MSU Hosts Final 2015 Series at Secchia

April 30, 2015

Michigan State (17-35, 2-18 B1G) vs. Maryland (26-24, 8-12 B1G)
Dates	May 1-3, 2015
Location	East Lansing, Michigan; Secchia Stadium (cap. 1,100)
Live Video Webstream	MSU All-Access
Tickets	Spartan Ticket Office
Radio Broadcast	Spartan Sports Network \| Download the SSN App
Live Statistics
Download Game Notes	Michigan State \| Maryland
Social Media	@MSU_Softball \| Facebook

THE WEEK AHEAD

• Michigan State wraps up the 2015 season at Secchia Stadium this weekend, hosting Big Ten newcomer Maryland for a three-game series.

• The all-time series between the two teams is tied at 2-2, with all games played between 2002-2004. This is Maryland's first-ever trip to East Lansing, as all four previous games were played at neutral sites. The Spartans have won the last two games (9-0 in six innings, 4-1) after the Terrapins took 2-1 and 4-1 decisions in the 2002 season.

• The Terrapins enter the weekend with a 26-24 overall record, and sit ninth in the Big Ten with an 8-12 mark. On the season, Maryland is hitting .306 with 63 home runs. Erin Pronobis leads the team offensively hitting .378 with 44 RBI and 12 home runs. Hannah Dewey and Lindsey Schmeiser are second on the team in batting average with .376. Schmeiser has 41 RBI and 11 home runs, and in B1G games only, leads the conference play with a .462 batting average and .908 slugging percentage. The junior has 14 doubles, five home runs and 17 RBI in conference games.

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 will have a stream through the official Michigan State Athletics website - all three games will be available at www.msuspartans.com/collegesportslive.

• This will be the final weekend of the Spartan Softball Fan Zone. After Saturday, and Sunday 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 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 has dropped three straight games, and looks to right the ship this weekend against Maryland.

• Eight of MSU's 10 returning field players this season posting their career- best batting average in 2015. Four players are hitting .300 or better overall, and six are doing so in Big Ten play.

• MSU is averaging 4.66 runs per game in 2015, the third-highest number since 2007. In the 2011 and 2013 seasons, in which the Spartans averaged 4.98. The Spartans are on pace to have their highest total of RBI (216), runs (235), and home runs (34) since 2011, when MSU had 240 RBI, scored 269 runs, and hit 53 homers. MSU's team batting average (.275) is the highest since the 2008 season (.280), and the offense is on pace for 400 hits - which also has not been done since the 2008 season.

• MSU has posted some significant offensive improvements from its last few seasons. The Spartans' batting average (.267), RBI (187), home runs (27) and stolen bases (50) is all the best since MSU's 2011 season, while 59 doubles is the most for the Spartans since 2009. MSU's pitching staff has five saves, the most since its six in 2007.

• MSU is hitting .291 as a team in Big Ten play, but the pitching staff owns a 8.88 ERA with 114 walks vs. 82 strikeouts over 20 games.

• The Spartans finished the tournament portion of their schedule with a 15-12 overall record, the fifth-most wins of any Big Ten team prior to conference play.

• Fifteen of MSU's 52 games have been one-run affairs, and the Spartans are 6-9 in those contests. MSU has two extra-inning losses by 6-5 scores as well as back-to-back 4-3 losses to No. 4 Michigan and Western Michigan last week.

• Eighteen of MSU's 52 games this season have been neutral-site contests, and MSU holds a 13-5 record in those games. MSU is 3-17 in true road games and 1-13 at home.

• The Spartans are 16-20 when scoring three runs or more, but 1-15 when scoring two or fewer. MSU has scored fewer than three runs just four times in 20 Big Ten games.

• MSU has hit 67 doubles this season, its most since 2009, when it also hit 67. MSU's 107 extra-base hits is the most since 2011; MSU has allowed 102 extra-base hits on the year. MSU's 33 homers have been hit by eight different players.

PLAYER NOTES

• MSU has three players batting .300 or better after having none a year ago.

• McKenzie Long was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Monday. Long led the Big Ten in hitting last week (.727), which included a 7-for-10 performance in four 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. 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 56 hits - the most for a Spartan since Kylene Hopkins had 61 in 2013 - while leading the team with 12 doubles and ranking second with 29 RBI. Long is third in RBI (29) 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.

• Foerster is second on the team in batting (.333), with team bests in hits (56), runs (37) doubles (12), and triples (3), as well as multiple-hit games (17). She also ranks third with 29 RBI and eight stolen bases. She has also started 51 of 52 games in center field, the most starts for one player at any position this season.

• Senior Stephanie Sanders is posting her finest offensive season, with career bests in batting average (.292), at-bats (144), hits (42) runs (24), doubles (7), home runs (8), and RBI (30).

• Freshman catcher Jordan Davis has taken an opportunity to step into the starting lineup and turned it into a consistent starting role over the last five games. Delivering a pinch-hit single against Western Michigan last week, she was inserted into the starting lineup in the opener against Indiana and delivered a hit in four straight games, a streak that was snapped Wednesday at CMU. She is hitting .375 with six hits in 16 at-bats on the season, with two runs scored and three RBI.

• Destinee Luna owns a five-game hitting streak, and has reached base in each of the last eight contests.

• McKinzie Freimuth is hitting a career-best .288 this season, has a career-best 18 RBI, and is third with nine doubles. Defensively, she has a team-best 292 putouts in 310 chances (good for fourth in the league in both categories) with just one error for a .997 fielding percentage. Injured in the opener against Minnesota, she returned to the lineup just last Wednesday vs. CMU.

• Michigan State has hit 22 of its 34 home runs this season in Big Ten play. Kassidy Kujawa hit her 10th of the season vs. Notre Dame, and her seven in Big Ten play ranks in a tie for sixth (she also ranks 10th in the Big Ten in RBI, with 24 in Conference games and 31 overall). She had a seven-game hitting streak snapped vs. Central Michigan, and she hit .307 (8-for-26) with four home runs and 10 RBI in that stretch.

• Bridgette Rainey has started seven of the last 10 games, and tossed a complete game Wednesday at Central Michigan surrendering just one earned run, striking out five and walking three.