Spartans Start Five-Game Week at Home vs. Notre Dame

April 28, 2015

Michigan State (17-33) vs. No. 24 Notre Dame / Central Michigan
Date/Location	Tues. April 28, 4 p.m. vs. Notre Dame; East Lansing, Michigan Wed. April 29, 4 p.m. vs. Central Michigan; Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.
Television/ Live Video Webstream	vs. Notre Dame \| at Central MIchigan
Radio Broadcast	Spartan Sports Network \| Download the SSN App
Live Statistics
Social Media	@MSU_Softball \| Facebook

LOGISTICS

• Live stats will be available via Gametracker for all five 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.

• All MSU home games will have a video stream of the game available this season. All of MSU's remaining home games, including Tuesday's against Notre Dame, will have a stream through the official Michigan State Athletics website. Central Michigan will also stream Wednesday's game through the CBS College Sports Live platform for subscribers.

THE WEEK AHEAD
• Michigan State has it's third-straight five-game week on tap, and hosts No. 24 Notre Dame on Tuesday and heads to Central Michigan on Wednesday before a weekend series with Maryland. Admission to the Tuesday game vs. the Fighting Irish is free.

• The Spartans trail the all-time series with Notre Dame by a 1-8 margin, and the Irish have won three straight in the series. The teams resumed an annual meeting in the 2012 season after the first six meetings in the series took place from 1993-95.

• McKenzie Long was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Monday afternoon. Long led the Big Ten in hitting last week (.727), which included a 7-for-10 performance in Big Ten games. She had a pair of sacrifice hits, two doubles, walked twice, and put up six hits in seven at-bats in the Indiana series, while going 1-for-3 in a 4-3 loss at No. 4 Michigan which included a highlight-reel catch and throw to third to finish off a double play. On the week, she had three doubles and three RBI, an on-base percentage of .769, and a slugging percentage of 1.000.

• Freshmen Long and Lea Foerster are atop many offensive categories for the Spartans this season. Foerster has a team-best 55 hits - the most for a Spartan since Kylene Hopkins had 61 in 2013 - while leading the team with 12 doubles and ranking second with 25 RBI. Long is third in RBI (21) and has contributed four home runs, drawing 21 walks (second on the team) and ranking in a tie for second on the team with 41 hits.

• Michigan State has hit 22 of its 33 home runs this season in Big Ten play. Kassidy Kujawa hit her ninth of the season vs. Indiana, and her seven in Big Ten play ranks in a tie for sixth. Stephanie Sanders has eight homers and six in Conference play - which is tied for 13th.

• The Spartans had double-digit hits in each of it's three games at Indiana last weekend, the longest streak of 10+ hit games this season. MSU averages 5.7 runs per game in Big Ten contests - and has been held to two runs or fewer just three times in 20 B1G games. Six players are hitting .300 or better in Big Ten play as well - Foerster, Long, Stephanie Sanders, Sarah Gutknecht, Kassidy Kujawa, and McKinzie Freimuth.

• Senior Alyssa McBride is hitting .370 on the season, which includes a 5-for-8 performance with two sacrifice hits and a pair of doubles in the Indiana series.

• The injury bug has not been kind to MSU - catcher Lindsey Besson has been sidelined since spring break, and is out for the season. Gutknecht missed eight games with injury, and Freimuth has missed the last seven after getting injured in the opening game against Minnesota. In addition, pitcher Dani Goranson was sidelined for the better part of six weeks, returning to the rotation two weeks ago.

• MSU has already surpassed 2014 totals in several categories - the Spartans stole just 27 bases last year, and have nearly doubled that with 51; 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 (233) and RBI (214) to nearly double the 124 a year ago. The Spartans have already surpassed last year's total of 20 home runs (33).

• The Spartans host Maryland this weekend at Secchia Stadium, the final home games of the 2015 season. On Sunday, the program's four seniors - McKinzie Freimuth, Alyssa McBride, Stephanie Sanders, and Ellie Stoffer will be honored in a pre-game ceremony.