MSU Baseball Announces 2020 Captains
11/20/2019 4:53:00 PM | Baseball
Spartans tab four captains in Benschoter, Gleaves, Proctor and Sleeman.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball head coach Jake Boss Jr. announced on Wednesday that Sam Benschoter, Danny Gleaves, Adam Proctor and Caleb Sleeman have been named the Spartans' 2020 captains. The four Spartan captains were voted on by the team.
"These four players were voted on by their teammates as the captains for the 2020 season and I think as always, our guys got it right. These four are all outstanding leaders, outstanding players and outstanding students," Boss said. "I'm looking forward to watching them leading our team this season."
Benschoter, a senior pitcher from Tecumseh, Mich., made 13 relief appearances on the mound last season, chalking up 16 strikeouts in 14.1 IP. The Spartan righty posted a season-best three strikeouts on two occasions, first on April 14 at Rutgers, striking out the side in 1.0 IP. He also rang up three punchouts on May 8 versus Valparaiso in 2.0 innings of work, tying a season-high for the third time, one of 10 outings with 1.0 or more IP. Benschoter also registered three other outings with multiple strikeouts. He also had four appearances without yielding a hit.
Off the field, Benschoter was an Academic All-Big Ten honoree for the second-straight season.Â
Gleaves, a redshirt-junior outfielder from Homer Glen, Ill., had an injury-shortened season, playing in only nine games before suffering a season-ending injury at Arizona on March 5. Gleaves posted four hits with one double and an RBI in his nine games, also drawing two walks and swiping two bases. A speedy outfielder, Gleaves made 22 putouts, with the last coming while crashing into the wall in the game at Arizona on a spectacular catch.Â
For his career, Gleaves has 34 stolen bases, ranking 10th on MSU's career stolen base list. Gleaves also has the No. 5 spot on the Spartans' single-season swipes list with 25 in 2018. Last season Gleaves was part of a speedy Spartan trio with junior outfielder Bryce Kelley and senior infielder Marty Bechina that were all ranked in the top 10 of the career stolen base list and the Spartan trio is the only the active threesome in the country to have three players on the respective school stolen base list. Kelley is No. 2 with 64 stolen bases, Bechina was No. 9 with 35 and Gleaves at No. 10 with 34.
Gleaves was also an Academic All-Big Ten honoree, for the second year in a row.
Proctor, a junior catcher from St. Johns, Mich., led MSU and ranked 16th in the B1G with nine home runs.Â
With nine round-trippers out of his 17 hits last season, Proctor was the only player in the country with five or more round-trippers to have half of their hits be home runs. The next closest player was Jason Hinchman of Tennessee Tech, who ha 24 home runs of his 55 hits. Over half of Proctor's hits were for extra bases, as along with his nine home runs, he had two double for 11 extra-base hits of his 17 total hits.
On April 23 vs. Oakland, Proctor smashed a three-run home run deep into the Red Cedar River beyond the right field wall as part of a six-run sixth inning for the Green & White. It was his second-straight game with a home run into the Red Cedar, also sending one into the river the previous game vs. Indiana on April 21. The round-tripper against the Hoosiers was a solo shot in the sixth inning of game two. Proctor blasted the first pitch he saw into the Red Cedar River with a shot high into the trees and just inside the right field foul line. At Purdue on May 4, Proctor's towering deep home run cleared not just the right field fence, but the Spartans' bullpen and landed in the Purdue soccer field, a good distance from the edge of the baseball stadium. Purdue right fielder Cole McKenzie didn't even move, only shuffling his feet to watch the ball sail out of the park.
A senior pitcher from Alto, Mich., Sleeman was versatile on the mound for the Spartans, relieving and starting games throughout the 2019 season. He made 23 total appearances with nine starts. Three times during the season Sleeman made a relief appearance in a midweek game or in the first game of a weekend series, only to come back and start the series finale. Sleeman rang up 55 strikeouts in 56.0 IP, with two wins and one save, earning his first career save in MSU's season-opener at New Orleans on Feb. 15.
After making his first 12 appearances of the season out of the bullpen, Sleeman made his first start of the season and his first start since his freshman season of 2017, on April 7 against Indiana State. Sleeman was stellar in that start, going a career-long 6.2 IP, tying career-high with five Ks and stymieing Indiana State to just three hits in a combined shutout.
Sleeman is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten accolade winner.
The Green & White finished the 2019 season winning three of its last four B1G series, including two on the road. The Spartans also had three wins over Top 25 teams down the stretch, with a pair of wins at No. 24 Iowa on May 11 and 12, and a win over No. 23 Illinois on May 17. MSU celebrated not only its 135th year of baseball in 2019, including honoring the 65th anniversary of the 1954 College World Series team and also the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Big Ten Champion and NCAA Regional team, but also its first with lights at McLane Stadium at Kobs Field, going 7-2 at home under the lights.
"These four players were voted on by their teammates as the captains for the 2020 season and I think as always, our guys got it right. These four are all outstanding leaders, outstanding players and outstanding students," Boss said. "I'm looking forward to watching them leading our team this season."
Benschoter, a senior pitcher from Tecumseh, Mich., made 13 relief appearances on the mound last season, chalking up 16 strikeouts in 14.1 IP. The Spartan righty posted a season-best three strikeouts on two occasions, first on April 14 at Rutgers, striking out the side in 1.0 IP. He also rang up three punchouts on May 8 versus Valparaiso in 2.0 innings of work, tying a season-high for the third time, one of 10 outings with 1.0 or more IP. Benschoter also registered three other outings with multiple strikeouts. He also had four appearances without yielding a hit.
Off the field, Benschoter was an Academic All-Big Ten honoree for the second-straight season.Â
Gleaves, a redshirt-junior outfielder from Homer Glen, Ill., had an injury-shortened season, playing in only nine games before suffering a season-ending injury at Arizona on March 5. Gleaves posted four hits with one double and an RBI in his nine games, also drawing two walks and swiping two bases. A speedy outfielder, Gleaves made 22 putouts, with the last coming while crashing into the wall in the game at Arizona on a spectacular catch.Â
For his career, Gleaves has 34 stolen bases, ranking 10th on MSU's career stolen base list. Gleaves also has the No. 5 spot on the Spartans' single-season swipes list with 25 in 2018. Last season Gleaves was part of a speedy Spartan trio with junior outfielder Bryce Kelley and senior infielder Marty Bechina that were all ranked in the top 10 of the career stolen base list and the Spartan trio is the only the active threesome in the country to have three players on the respective school stolen base list. Kelley is No. 2 with 64 stolen bases, Bechina was No. 9 with 35 and Gleaves at No. 10 with 34.
Gleaves was also an Academic All-Big Ten honoree, for the second year in a row.
Proctor, a junior catcher from St. Johns, Mich., led MSU and ranked 16th in the B1G with nine home runs.Â
With nine round-trippers out of his 17 hits last season, Proctor was the only player in the country with five or more round-trippers to have half of their hits be home runs. The next closest player was Jason Hinchman of Tennessee Tech, who ha 24 home runs of his 55 hits. Over half of Proctor's hits were for extra bases, as along with his nine home runs, he had two double for 11 extra-base hits of his 17 total hits.
On April 23 vs. Oakland, Proctor smashed a three-run home run deep into the Red Cedar River beyond the right field wall as part of a six-run sixth inning for the Green & White. It was his second-straight game with a home run into the Red Cedar, also sending one into the river the previous game vs. Indiana on April 21. The round-tripper against the Hoosiers was a solo shot in the sixth inning of game two. Proctor blasted the first pitch he saw into the Red Cedar River with a shot high into the trees and just inside the right field foul line. At Purdue on May 4, Proctor's towering deep home run cleared not just the right field fence, but the Spartans' bullpen and landed in the Purdue soccer field, a good distance from the edge of the baseball stadium. Purdue right fielder Cole McKenzie didn't even move, only shuffling his feet to watch the ball sail out of the park.
A senior pitcher from Alto, Mich., Sleeman was versatile on the mound for the Spartans, relieving and starting games throughout the 2019 season. He made 23 total appearances with nine starts. Three times during the season Sleeman made a relief appearance in a midweek game or in the first game of a weekend series, only to come back and start the series finale. Sleeman rang up 55 strikeouts in 56.0 IP, with two wins and one save, earning his first career save in MSU's season-opener at New Orleans on Feb. 15.
After making his first 12 appearances of the season out of the bullpen, Sleeman made his first start of the season and his first start since his freshman season of 2017, on April 7 against Indiana State. Sleeman was stellar in that start, going a career-long 6.2 IP, tying career-high with five Ks and stymieing Indiana State to just three hits in a combined shutout.
Sleeman is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten accolade winner.
The Green & White finished the 2019 season winning three of its last four B1G series, including two on the road. The Spartans also had three wins over Top 25 teams down the stretch, with a pair of wins at No. 24 Iowa on May 11 and 12, and a win over No. 23 Illinois on May 17. MSU celebrated not only its 135th year of baseball in 2019, including honoring the 65th anniversary of the 1954 College World Series team and also the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Big Ten Champion and NCAA Regional team, but also its first with lights at McLane Stadium at Kobs Field, going 7-2 at home under the lights.
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