Michigan State University Athletics
Spartans Host Illini At Davenport
4/13/2017 12:00:00 AM | Softball
| Michigan State vs. Illinois | ||
| Dates | April 14-15, 2017 | |
| Location | Caledonia, Mich..Farmer's Insurance Athletic Complex | Directions | |
| Tickets | Admission is free of charge | |
| Live Statistics | | |
| Live Video Streams | TBA | |
| Radio Broadcast | Spartan Sports Network Matt Tjapkes, pxp Download the SSN App | |
| Download Game Notes | Michigan State | Illinois | |
| Social Media |  @MSU_Softball |  MichiganStateSoftball  @MichStSB | |
Around the Horn - Quick Updates on the Spartans
• Michigan State hosts a three-game series with Illinois over the weekend at Davenport University outside of Grand Rapids. The teams will play a single game on Friday at 4 pm, and will play a doubleheader on Saturday at 2 pm.
• Live statistics links for all three contests can be found on the team schedule page of MSUSpartans.com.
• Spartan Sports Network continues its coverage of Spartan softball this week, and will provide a live broadcast from every game, home and away, for the remainder of the season. Matt Tjapkes is back for his third season on the call, with former Spartan standout Ali Grant and All-American and former pitching coach Jessica (Beech) Bograkos providing analysis on home games.
• Illinois, receiving votes in this week's national poll, sits at 28-10 overall and 7-2 in Big Ten play. The Illini have swept both Purdue and Iowa, and lost two of three to Big Ten co-leader Minnesota. The Illini defeated SIUE on Wednesday, 5-2.
• The Illini have six players with a .333 batting average or above, led by Nicole Evans, who is hitting .387, with 11 doubles and 13 homers. Stephanie Abello has also hit double-digit homers (10) and is hitting .360 on the season. In the circle, the duo of Breanna Wonderly (2.53 ERA, 13-9, 132.2 IP, 60 K's) and Taylor Edwards (2.33 ERA, 12-1, 78.0 IP) have been an effective tandem.
• Michigan State has won six of its last eight games, falling on Wednesday to No. 18 Michgan, 5-1. Lindsey Besson had a pair of base hits, and Lea Foerster had an RBI single in addition to a diving catch in the 7th that made SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays.
• MSU leads the B1G in triples (17), homers (42), sac flies (12) and fewest strikeouts (101); The Spartans are fourth in batting average (.317), on-base percentage (.411). and RBI (196).
• Ebonee Echols tied her own school record with two triples in the game against Penn State on April 9. (She previously had two in a game on April 8, 2016 at Maryland). This pushed her career total to 20, making her MSU's all-time career leader. Echols leads the B1G and Division I softball with 11 triples this season - one behind MSU's school record of 12.
• Lea Foerster leads the team and third in the Big Ten with a .417 batting average. Among national leaders, Foerster is 61st in batting average, fifth in doubles (14), 12th in on-base percentage (.545), 13th in slugging percentage (.854), and first in runs per game (1.36).
• Foerster has 41 career doubles, good for fourth place in the Spartan career record book. Her 69 career extra-base hits is fifth, she is tied for 10th in career triples (10), and with 166 career hits, she has moved up to an all-time MSU ranking of 20th.
• Kaitlyn Eveland tied a school record with two home runs in the second game of last weekend's Saturday doubleheader with Penn State, and is third on the team with a .349 average.
• Freshman Kelcey Carrasco is hitting .318 and is tied for 11th in the Big Ten with seven home runs. She has 21 RBI and owns a .557 slugging percentage. Over her last nine games, she is batting .320 with two doubles, three homers, and 10 RBI.
• Lindsey Besson has started 16 games behind the plate, including the last 11. With with just one error in 20 games, owns a .989 fielding percentage, second on the team behind center fielder Lea Foerster (1.000).
• Bridgette Rainey earned two more victories in the circle last week, including the final two in the series against Penn State. which is 15th in the Big Ten. She is sixth in the B1G in wins (12), fourth in strikeouts (97), tied for eighth in starts (16) and 12th in total appearances (23). Her 12 victories and 97 strikeouts are both career highs.
