Gophers Come to Town For B1G Series

April 16, 2015

Michigan State (16-26, 1-12 B1G) vs. Minnesota (34-7, 9-3 B1G)
Dates	Fri-Sun, April 17-19
Location	East Lansing, Michigan; Secchia Stadium (cap. 1,100)
Tickets	Spartan Ticket office
TV/ Live Video	Big Ten Network (Friday) BTN2Go (Saturday, Sunday)
Radio Broadcast	Spartan Sports Network \| Download the SSN App
Live Statistics
Download Game Notes	Michigan State \| Minnesota
Social Media	@MSU_Softball \| Facebook

THE WEEK AHEAD

• Michigan State opens a three-game series with Minnesota at Secchia Stadium this weekend. MSU's losing streak has reached nine games with losses to Eastern Michigan (6-5, nine innings) and No. 4 Michigan (10-0, five innings) in midweek contests.

• The Gophers, No. 13 in the week's national poll, have not played Michigan State since the 2011 season. While Minnesota holds a 53-35 overall mark in the series, 24 of MSU's 35 wins have come in East Lansing. Minnesota is coming off an 8-3 win over South Dakota on Wednesday, and enters the week with a 34-7 (9-3 B1G) record. The Gophers swept then-first place Northwestern last weekend after dropping two of three games to Michigan in its series prior.

LOGISTICS

• Live stats will be available via Gametracker for all three games, with links to each at www.MSUSpartans.com. The Gametracker program has undergone an upgrade, allowing smartphone and tablet users to access it on their mobile devices.

• MSU has a live radio broadcast of all softball games, both home and away, at www.spartansportsnetwork.com. Matt Tjapkes will have the call, and will be joined in the booth for home games by Ali Grant, a four-year Spartan letterwinner (2009-12) who is in her second season as a color analyst. In addition, Spartan Sports Network's 24/7 app allows listeners to hear all games carried by the network on their mobile devices.

• Friday's game against the Gophers will air live on the Big Ten Network. Lisa Byington and Carol Bruggeman will call the action at Secchia Stadium.

• All MSU home games will have a video stream of the game available this season. Several games, including the entire series vs. Minnesota, will appear on BTN2Go. All other games will have a stream through the official Michigan State Athletics website.

• Last weekend was the debut of the Spartan Softball Fan Zone. After Saturday and Sunday's home games this week, fans can come meet the Spartan players, get autographs, and take pictures with the team in the concourse behind the bleachers on the first-base (home) side, The team will give away schedule posters and sign autographs as well as take pictures. Fans can then visit the MSU Softball Facebook page to see if they made it into the Fan Zone Photo Gallery.

TEAM NOTES

• MSU is mired in its longest winning drought of the season, dropping the last nine games to Rutgers, Toledo, Eastern Michigan, and B1G rivals No. 4 Michigan and Ohio State. The Spartans have scored 46 runs in those nine losses, and average 4.66 runs per game on the season.

• In 13 Big Ten games, MSU has scored fewer than three runs just twice, and average 6.15 runs per contest.

• MSU is hitting .283 as a team in Big Ten play, but the pitching staff owns a 9.41 ERA with 76 walks vs. 55 strikeouts over 13 games. The Spartans have also committed 22 errors in those contests as well.

• This week wraps a nine-game homestand, as MSU has road games at Michigan and Indiana next week, around a midweek contest at Secchia Stadium vs. Western Michigan.

• Twelve of MSU's 42 games have been one-run affairs, and the Spartans are 5-7 in those contests. MSU owns two 6-5 extra-inning losses - one to Rutgers (11 innings) and one to Eastern Michigan (nine innings).

• The Spartans are 15-13 when scoring three runs or more, but 1-13 when scoring two or fewer.

• MSU has already surpassed 2014 totals in several categories - the Spartans stole just 27 bases last year, and have nearly doubled that with 50; in addition, MSU's run production has increased to 4.66 runs per game in 2015, vs. 2.69 a year ago. The Spartans have also surpassed last year's run total of 132 (196) and RBI (178) to pass the 124 a year ago. The Spartans have already surpassed last year's total of 20 home runs (24).

• Redshirt sophomore Dani Goranson, who last pitched on March 1 at Florida International, was cleared to return from injury on Monday and threw in each of MSU's two midweek games. She started against Eastern Michigan and went 3.1 innings, striking out three and walking two. Against Michigan, she entered in relief of starter Bridgette Rainey. • Freshman Lea Foerster went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles against Eastern Michigan. On the season, the center fielder is second on the team in batting (.311), with team bests in hits (42), RBI (23), doubles (10) and runs (29) and ranking third with eight stolen bases. She is second on the team with six multiple-RBI games, and is atop the leaderboard with 14 extra-base hits.

• Freshman McKenzie Long had a 2-for-4 effort in the EMU game, and also led MSU offensively against Ohio State, batting .400 with a double, a home run, and three RBI. She leads the team with seven multiple-RBI games and is fourth with eight multiple-hit contests. In Big Ten contests, she owns a .342 batting average with three homers and 11 RBI.

• Senior RF/DP Stephanie Sanders has been putting together her finest offensive season. She boasts career bests in at-bats (110), hits (30) runs (17), doubles (6), RBI (33) and batting average (.273). She added her fourth home run of the season, a shot to dead-center, in the EMU game on Tuesday.

• Sarah Gutknecht is currently riding a career-best 11-game hitting streak, tied for the team's best of the season (Alyssa McBride had 11 earlier this year). In that stretch, she's hitting .486 with 17 hits, two doubles, two homers, and 10 RBI. She has missed the last five games with an injury. In her last Big Ten series, she went 7-for-14 at the plate with five RBI at Rutgers.

• In Big Ten games only, Gutknecht is hitting .484, good for sixth in the Big Ten. Her on-base percentage is tied for 14th (.529).

• Kassidy Kujawa has swung a big bat since returning to the starting lineup for the last 13 games. In those contests, she is hitting .364 with 12 hits, with three doubles, three home runs and five RBI. Her five home runs and 20 RBI this season both surpass her freshman year total. In Big Ten contests, she's hitting .343, and leads the team with 15 RBI, four homers, and seven extra-base hits. She also boasts a .771 slugging percentage.

• Classmate 1B McKinzie Freimuth has not only continued her steadfast field defense, but is hitting a career-best .295 this season, has a career-best 18 RBI, and is second on the squad with nine doubles. Defensively, she has a team-best 280 putouts in 294 chances (good for second and third in the league in both categories, respectively) with just one error for a .997 fielding percentage.

• Bridgette Rainey is coming off her four best starts of the season, getting the nod in five of the last seven games. After back-to-back complete games against Rutgers and Toledo, she tossed 6.1 innings against Ohio State, striking out seven and walking just three. She also got the start against Michigan, going 2.1 innings.