Photo by: Steven Branscombe
Three Spartan Baseball Players Earn Big Ten Preseason Accolades
2/13/2019 3:07:00 PM | Baseball
Bechina, Diaz and Erla Recognized by Conference
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State had three players on the Big Ten Conference Preseason Honors list, as the league announced its preseason honors list and preseason poll on Wednesday, Feb. 13.
The league's coaches voted on the top six teams and also selected three student-athletes from their own squads to a Preseason Honors list.
MSU Preseason Honorees included senior infielder Marty Bechina, junior pitcher Indigo Diaz and redshirt-sophomore pitcher Mason Erla.
Bechina, a native of Chicago, Ill., played in 49 games last season, making 47 starts, after recovering from a broken leg in the fall. He led the Spartans with nine doubles and shared the team lead with six home runs on the way to hitting .247 with 25 hits, adding one triple for a total of 16 extra-base hits, which also led the team. Bechina was also third on the team with 23 RBI, as well as leading MSU with a .418 slugging percentage and was third on the team with a .340 on-base percentage. He registered a season-long five game hitting streak (May 5-12), as well as nine multi-hit outings including three games with career-best tying three hits, with two coming in Big Ten action, vs. Nebraska (April 7) and vs. Ohio State (May 17), along with at Western Michigan (April 18). Bechina also posted six multi-RBI games, boosted by career-high tying four RBI vs. Nebraska (April 7).
Diaz is a native of Vancouver, B.C., Canada, is in his first year as a Spartan, coming to MSU from Iowa Western Community College. He earned honorable mention NJCAA All-American honors as a sophomore after logging an 11-1 record in 12 starts as part of 16 appearances as a sophomore, with a paltry 1.52 ERA and firing 101 strikeouts (13.98 K/9) in 65.0 IP while yielding just 20 walks. Diaz also earned Northern All-District accolades. He helped the Reivers to a 54-7 record, winning 36 consecutive games and the fourth-highest victory total in program history, advancing to the JUCO World Series as the Northern District D1 Region XI champions. He was also selected to play on the United States NJCAA National team in the National Baseball Congress (NBC) World Series.
Erla, a Cass City, Mich., native, was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team last season. He ranked second in the B1G in opposing batting average at .216; tied for seventh in games started with 15; tied for 14th in innings pitched with 79.2; and tied for 15th in strikeouts looking with 18. He led MSU and ranked tied for 10th in the B1G with six wins. Erla was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week (March 12) following his performance vs. Illinois (March 10) in Greenville, striking out five while stymieing Illinois with just one hit allowed in 6.1 IP. He was also named 10 Innings Big Ten Freshman of the Week (Feb. 26) for his 5.0 IP, four K, 2 H, 0 BB for first collegiate win. Erla ranked 16th in the B1G in strikeouts with 63 punchouts and was also just outside the top 15 in the conference with a 3.73 ERA. He started and went 6.0+ IP in both of MSU's shutouts last season, first going 5.0 IP with four strikeouts, two hits and no walks in MSU's 1-0 win at Pepperdine (Feb. 25), as well as 7.0 IP with six Ks and three walks in 6-0 win vs. Rutgers (April 1). The six Ks vs. Rutgers was his second-highest outing of the season behind a career-best nine vs. Niagara on March 17.
The Spartans return eight position players and three returning starting pitchers from last season, as MSU led the country in percentage of 1-2 run games (57.8 percent), finishing 20-32 overall and 11-12 in Big Ten play, finishing eighth in the league. Michigan State made its fourth appearance in the last five seasons in the Big Ten Tournament and its seventh in the 10 years under head coach Jake Boss Jr. MSU won four of its last seven B1G games of the regular-season to claim the No. 8 seed. The Spartans also had a stretch of winning seven-straight conference contests for the first time since 2009, including sweeping back-to-back B1G series for the first time since 2011.
This season's Spartans open the 2019 ledger on Friday, Feb. 15 at 7:30 p.m. ET at New Orleans in a three-game series against the New Orleans Privateers in the first of a 56-game regular-season ledger. MSU and UNO play on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. ET, before the series finale of the opening-weekend series on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 1 p.m. ET.
2019 BIG TEN BASEBALL PRESEASON POLL (top six teams and ties)
Rank Team
1 Minnesota
2 Michigan
3 Illinois
4 Indiana
5 Ohio State
6 Nebraska
6 Purdue
2019 BIG TEN BASEBALL PRESEASON HONORS LIST
Andy Fisher, LHP, Sr., Illinois
Michael Massey, 2B, Jr., Illinois
Quinn Snarskis, RHP, Sr., Illinois
Tanner Gordon, RHP, Jr., Indiana
Matt Gorski, OF, Jr., Indiana
Matt Lloyd, UTIL/RHP, Sr., Indiana
Jack Dreyer, LHP, So., Iowa
Cole McDonald, RHP, Sr., Iowa
Chris Whelan, OF, Sr., Iowa
AJ Lee, SS, Sr., Maryland
John Murphy, RHP, Sr., Maryland
Hunter Parsons, RHP, Sr., Maryland
Dominic Clementi, DH, Jr., Michigan
Jesse Franklin, OF, So., Michigan
Jordan Nwogu, OF, So., Michigan
Marty Bechina, SS, Sr., Michigan State
Indigo Diaz, RHP, Jr., Michigan State
Mason Erla, RHP, So., Michigan State
Patrick Fredrickson, RHP, So., Minnesota
Max Meyer, RHP/OF, So., Minnesota
Ben Mezzenga, OF, Sr., Minnesota
Angelo Altavilla, SS, Sr., Nebraska
Chad Luensmann, RHP, Jr., Nebraska
Luke Roskam, C/INF, Jr., Nebraska
Hank Christie, RHP, Jr., Northwestern
Jack Dunn, SS, Sr., Northwestern
Alex Erro, 2B, Jr., Northwestern
Dominic Canzone, OF, Jr., Ohio State
Dillon Dingler, C, So., Ohio State
Conner Pohl, 1B, Jr., Ohio State
Dante Biasi, LHP, So., Penn State
Parker Hendershot, DH/IF, So., Penn State
Ryan Sloniger, C, Sr., Penn State
Zac Fascia, C, Jr., Purdue
Skyler Hunter, OF, Jr., Purdue
Ben Nisle, OF, So., Purdue
Mike Nyisztor, OF, So., Rutgers
Harry Rutkowski, LHP, So., Rutgers
Kevin Welsh, INF, Jr., Rutgers
The league's coaches voted on the top six teams and also selected three student-athletes from their own squads to a Preseason Honors list.
MSU Preseason Honorees included senior infielder Marty Bechina, junior pitcher Indigo Diaz and redshirt-sophomore pitcher Mason Erla.
Bechina, a native of Chicago, Ill., played in 49 games last season, making 47 starts, after recovering from a broken leg in the fall. He led the Spartans with nine doubles and shared the team lead with six home runs on the way to hitting .247 with 25 hits, adding one triple for a total of 16 extra-base hits, which also led the team. Bechina was also third on the team with 23 RBI, as well as leading MSU with a .418 slugging percentage and was third on the team with a .340 on-base percentage. He registered a season-long five game hitting streak (May 5-12), as well as nine multi-hit outings including three games with career-best tying three hits, with two coming in Big Ten action, vs. Nebraska (April 7) and vs. Ohio State (May 17), along with at Western Michigan (April 18). Bechina also posted six multi-RBI games, boosted by career-high tying four RBI vs. Nebraska (April 7).
Diaz is a native of Vancouver, B.C., Canada, is in his first year as a Spartan, coming to MSU from Iowa Western Community College. He earned honorable mention NJCAA All-American honors as a sophomore after logging an 11-1 record in 12 starts as part of 16 appearances as a sophomore, with a paltry 1.52 ERA and firing 101 strikeouts (13.98 K/9) in 65.0 IP while yielding just 20 walks. Diaz also earned Northern All-District accolades. He helped the Reivers to a 54-7 record, winning 36 consecutive games and the fourth-highest victory total in program history, advancing to the JUCO World Series as the Northern District D1 Region XI champions. He was also selected to play on the United States NJCAA National team in the National Baseball Congress (NBC) World Series.
Erla, a Cass City, Mich., native, was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team last season. He ranked second in the B1G in opposing batting average at .216; tied for seventh in games started with 15; tied for 14th in innings pitched with 79.2; and tied for 15th in strikeouts looking with 18. He led MSU and ranked tied for 10th in the B1G with six wins. Erla was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week (March 12) following his performance vs. Illinois (March 10) in Greenville, striking out five while stymieing Illinois with just one hit allowed in 6.1 IP. He was also named 10 Innings Big Ten Freshman of the Week (Feb. 26) for his 5.0 IP, four K, 2 H, 0 BB for first collegiate win. Erla ranked 16th in the B1G in strikeouts with 63 punchouts and was also just outside the top 15 in the conference with a 3.73 ERA. He started and went 6.0+ IP in both of MSU's shutouts last season, first going 5.0 IP with four strikeouts, two hits and no walks in MSU's 1-0 win at Pepperdine (Feb. 25), as well as 7.0 IP with six Ks and three walks in 6-0 win vs. Rutgers (April 1). The six Ks vs. Rutgers was his second-highest outing of the season behind a career-best nine vs. Niagara on March 17.
The Spartans return eight position players and three returning starting pitchers from last season, as MSU led the country in percentage of 1-2 run games (57.8 percent), finishing 20-32 overall and 11-12 in Big Ten play, finishing eighth in the league. Michigan State made its fourth appearance in the last five seasons in the Big Ten Tournament and its seventh in the 10 years under head coach Jake Boss Jr. MSU won four of its last seven B1G games of the regular-season to claim the No. 8 seed. The Spartans also had a stretch of winning seven-straight conference contests for the first time since 2009, including sweeping back-to-back B1G series for the first time since 2011.
This season's Spartans open the 2019 ledger on Friday, Feb. 15 at 7:30 p.m. ET at New Orleans in a three-game series against the New Orleans Privateers in the first of a 56-game regular-season ledger. MSU and UNO play on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. ET, before the series finale of the opening-weekend series on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 1 p.m. ET.
2019 BIG TEN BASEBALL PRESEASON POLL (top six teams and ties)
Rank Team
1 Minnesota
2 Michigan
3 Illinois
4 Indiana
5 Ohio State
6 Nebraska
6 Purdue
2019 BIG TEN BASEBALL PRESEASON HONORS LIST
Andy Fisher, LHP, Sr., Illinois
Michael Massey, 2B, Jr., Illinois
Quinn Snarskis, RHP, Sr., Illinois
Tanner Gordon, RHP, Jr., Indiana
Matt Gorski, OF, Jr., Indiana
Matt Lloyd, UTIL/RHP, Sr., Indiana
Jack Dreyer, LHP, So., Iowa
Cole McDonald, RHP, Sr., Iowa
Chris Whelan, OF, Sr., Iowa
AJ Lee, SS, Sr., Maryland
John Murphy, RHP, Sr., Maryland
Hunter Parsons, RHP, Sr., Maryland
Dominic Clementi, DH, Jr., Michigan
Jesse Franklin, OF, So., Michigan
Jordan Nwogu, OF, So., Michigan
Marty Bechina, SS, Sr., Michigan State
Indigo Diaz, RHP, Jr., Michigan State
Mason Erla, RHP, So., Michigan State
Patrick Fredrickson, RHP, So., Minnesota
Max Meyer, RHP/OF, So., Minnesota
Ben Mezzenga, OF, Sr., Minnesota
Angelo Altavilla, SS, Sr., Nebraska
Chad Luensmann, RHP, Jr., Nebraska
Luke Roskam, C/INF, Jr., Nebraska
Hank Christie, RHP, Jr., Northwestern
Jack Dunn, SS, Sr., Northwestern
Alex Erro, 2B, Jr., Northwestern
Dominic Canzone, OF, Jr., Ohio State
Dillon Dingler, C, So., Ohio State
Conner Pohl, 1B, Jr., Ohio State
Dante Biasi, LHP, So., Penn State
Parker Hendershot, DH/IF, So., Penn State
Ryan Sloniger, C, Sr., Penn State
Zac Fascia, C, Jr., Purdue
Skyler Hunter, OF, Jr., Purdue
Ben Nisle, OF, So., Purdue
Mike Nyisztor, OF, So., Rutgers
Harry Rutkowski, LHP, So., Rutgers
Kevin Welsh, INF, Jr., Rutgers
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