd, 3rd.)

TEAM NOTES

• MSU had won three of four games before dropping four straight games last week. MSU fell to Central Michigan last Wednesday in a non-conference matchup, then was swept by No. 19 Nebraska at Secchia Stadium last weekend.

• MSU won two of three games in Iowa City (April 18-20) to win its first-ever road series at Iowa, snapping a 14-game winning streak for the Hawkeyes in the series.

• MSU's opponents have been the beneficiary of MSU's thinning pitching staff, which has just two healthy hurlers. Senior Kelly Smith has thrown 34 innings over the last six games, including a no-hitter vs. EMU on April 16. Valerie Kaff is second among freshmen pitchers in the Big Ten in both innings pitched and appearances.

• MSU has already had five games this season washed away due to weather, and one series had to be moved- the Purdue series was originally to be played in East Lansing but was moved to West Lafayette. In all, MSU was limited to just 10 home games this season.

• 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, and the six times MSU was hit by a pitch on April 5 vs. Penn State.

• Through 45 contests, MSU has had only two players appear in every game this season - the middle infield duo of 2B Jacquie Reiser and SS Destinee Luna. MSU has been hampered by the injury bug throughout the season, forcing head coach Jacquie Joseph to patch together lineups. Junior 1B McKinzie Freimuth returned in the OSU series after missing the first five games of her career. Lindsey Besson missed the OSU series as well as the last four games behind the plate, senior Dana Briggs returned vs. PSU after suffering a leg injury on the spring break trip, junior Stephanie Sanders is just returning to right field after a leg injury limited her to pinch-hitting duty, and Kassidy Kujawa missed the series finale against Michigan with injury as well. However, the most affected group has been the pitching staff - sophomore Dani Goranson will not pitch this season (the coaching staff was hoping to have her back in action for B1G games), and freshman Kristina Zalewski was injured at Purdue and is 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 has been run-ruled nine times, which includes the finale against Nebraska.

• MSU's 2014 schedule 12 games against six teams which appeared in this week's NFCA poll (April 28). MSU has already played single games against No. 15 Oklahoma, No. 11 Washington, and No. 21 Notre Dame, as well as a three-game series against Big Ten foes No. 7 Michigan. andNo. 19 Nebraska. In addition, MSU has played two against Hofstra and one against Virginia Tech, both which sit just outside the top 25, like this week's opponent Northwestern. Big Ten foes Minnesota (No. 12) is also ranked and Wisconsin is receiving votes, but are 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 (3B), catcher Lindsey Besson, and two of MSU's four pitchers (Valerie Kaff and Kristina Zalewski) are freshmen, and Dani Goranson is a sophomore, but is redshirting this season. 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

• Senior Kelly Smith has been versatile for the Spartans this season, ranking seventh in the B1G in appearances (31), which includes 23 starts (8th) while entering eight games in relief. She is 10th in innings pitched (130.1), while her two saves ranks sixth. She ranks eighth in starts (23) and is just outside the top 12 in strikeouts (90). Forty of her 90 K's were batters caught looking (3rd).

• Smith, with 312 career strikeouts, has moved into ninth place on MSU's all-time list. Lesley Noel (2005-08) sits in eighth place with 318.

• Valerie Kaff is second among Big Ten freshmen in both innings pitched (128) and starts (19) - only Illinois' Brandi Needham (153.2 IP, 25 starts) has gotten the ball more than Kaff among first-year players in the league. • Three of the top four hitters in the Spartan lineup are freshmen. Sarah Gutknecht owns the team lead in batting average (.285), hits (37), RBI (24), homers (6), and doubles (9); catcher Lindsey Besson is batting .270 with three doubles and nine RBI, while Kassidy Kujawa is hitting .252 with 12 RBI on 28 hits, which includes six doubles and three homers.

• Stephanie Sanders has had limited opportunities due to injuries this season, but is still batting .253 (third on the team) and is second on the team in RBI (17). Even when she couldn't play in the field, she went 7-for-12 as a pinch hitter with 10 RBI.

• 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.

• Senior Sarah Bowling has hits in three of the last five games for MSU, and has reached base in her season-best six straight games. Gutknecht has reached safely in nine straight, four off the team's best of 13 this season (Alyssa McBride)

• Spartan batters have been hit by pitches 54 times, the most in the league (Northwestern ranks second, with 46). Destinee Luna has been hit a team-high eight times, which ranks ninth in the Big Ten; Freimuth, Kujawa, and Jacquie Reiser have each been hit seven times.

• McKinzie Freimuth owns the team's longest active hitting streak, at two games. MSU had two hits in each of the last two games against Nebraska, and Freimuth had one in each game.

• Freimuth continues to be one of the top-fielding players in the league. She ranks 12th in the league in putouts (219), and has just three errors in 228 chances - a fielding percentage of .987. She has also turned eight double plays. Kassidy Kujawa (.987, 77 po, 1 E) and Lindsey Besson (.981, 150 po, 3 E) rank second and third, respectively, on the roster in fielding pct.

• MSU leads the B1G in sacrifice bunts (54), 12 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 are the most by any Big Ten player in a game this season. Reiser's 13 sac bunts this year are the most in the B1G and rank 16th nationally.