Spartans Head To Ann Arbor For Midweek Showdown

Tuesday, April 23

Ann Arbor, MI

7:00 PM ET

Michigan State University

Michigan

4/22/2019 1:49:00 PM | Softball

MSU Notes Wk 12 Michigan

Spartans (15-28, 3-12 B1G) at Michigan (33-11, 15-1 B1G)

Date/Time	Tuesday, April 23, 2019; 7 pm
Location	Ann Arbor, Mich.; S ecchia Stadium
Gameday Links	Live Stats Watch: FS1 Listen: SpartanSportsNetwork.com Webstream: FoxSportsGo
Big Ten Softball	Schedule/Results Standings Statistics
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Michigan
MSU Softball Social Media	Facebook \| Twitter \| Instagram

• Michigan State plays three of four games at home this week, with the lone road contest on Tuesday night at archrival Michigan. This weekend, MSU will entertain Northwestern in a three-game Big Ten series.

• Links for live statistics can be found on MSUSpartans.com on the Spartan schedule page.

• All of MSU's Big Ten games, will have a webstream via BTN2Go. Links for all games can be found on the softball schedule page of MSUSpartans.com, or on the BTN2GO live events page at www.btn2go.com/schedule.

• Tuesday's game against the Wolverines (7 pm) will air live on FS1, with Lisa Byington and Carol Bruggeman on the call.

• Spartan Sports Network continues its coverage of Spartan softball in 2019. The broadcast of the remainder of MSU's games - both home and away - will be available exclusively at SpartanSportsNetwork.com and on the network's 24/7 app for mobile devices (available on iTunes and Google Play). Matt Tjapkes is back for his fifth season calling all the Spartan softball action.

• MSU and Michigan meet for the 122nd time on Tuesday, and MSU trails the all-time series by a 29-91 margin.

• Last Tuesday, a four-run seventh for the Wolverines blew open the game for a 12-1 final. MSU opened up a 1-0 lead with three base hits early in the first inning against staff ace Meghan Beaubien, chasing her from the game in favor of freshman Alex Storako. Storako did not allow the Spartans another hit until Melanie Baccay led off the seventh with a single to right.
    Faith Canfield led the Wolverines with a 3-for-4 night, including a double and a triple and two RBI. Katie Alexander was 2-for-4 with a team-best three RBI, while Lexie Blair and Natalia Rodriguez also had two-hit efforts. Storako allowed just the one hit in seven innings, walking five and striking out 15.
    For the Spartans, Baccay had a pair of base hits – the first and final ones for the Spartans – and scored the Spartan run.  Charla Echols added a base hit and MacKenzie Meech had an RBI single for MSU (15-25, 3-9 Big Ten).   MSU used all four of its pitchers, with starter Alli Walker taking the loss (8-10), allowing three runs.  McKenna Gregory had the longest stint in the circle, going 3.1 innings in relief, allowing two hits.

• The Wolverines enter the week in second place in the Big Ten standings with a 15-1 mark in Conference play, the lone loss coming in the series finale against Ohio State on April 13. Michigan stands at 33-11 overall and was No. 22/19 in the NFCA and USA Softball national polls last week.

• Carol Hutchins is in her 35th season as the head coach at Michigan, and is a 1979 graduate of Michigan State and a member of the Spartans' 1976 AIAW National Softball Championship team.

• Michigan State is coming off a tough weekend, dropping all three games to Ohio State at Secchia Stadium.

• MSU's schedule has been challenging, with eight games throughout the non-conference schedule vs. power-five opponents. The Spartan schedule strength has an overall rank of 45th nationally, which includes three games vs. non-conference top-25 opponents (No. 5 Alabama (L, 2-1) and two vs No. 19 Auburn, (L, 5-0, L, 3-2), all on the road. Five of MSU's eight Big Ten conference series come against Top-25 or receiving votes opponents, including a current three-week stretch against the teams that currently occupy the top four spots in the Conference standings.

• Michigan State head coach Jacquie Joseph is in her 26th season at the helm of the Spartan softball program, and is the longest-tenured coach in program history, along with being the second-longest-tenured head coach in MSU's athletics department. She earned her 700th victory as the Spartan mentor on March 8 vs. Mercer, and she owns 843 wins overall.
• Joseph is the third-longest tenured head coach in the Big Ten Conference, behind Carol Hutchins (Michigan, 35th season) and Rhonda Revelle (Nebraska, 27th.)

• MSU has had several players miss games - or long stretches - with injury. No player has appeared in all 39 games - Kaitlyn Eveland has missed just one, starting and playing 42, while Caitie Ladd has played 42 and started 41. Riley Paxson is now done for the season due to a leg injury , and Joanna Bartz is rehabbing from an injury that had limited her role to pinch hitting until the last three weeks.

• The Spartans have drawn a total of 172 walks this season, good for the second most in the Big Ten behind behind Northwestern (190).

• Among Big Ten schools, the Spartans are sixth in on-base percentage (.382) seventh in stolen bases (44) and walks allowed (109), eighth in both slugging percentage (.438) and RBI (198). The Spartans are eighth in batting average (.277).

• MSU is 44-of-54 (.814) on stolen base attempts, which ranks seventh in the Big Ten in bases swiped and fifth in stolen base percentage. MSU's 44 stolen bases has surpassed both its 2017 (35) and 2018 (36) totals. The 2016 team swiped 47 bases.

PLAYER NOTES - PITCHERS
• MSU's returning pitchers threw just 66.1 of 336 innings a year ago. The staff makeup is intriguing, however, as it features junior Jordan Watson, sophomore McKenna Gregory, redshirt freshman Leah Shipp, and JUCO transfer sophomore Alli Walker.

• McKenna Gregory's 26 relief appearances this season leads the Big Ten - Kylee Lingenfelter of Penn State ranks second with 19. Her 30 appearances overall is tied for seventh in the Big Ten.

• Gregory had her first career seven-inning complete game on Saturday in a tough 3-2 loss to Ohio State. She pitched 10.2 innings over the three games in the series, and pitched in all four games last week overall.

• On the season, Gregory is second on the staff in strikeouts (40) and innings pitched (79.1).

• Alli Walker made two starts in the Ohio State series. On the season, she ranks fifth in the Big Ten in appearances (32) and ranks third in starts (26). She owns a 4.94 ERA in 100.2 innings with 54 strikeouts, tossing two complete games and recording two shutouts.

• Jordan Watson pitched in relief against Ohio State. On the year, she has thrown 50.2 innings, striking out 18 in 22 appearances, including seven starts. She owns a 4.70 ERA.

• Leah Shipp also made one relief appearance vs. Ohio State. She threw 4.1 innings at CMU (April 9), her longest outing since the season opener. Hindered by a lingering injury this season, she has made just 17 appearances (40.0 innings), starting seven ballgames.

PLAYER NOTES - FIELD PLAYERS
• While five starters returned to the 2019 lineup, the Spartans are still a youthful bunch with just two seniors among those five: LF Ebonee Echols and 3B Kaitlyn Eveland.

• Both Kaitlyn Eveland and Ebonee Echols are among MSU's top-10 all-time in several career categories. Eveland ranks sixth with a .335 career batting average, while Echols ranks ninth (.325). The duo ranks fourth (Echols, 124) and fifth (Eveland, 123) on MSU's all-time RBI list.

• Ebonee Echols is MSU's and the Big Ten record holder with 25 career triples. She also shares the Big Ten single-season record of 11, set in 2017. She has amassed 194 base hits in her career, good for 11th on MSU's all-time list, ranks third with 133 career runs scored, sixth in extra-base hits (70) and seventh in stolen bases (41).

• Ebonee Echols ranks second on the team in batting average (.354), on-base percentage (.449), hits (40), and triples (2). She ranks third in slugging (.602) and walks (21) and shares the team lead in sac flies (3).

• Kaitlyn Eveland ranks third all-time at MSU in career walks (89). Brittney Green (2001-04) is the all-time career leader with 104, with Patti Raduenz (95) in second place. Her 24 homers is fifth all-time at MSU, and her 158 base hits ranks in a tie for 25th all-time in that category among Spartan players.

• With 27 free passes this season, Kaitlyn Eveland leads the team, and ranks sixth in the B1G. She has drawn 28 walks in each of the last two seasons, which ranks in a tie for eighth in a single-season at MSU; the school record is held by Patti Raduenz, who had 37 in 1996.

• Charla Echols had two homers vs. Central Michigan, while her sister Ebonee smacked two homers in the finale of the Maryland series just two days prior. That tied the school record for home runs in a game (2) - it had been accomplished earlier in the season by Caitie Ladd (vs. Indiana, March 29). Among current players, Kelly Zackrison (April 28, 2018 vs. Rutgers), Lexi White (May 8, 2017 vs. Indiana) and Kaitlyn Eveland (April 8, 2017) have also accomplished the feat.

• Charla Echols leads the team with a .380 batting average, which is seventh among Big Ten players. She is fourth among B1G leaders in on-base percentage (.493), and tied for eighth in doubles (13). She leads the team in runs scored (32) and hits (46), is second in walks (24), and is fourth in RBI (24).

• Caitie Ladd has pushed her batting average up to .296, and boasts a team-best .643 slugging percentage, which is 15th among B1G leaders. She owns outright or is tied for the team lead in doubles (13 T-eighth, B1G), triples (3 T-fourth), homers (7, 17th), RBI (31, 17th), and sac flies (3, T-third). Her 23 extra-base hits this season is two shy of a top-10 performance in a single season at MSU.

• Over the last 10 games, Charla Echols and Ladd's offense has led the Spartans. Echols has a .400 average and Ladd .385 in that span. In this stretch, Echols has three doubles and two homers among her 12 hits, with nine walks; Ladd has posted five doubles, a triple, and a home run. Ladd has nine RBI in the last 10 and Echols six. Ebonee Echols has also had five of her nine base hits go for extra bases (three doubles, two homers) and has walked eight times.

• Center fielder Katie Quinlan is third on the team with a .307 batting average and is also third in base hits (35), and has four doubles in addition to 13 walks. She has also swiped a team-best 14 stolen bases, which ranks ninth in the Big Ten.

• Mackenzie Meech ranks third on the team in RBI (27), and is batting .291, with seven doubles and four homers. She has seen time both at 1B and in right field.

• Melanie Baccay has returned to play second base over the last 10 games after playing 14 of the previous 16 at first. She is currently hitting .258, contributing two doubles, two triples, two homers, 15 walks, and a career-best 15 RBI.

• Laney Joyner continues to improve her offensive approach and has improved on all of her freshman year numbers. On the year, she has walked 15 times - good for fifth on the team and nearly four times the number she drew last year as a freshman (4). She is batting .221 with 11 runs scored, 17 hits, and 10 RBI. This spring she has had her first career doubles, triple, and home run.

• Joanna Bartz has had several starts at DP in recent games as she continues to work her way back from an injury that has limited her defensive contributions. She's batting .182 on the season overall, but in the 10 Big Ten games that she's appeared, she is batting .364 (4-for-11) with two doubles, five walks, and three RBI.

• Senior Lexi White is batting .240 on the year with three doubles, a home run, and six RBI. She has started 30 of her 36 games at DP.

• Katelyn Hendershott has had roadblocks in her way back to the field after a torn ACL in 2018, but started the last two games against Ohio State at first base. She has three base hits and a pair of RBI on the season.

• Kelly Zackrison celebrated her senior day against Maryland on April 6 by driving in the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning. She has appeared in 20 games this season with four runs scored and six RBI.

• Redshirt sophomore Shae Schreckengost has started 11 games behind the plate. After smacking her first career home run against Oakland (April 3), the catcher has a pair of base hits and two walks in her last nine at-bats.

• Freshmen Abby Joseph and Courtney Callahan have been valuable assets for the Spartans. Joseph (2309 gp) and Callahan (24 gp) have both gotten starts in right field, and are used liberally as pinch runners. Joseph has scored 13 runs, and Callahan two.

• Sophomore Riley Paxson will miss the remainder of the season with an injury. First suffering the injury in the offseason, she had been battling to get back into form over her 19 appearances this season, where she had five base hits, four walks, three HBP (still the team lead) and a pair of RBI.