Michigan State University Athletics
Big Ten Tournament Begins Thursday; Spartans Take on Illinois
5/10/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
| Michigan State at the Big Ten Tournament | |
| Dates | Thursday-Saturday, May 12-14, 2016 |
| Location | State College, Penn; Beard Field (cap. 1,084) |
| Television |
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| Radio Broadcast | Spartan Sports Network | Download the SSN App Matt Tjapkes (PxP) |
| Tournament Website | |
| Video Webstreams | |
| Download Game Notes | Michigan State | Illinois |
| Social Media | @MSU_Softball  | Facebook  |
THE WEEKEND AHEAD
• MSU has earned the No. 10 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, and heads to State College for the three-day event. The Spartans will take on No. 7 seed Illinois in the first round.
• The tournament is a single-elimination format that will begin on Thursday with the title contest slated for Saturday night at Beard Field on the campus of Penn State. The tournament champion will earn the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. The top four seeds received byes into Friday's quarterfinals, while four first-round games will be played on Thursday. Minnesota, Northwestern and Penn State join Michigan with byes to the quarterfinals, as the Wolverines earned the outright title and the No. 1 seed. The Gophers are the No. 2 seed, the Wildcats are the third seed and the Nittany Lions are the No. 4 seed.
• The Illini have not appeared on the MSU schedule since the 2013 season, which means only two active players - Destinee Luna and Shanin Thomas - have ever played a game against Thursday's opposition.
• Thursday's matchup will be just the 26th meeting of the two teams all-time. MSU trails in the series by a 6-19 margin, which includes nine straight wins for the Illini.
LOGISTICS
• Live stats will be available for all Big Ten Tournament games this weekend, with links to each Spartan game at MSUSpartans.com.
• In addition, a tournament website with all links to live statistics and tournament information can be found at http://tinyurl.com/B1GSB16.
• All remaining softball games, home and away, will have a radio broadcast via SpartanSportsNetwork.com. Matt Tjapkes will have the action this week from State College.
• All games of the 2016 Big Ten Tournament will be carried live on the Big Ten Network. Thursday's first two games, which includes the MSU-Illinois matchup, will have Lisa Byington and Carol Bruggeman on the call. Games will also be available on the web via BTN+ on BigTen2Go.
TEAM NOTES
• MSU won its second straight series and third of its last four with two wins at Ohio State. The Spartans shut down the OSU offense in game one with a 6-0 shutout, fell in a heartbreaking walkoff on Saturday, and then rebounded with a 9-7 win in the rubber game on Sunday, rallying for five runs in the top of the seventh inning.
• The Spartans finished with a 8-15 record in the Big Ten standings to claim 10th place, and hold a 27-27 record overall, surpassing 2015's win total both overall and in the Big Ten. MSU enters the tournament with five wins in its last seven games.
• MSU completed it's final exams prior to the weekend series at Ohio State. Eight of 13 eligible players are in line to receive Academic All-Big Ten honors in 2016.
• MSU completed its non-conference schedule with a 19-12 mark, and went 16-12 with a strength of schedule of 36 through the pre-Conference portion of the slate. The Spartans' 12 non-conference losses came to 10 different teams, with five losses to teams ranked in the top 25 or receiving votes.
• MSU ranks in the top half of the Big Ten in several categories. The Spartans are sixth in hits (414) and home runs (41), seventh in batting average (.292) and slugging percentage, second in triples (17), eighth in doubles (68), and ninth in both RBI (240) and runs scored (263).
• The Spartans are content to play "small ball" to generate offense and plate runs. MSU leads the league in sac bunts (40) and is tied for sixth in sacrifice flies (12), and is eighth in stolen bases (46).
• The Spartans are putting up offensive numbers that rank among the top-10 in program history. MSU's batting average (.292), RBI (240), and triples (17) all rank third, while MSU's slugging percentage of .450 is second, its home runs (41) is the fourth-most, runs (263) is fifth, and and hits (414) is eighth. • Due to injuries, the Spartans have had two players or more start at six of the eight defensive positions this season. Sophomore Lea Foerster is the only player on the roster to play and start all 54 games, and all in center field. Sarah Gutknecht has started 51 at first, and Lindsey Besson 50 behind the plate. Seven different players have gotten a start in left, and four each at third and in right. Meanwhile, 10 different players have started at DP.
• MSU batters have struck out just 167 times in 1417 at-bats, which ranks 12th (the third-fewest) among Big Ten teams.
• The Spartans are hitting .305 with runners in scoring position (139-of-456) and have 95 RBI when hitting with two out. In the OSU series, MSU scored 17 of its 22 runs with two outs in an inning.
• Thirteen of MSU's games this season have been one-run contests, and the Spartans are 8-5 in those games. The Spartans are 20-1 when leading after five innings.
• When scoring two runs or less in a game, MSU holds a 1-16 overall record. MSU is 25-11 when scoring three or more runs, and 24-9 when holding opponents to five runs or less.
• MSU's pitching staff has combined for 294 strikeouts, which is fifth in the Big Ten and is tied for fifth in a single season in program history. Eighty-two of those strikeouts were batters caught looking, which ranks third in the B1G. The Spartans average 5.44 K's per game - up from 4.98 in 2015, when the staff's 275 strikeouts ranked tied for sixth in a single season.
PLAYER NOTES
• MSU has three players hitting .367 or better (Celeste Wood, Sarah Gutknecht, and Lea Foerster), which would all qualify to finish in MSU's top-25 single-season efforts.
• Kristina Zalewski tossed her third and fourth consecutive complete games, the 15th and 16th of the season, as she pitched both wins for MSU on the road at (RV) Ohio State. On Friday, she had six strikeouts in a 6-0 shutout of the Buckeyes, and added four K's in Sunday's game, becoming just the fourth pitcher in school history to record 200 strikeouts in a season (she has 204 entering the Big Ten Tournament).
• Zalewski ranks fourth in the league and 21st nationally in strikeouts (204), and is third in the B1G in strikeouts looking (51). Her 204 K's ranks fourth in a single season in the MSU annals, ahead of her 141 in 2015. Zalewski is the fourth pitcher in program history to reach 200 strikeouts in a season, and the second to have two seasons among the top 10 in strikeouts in the MSU record book - current pitching coach Jessica (Beech) Bograkos is No. 1 (264, 2004) and No. 2 (235, 2003) on that list.
• With 352 career strikeouts, Zalewski has moved into sixth place on MSU's career strikeout list. Jessica Bograkos owns the school record of 659 - 259 more than second-place Stacey Smith (408, 1994-97).
• Zalewski leads the B1G in appearances (43), tied for fourth in starts (28 - her career best), tied for eighth in relief appearances (15), and ranks second in the league in innings pitched (199.0). She also owns four saves (second in the B1G, 23rd nationally) along with a 15-14 record - which is seventh in the Conference in wins.
• Celeste Wood's .379 batting average on the season leads the team and is 11th in the Big Ten, but is the top batting average of any freshman in the Conference, just ahead of classmate Maddie Houlihan of Minnesota (.371). Wood ranks ninth overall and first among freshmen in the B1G in hits (61) and also boasts a team-best 40 RBI, which is 10th in a single season in the MSU record book. She has reached base in 11 consecutive games, the team's best active streak.
• Freshman Kaitlyn Eveland returned to the lineup two weeks ago, and has played six of the last seven games after missing 22 of the previous 28 with two non-related injuries. In this most recent seven-game stretch since her return, Eveland is batting .400 (6-for-15) with a double, a home run, and six RBI. Overall, she's batting .282 on the year.
• With a career-best 64 hits this season, Lea Foerster ranks fifth in the B1G and her 15 doubles (also a career high), ranks fifth. With a .368 batting average, she owns a team-best 24 extra-base hits, which includes career-high six home runs (5) and three triples (T-5th B1G). She hit .455 (5-11) with a pair of doubles and a homer at OSU
• Foerster has been named a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection, as announced by the organization on Thursday. One of 10 B1G honorees, the kinesiology major owns a 3.68 grade-point average. The softball program boasts 23 previous Academic-All District selections, the most recent First Team selection Jessica LeFevre in 2008.
• Sarah Gutknecht hit .375 in the Ohio State series with three base hits and four RBI, and was walked a team-high five times, including in three at-bats in the series finale, good for seventh all-time in a single game in the MSU annals.
• Gutknecht ranks third on the team with a .367 batting average, adding nine doubles and five homers. Her 51 hits, 22 walks and 35 RBI are all single-season career highs, and her 12 strikeouts on the season is her fewest in her career. Most impressively, she hit .291 as a freshman and .285 as a sophomore, and is maintaining a batting average more than 80 points better this season.
• Kassidy Kujawa smacked home runs in each of the first two games vs. Ohio State, the 20th and 21st of her career - which puts her fifth on MSU's all-time career list. Kujawa has had to accept a more limited role since an injury has limited her ability to play consistently on defense. She is hitting a career-best .318 while sporadically playing in the outfield and more recently batting as the DP, adding a team-best seven home runs and three doubles.
• McKenzie Long is making strides towards returning to her freshman-year form after coming back from off-season surgery. She's batting .299 overall, which is good for sixth on the team. However, since the team started playing "northern games" (beginning with the Hoosier Classic March 19-20), Long is batting .337 in those 29 games, smacking 29 of her 46 hits on the year, including three doubles, two triples, and three of her four home runs. She also has 18 RBI in that span, good for second on the team.
• Ebonee Echols was announced on April 21 as one of 25 finalists for the 2016 Schutt Sport / NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year Award. The winner will be announced on May 31. Echols is the only player from the Big Ten on the list.
• Echols leads the country in triples (9), which is the third-most in a single season in MSU history, and most since Nikki Nicosia's 10 in 2008. Izzy Forester owns the school record of 12 in 1980.
• Echols, a middle infielder by trade, has had to move to left thanks to three separate, non-related injuries. She's batting .333, good for third on the team, and 16 of her 48 hits have gone for extra bases. She is tied for fourth in the B1G in sacrifice bunts (8) and stolen bases (15).
