Michigan State University Athletics
Spring Breakin' On Tap For Softball
3/4/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
| Michigan State (10-8) at UCF Knights Invitational | |
| Dates | Sat.- Sun. March 7-8, 2015 |
| Location | Orlando, Florida; UCF Softball Complex |
| Webstream | vs. UCF (Sunday) |
| Live Statistics | |
| Tournament Central | |
| Download Game Notes | Michigan State | Kent State | Bradley | UCF |
| Social Media | @MSU_Softball  | Facebook  |
TOURNAMENT NOTES
• Michigan State makes its second consecutive trip to Florida, and fourth of the season, to play in the UCF Knights Invitational at the University of Central Florida. MSU is beginning it's 10-day spring break by playing Kent State, the host Knights, and a pair against Bradley .
• MSU has only played Kent State one previous time in school history - a 3-2 win in nine innings in May of 1997. The Flashes are off to an 8-2 start to the season and have won six straight entering the weekend. The only common opponent between MSU and Kent State is San Diego - which also beat the Flashes by a 3-2 score.
• Bradley is 4-14 on the season, going 2-2 last weekend at the Sand Dollar Snow Classic in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The series record between the schools is tied at 1-1, with the previous meetings in 1985 (L, 4-2) and 1991 (W, 8-6).
• The host Knights are the No. 15 team in the country, improving to 15-3 on the year with a dramatic 8-6 victory over Maryland on Tuesday - when Brittany Solis hit a three-run walkoff homer in the bottom of the seventh inning. The lone meeting of MSU and UCF happened in 2005 - an eight-inning 4-4 stalemate.
• Live stats will be available for all four games, with links to each at www.MSUSpartans.com.
• There will a live video stream of Sunday's game against the host Knights.
TEAM NOTES
• The Spartans went 2-2 last weekend in Miami, earning a split against host Florida International (W 4-3, L 0-4 (5) as well as Ole Miss (L 3-4, W 9-3 (8).
• Seven of MSU's 18 games have been one-run affairs, and the Spartans are 4-3 in those contests - including a win and a loss by identical 4-3 scores last weekend.
• MSU is 8-3 on the season when scoring first, and owns a 8-1 mark when leading after five innings. MSU has scored 38 of its 70 runs on the year in the first three innings.
• Twelve of MSU's 18 games this season have been neutral-site contests, and MSU holds a 8-4 record in those games. MSU is 2-4 in road games.
• MSU posted a 9-3 win over Ole Miss in eight innings, it's first extra-inning victory since last season. MSU has only one other extra-inning game this season - a 3-2 loss to San Diego.
• MSU recorded it's 1,000th victory in program history with a 4-3 win over Florida International on Feb. 28. In the Big Ten, only Michigan (1,512), Nebraska (1,328), Iowa (1,251) and Northwestern (1,104) have won more games.
• MSU's pitching staff - a group greatly hindered by injury in 2014 - has been strong over the opening month of the season. MSU ranks fourth in strikeouts (104), and is fifth the Big Ten in team ERA (2.93), runs allowed (61), and opponent batting average (.254). MSU's staff is also third in the Big Ten in saves (3).
• The Spartans rank in the top half of the Big Ten in the "little things" - ranking first in sacrifice bunts (20), third in sacrifice flies (5), fifth in walks (59), and sixth in stolen bases (22), while posting a team .252 batting average.
• MSU baserunners have stolen 22 bases, good for sixth in the B1G; in 2014, MSU stole 27 bases on the season. MSU is a perfect 22-for-22 on the season in swipes.
• MSU has hit 24 doubles this season (the fourth highest team total in the Big Ten), and has 30 extra-base hits overall; MSU has allowed 21 extra-base hits on the year.
• A 20-game home schedule and non-conference games against schools from 17 different conferences (including six NCAA Tournament teams and eight conference champions) comprises Michigan State's 2015 schedule.
• MSU will play a total of 18 of 27 games in Florida in the pre-Big Ten portion of the season, having played four in California two weeks ago and five on tap in Georgia in the second half of Spring Break.
• Once the Spartans "come back north", they will play seven non-conference midweek games around their Big Ten schedule, with six of them coming at Secchia Stadium: against Detroit (March 24), Toledo (April 8), Eastern Michigan (April 14), Western Michigan (April 22), and Notre Dame (April 28); the lone road non-conference contest will be at Central Michigan on Wednesday, April 29.
PLAYER NOTES
• Senior Alyssa McBride continues to lead the Spartans with a .463 batting average, which is sixth in the Big Ten. She is also sixth in on-base percentage (.566), and tied for 10th in walks. McBride has tied her career high with three doubles, and posted a career-best nine RBI; her 19 hits are two away from bettering her 2014 total.
• McBride has reached base safely in each of MSU's 18 games this season, which is also her career high. Her 11-game hitting streak is also a career best.
• Classmate McKinzie Freimuth also has a hot hand, hitting better than .350 for the second straight weekend. She hit .385 at the FIU tournament, racking up a team-best five hits, knocking in three and smacking a pair of doubles. Her eight RBI are a career best, and her four doubles is one off her career high as well. On the year, Friemuth is hitting a career-best .308.
• Freimuth also continues her sure-handed ways at first base; she has a team-best 122 putouts in 129 chances (good for fourth in the league in both categories, with just one error for a .992 fielding percentage.
• Freimuth, fellow senior Stephanie Sanders, and sophomore Lea Foerster are tied for 10th in the Big Ten in doubles, each with four.
• Foerster is establishing herself in the Spartan lineup. On the season, she is third on the team in batting (.302), with 16 hits and a team-high 11 RBI, scoring a team-high 11 runs and swiping four bases.
• Foerster leads the team with three multiple-RBI games and five multiple-hit games. Freimuth also has five multiple-hit games, and she shares the lead in multiple-RBI games with McBride.
• Kristina Zalewski earned both wins in the circle for the Spartans last weekend. She ranks fifth in the Big Ten in ERA (1.63) and wins (7), and sixth in innings pitched (60.0) and strikeouts (59). She also ranks third in saves. She went a career-high 7.1 innings in the 9-3 win over Ole Miss.
• Zalewski is eighth in the league in batters struck out looking (12), and tied for seventh in the league in appearances (13). She is also sixth in the B1G in relief appearances (6).
• MSU's workhorse a year ago, Valerie Kaff is 15th in the league in ERA (3.53), tied for 14th in strikeouts (29) and starts (7). Kaff pitched well enough to win in a tough 4-3 loss to Ole Miss, striking out a season-best six and allowing just five hits in a complete-game outing. She came in the next day to relieve Zalewski against the Rebels, striking out both batters she faced in a 9-3 extra-innings victory.
• Catcher Lindsey Besson has been on restricted duty as she returns from an injury suffered last April. She went 2-for-7 at the plate in the series at FIU,
• Junior Jacquie Reiser ranks tenth in the Big Ten with six stolen bases, and she is a perfect 6-for-6 on theft attempts. She leads the league in both sacrifice bunts (5) and hit by pitches (7). She led the Big Ten a year ago in sac bunts (13), and has surpassed her career total in stolen bases - she had four last season.
• Junior Shanin Thomas has started the last five games at DP, and shared the team lead in RBI last weekend at FIU (3). She shares the team lead in walks (10) with McBride and freshman McKenzie Long, a total which ranks eighth in the Big Ten. She set a school record earlier in the year with three doubles against Providence.
• Sophomore Sarah Gutknecht leads the team in slugging percentage, (.545) and home runs (3).
