Softball Series At Rutgers Altered

Friday, May 3

Piscataway, NJ

12:00 PM ET

Michigan State University

Rutgers

5/2/2019 12:22:00 PM | Softball

Three-game series wraps up Big Ten regular-season play

Spartans (15-32, 3-16 B1G) at Rutgers (26-22, 9-11 B1G)

Dates	May 3-5, 2019
Location	Piscataway, NJ.; Rutgers Softball Complex \| Directions
Bag Policy	Rutgers University Bag Policy
Gameday Links
Game One: Friday, 12 pm	Live Stats Watch: B TN2Go ($) Listen: SpartanSportsNetwork.com
Game Two: Saturday, 1 pm	Live Stats Watch: BTN2Go ($) Listen: SpartanSportsNetwork.com
Game Three: Saturday, 3 pm	Live Stats Watch: BTN2Go ($) Listen: SpartanSportsNetwork.com
Big Ten Softball	Schedule/Results Standings Statistics
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Rutgers
MSU Softball Social Media	Facebook \| Twitter \| Instagram

THE WEEKEND AHEAD
• Michigan State plays its final Big Ten regular-season series of the season when it heads east to take on Rutgers in a three-game set.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: The three-game series schedule has been altered. Game one will be moved up and played at 12 noon on Friday. Games two and three will now be a Saturday doubleheader at 1/3 pm.

LOGISTICS
• 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.

• 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.

THE MATCHUP
• The Spartan-Rutgers series tips in favor of the Spartans by a 13-7 mark. Since Rutgers joined the Big Ten for the 2015 season, the overall series still goes to MSU, 7-5. The 2017 series was a sweep for the Spartans at Secchia Stadium (4-2, 9-2, 2-0).

• Kristen Butler is in her first season as the head coach at Rutgers, and has guided her team to a swift turnaround, sitting at 26-22 after a 19-31 (4-16 B1G) record for the Scarlet Knights a year ago. With a 9-11 Conference record, Rutgers currently sits in sixth place in the current B1G standings.

TEAM NOTES
• The Spartans entered the 2019 campaign with five returning starters after losing six seniors to graduationvat the conclusion of 2018. MSU carries 20 on its roster, including five returning starters: seniors 3B Kaitlyn Eveland and LF Ebonee Echols, junior Melanie Baccay, and sophomores RF Katie Quinlan and SS Caitie Ladd.

• This weekend are MSU's graduation excercises, and senior 3B Kaitlyn Eveland (Communications) will miss her graduation for this series. In addition, fifth-year senior Jordan Davis, who exhausted her eligibility last May, will earn her degree in human resources.

• Michigan State is in a 10-game skid, most recently dropping a three-game series to Big Ten leader Northwestern.

• Five of MSU's eight Big Ten conference series come against opponents in the national Top-25 or receiving votes, including the most recent three-week stretch against the teams that currently occupy the top four spots in the B1G standings. Only MSU and Illinois play all four of the Conference's top teams this season.

• MSU's overall 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.

• MSU has had several players miss games - or long stretches - with injury. No player has appeared in all 47 games - Kaitlyn Eveland has missed just one, starting and playing 46, while Caitie Ladd has played 46 and started 45. 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 181 walks this season, good for the third most in the Big Ten.

• Among Big Ten schools, the Spartans are ninth in slugging percentage (.430), and eighth in both on-base percentage (.376) and stolen bases (44). MSU also ranks fourth in triples (10) and second in sac flies (18).

• MSU is 44-of-54 (.814) on stolen base attempts, which ranks seventh in the Big Ten in bases stolen 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.

• 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 842 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.)

• Joseph's staff consists of pitching coach Ben Sorden, hitting coach Corrie Hill, and volunteer Bruce Lenington. Sorden begins his second season with the Spartan pitchers, while Hill and Lenington joined the staff in the fall of 2018.

PLAYER NOTES - PITCHERS
• MSU's returning pitchers threw just 66.1 of 336 innings 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 27 relief appearances this season leads the Big Ten - Kylee Lingenfelter of Penn State ranks second with 22. Her 34 appearances overall is tied for seventh in the Big Ten.

• Gregory had her first career seven-inning complete game in a tough 3-2 loss to Ohio State (April 20). She pitched a team-best 9.2 innings in last weekend's series against Northwestern, and has started four of the last six games. Gregory has seven starts on the year overall, and all of them have come since March 31.

• On the season, Gregory is second on the staff in strikeouts (46) and innings pitched (92.1). Her ERA is 6.97.

• Alli Walker leads the team in games started (27), which ranks fourth in the Big Ten. She came on in relief in three of the four games vs. Michigan/Northwestern last weekend, and threw 9.1 innings in the NU series.

• On the season, Walker ranks fifth in the Big Ten in appearances (36) and ranks fourth in starts (27). She owns a 5.19 ERA in 110.2 innings with 62 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.

• Among pitchers in Conference games, Watson's 3.57 ERA ranks in a tie for 14th, and her eight relief appearances ranks third.

• Leah Shipp also made one relief appearance vs. Northwestern, and one against 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 18 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 eighth with a .332 career batting average, while Echols ranks ninth (.324). The duo ranks in a tie for fourth on MSU's all-time RBI list, each with 125.

• 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 195 base hits in her career, moving her into 10th place on MSU's all-time list. She also ranks third with 133 career runs scored, fifth in extra-base hits (71) and seventh in stolen bases (41).

• Ebonee Echols ranks second on the team in batting average (.350), on-base percentage (.444), slugging (.598), hits (41), RBI (31) and triples (2). She ranks third in walks (21) and shares the team lead in sac flies (3).

• Kaitlyn Eveland ranks third all-time at MSU in career walks (90). Brittney Green (2001-04) is the all-time career leader with 104, with Patti Raduenz (95) in second place. Her 25 homers is fifth all-time at MSU, and her 160 base hits ranks 25th all-time in that category among Spartan players.

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

• Charla Echols had two homers vs. Central Michigan (April 9), 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 .369 batting average, which is 10th among Big Ten players. She is sixth among B1G leaders in on-base percentage (.481), and tied for eighth in doubles (14). She leads the team in runs scored (32) and hits (48), is second in walks (26,
T-14th B1G), and is fifth in RBI (26).

• Caitie Ladd's batting average sits at .250, but she boasts a team-best .616 slugging percentage. She owns outright or is tied for the team lead in doubles (14 T-eighth, B1G), triples (3 T-fourth B1G), RBI (32), runs (33), and sac flies (3, T-third B1G). She is second on the team in home runs (7), and sac bunts (3), and fourth in hits (36). Her 24 extra-base hits this season is one shy of a top-10 performance in a single season at MSU.

• In Big Ten games only, Ladd ranks fifth among league players with seven doubles.

• Over the last 10 games, Charla Echols has led the Spartans. She has a .346 average, and has just one more hit (9) than walks (8). Mackenzie Meech has eight base hits for a .296 average.

• Center fielder Katie Quinlan is third on the team with a .302 batting average, ranks fifth on the team 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 fourth on the team in RBI (27), and is batting .299, with eight doubles and four homers. She has seen time both at 1B and in right field, and boasts a .962 fielding percentage, with six errors against 144 putouts.

• Meech led the Spartans with four base hits in the Northwestern series, (4-for-8) with a double.

• Melanie Baccay has returned to play second base over the last 14 games after playing 14 of the previous 16 at first. She is currently hitting .250, contributing two doubles, two triples, three homers, 19 walks, and a career-best 16 RBI.

• Baccay had a solo homer in the Northwestern series, and also drew a team-best three walks.

• Both of Baccay's triples this season have come in Big Ten games, and she shares the conference lead in that category.

• Katelyn Hendershott has had several roadblocks in her way back to the field after a torn ACL in 2018, but has started four of the last six Spartan games, either at DP or first base. She has four 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. Last weekend in the home finale doubleheader against Northwestern, Zackrison picked up her first career triple and went 2-for-3, and added an impressive diving catch in left field.

• Freshman Courtney Callahan saw action in all three games of the Northwestern series, picking up her first collegiate hit in the first game against the Wildcats. She also had some impressive defensive contributions in the series.

• Laney Joyner has improved on all of her freshman year numbers. On the year, she has walked 15 times - nearly four times the number she drew last year as a freshman (4). She is batting .202 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 seen some time at DP in addition to a pinch-hitting role as she continues to work her way back from an injury that has limited her defensive contributions. She's batting .162 on the season overall, but in the 10 Big Ten games that she's appeared, she is batting .267 (4-for-15) with two doubles, five walks, and three RBI.

• Senior Lexi White is batting .225 on the year with three doubles, a home run, and six RBI. She has started 31 of her 40 games at DP.

• 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 has also been a valuable asset for the Spartans. She is the most-used reserve of any field player (26 appearances off the bench) and has also gotten six starts (all in the outfield). Joseph has scored 13 runs, swiped two bases, and has just one defensive error.