Michigan State Baseball Presents 2020 Team Awards

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball head coach Jake Boss Jr. announced the winners of the 2020 team awards on Thursday, April 16.

Michigan State finished the season with a 9-6 record, before the rest of the season was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

All of the awards were voted on by the players with the exception of the Offensive Player of the Year award, which is based on various statistical data over the course of the season.

Senior infielder Bailey Peterson was voted to receive the John Kobs Most Valuable Player Award, while also earning the Kirk Gibson Offensive Player of the Year Award. This marked the second-straight year that the same player to collected both accolades after Marty Bechina did in 2019. Redshirt-junior pitcher Mason Erla was named the Robin Roberts Most Valuable Pitcher. Senior outfielder Bryce Kelley was tabbed as the Danny Litwhiler Defensive Player of the Year for the second-straight season. The Steve Garvey Most Improved Player Award went to redshirt-sophomore Peter Ahn, while senior pitcher Caleb Sleeman was the Jerry Sutton Student-Athlete Award recipient. The Craig Hendricks Spartan Spirit Award went to junior pitcher Danny Gieselman.

Peterson, a native of Grandville, Michigan, played and started in all 15 games, one of only two Spartans to start in every game, along with Bryce Kelley and was one of only three players to play in all 15 contests, along with Kelley and Peter Ahn. He led team and ranked second in the Big Ten and tied for 22nd in the NCAA with a .441 average, also ranking second in the Big Ten and 35th in the NCAA with a .528 on-base percentage and second on the team and 15th in the league with a .542 slugging percentage. He also led MSU, while ranking second in the B1G and tied for 35th in NCAA with 26 hits. Peterson also shared the team and Big Ten lead in stolen bases with Kelley, swiping eight bags, ranking tied for 45th in the NCAA, which also ranked tied for second in conference and tied for 44th in country with 0.53 stolen bases/game.

Additionally, Peterson tied for the team-lead and tied for eighth in B1G with 15 RBI, while ranking tied for ninth in league with 1.0 RBI/game. Defensively, Peterson started all 15 games at second base, making 35 putouts and 21 assists, and led team being a part of five double plays.

Peterson was one of only two Spartans to reach base in all 15 games this season, along with Kelley. One of the many highlights of Peterson's season was posting an extremely rare streak of reaching base in 10-straight at bats in a span from the game on Feb. 17. He started with a single and triple in his last two at bats in that game vs. Morehead State, then went 5-for-5 with a walk in series-opener vs. Merrimack on Feb. 21. He then opened the second game of series vs. Merrimack on Feb. 22 with a single and double, before the streak came to an end with a popup.

A native of Cass City, Michigan, Erla posted a 2-0 record with a paltry 1.04 ERA in four starts, firing 42 strikeouts with only four overall runs allowed, with three earned, and just six walks in 26.0 IP. He ranked second in the B1G and 10th in the NCAA with 42 strikeouts, along with being tied for sixth in the conference with eight strikeouts looking. Erla also ranked second in the league and 49th in the nation with a 1.04 ERA, and ranked 16th in conference with a .211 batting average against. Additionally, Erla ranked fourth in the B1G and tied for 30th in the NCAA with 14.54 strikeouts per nine innings, along with ranking tied for fourth in the league and 74th in the nation with a 7.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Erla was named the Big Ten Conference Pitcher of the Week and one of Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's National Players of the Week on March 10 for his performance vs. Troy on March 6 in which he fired a career-high 12 strikeouts, and had a no-hitter going for 5.2 IP, not allowing a hit until the sixth inning to lead Michigan State to a 1-0 win over Troy in a Friday night pitchers' duel. The Spartan hurler ended with 12 strikeouts over 7.0 IP, allowing just two hits, going 5.2 IP of no-hit baseball, before a single in the sixth and a bloop wind-aided, wind-blown double in the seventh. He didn't allow a Troy base-runner to touch second base until the seventh inning, as he rang up a three-up, three-down inning in the first, second, fourth and fifth frames, and didn't face more than four Troy batters in any inning, as the Trojans came into the game hitting .320 as a team.

The 12 strikeouts vs. Troy was Erla's new career-high, marking the third time this season that he has set or tied a new career-best in four appearances. Erla tallied 11 Ks in the season-opener vs. Morehead State on Feb. 14 and matched that with 11 punchouts on Feb. 21 vs. Merrimack.

Kelley, a native of Rockford, Michigan, earns his second award of the week, as he collected the 2020 MSU SASS Scholar-Athlete Award for having the highest GPA on the baseball team, announced on Monday. Kelley started in center field in 13 games, while starting in left in first two games. He posted a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage, with 19 putouts and two assists, along with using his speed to cut down several hits, turning several doubles into singles. His highlight outfield assist was his throw to Gabe Sotres for the tag at the plate in top of ninth for defensive walk-off vs. Western Carolina on Feb. 29, to preserve a 4-3 win. Kelley's other outfield assist came vs. Morehead State on Feb. 16 with a double play on a flyout and doubling-up the runner at second.

Kelley joined Peterson as the only Spartans to play and start in all 15 games, and one of three players to play in all 15 contests, along with Ahn. He was second on the team with a .400 average, ranking tied for fifth in the B1G and tied for 88th in the NCAA, along with ranking sixth in the conference with a .486 on-base percentage, and added a .417 slugging percentage. Kelley ranked second on the team, along with tied for fourth in the B1G and tied for 74th in the NCAA with 24 hits. He shared the team and Big Ten lead with eight stolen bases with Peterson, ranking tied for 45th in NCAA, and also ranked tied for second in the conference and tied for 44th in the country with 0.53 stolen bases/game.

He was tabbed as the Big Ten Conference Co-Player of the Week on Feb. 17, for his performance in the opening weekend for his first career Big Ten Player of the Week award. Kelley hit .647 (11-of-17) for the weekend, which led the Big Ten by over .100, as well as ranking 15th in the NCAA after the first weekend of the season, leading Michigan State to a four-game sweep of Morehead State in Charleston, South Carolina at Shipyard Park, as the Spartans were the only Big Ten team to win all four of their games on the weekend. Kelley's 11 hits also led not only the Big Ten, but shared the lead for the most in the NCAA, and was three hits more than any other player in the conference. He had at least two hits in all four games played, including going 4-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored, adding one stolen base in Michigan State's 15-3 win in the series and season-opener on Feb. 14.

Kelley led the team with the longest hitting streak of the season, getting a hit in the first 13 games of the season, before going hitless in game 14, but had a hit in the 15th game, giving him at least one hit in 14 of the 15 games of the season. He also shared the team-lead with reaching base in all 15 games, joining Peterson.

Ahn, a Delafield, Wisconsin native, played in all 15 games, one of only three Spartans to play in all 15 contests, along with Peterson and Kelley, while starting 14 games, ranking tied for second-most, making all 14 starts at first base. Ahn hit a career-best .339, which ranked third on the team and 15th in the Big Ten. He led MSU and ranked 11th in the B1G with a .571 slugging percentage, and added a .400 on-base percentage. Ahn also topped the Big Ten and ranked tied for 10th in the NCAA with three triples, also leading the league and ranking tied for 13th in NCAA with 0.20 triples per game. He also tied for the team-lead and tied for eighth in B1G with 15 RBI, while ranking tied for ninth in league with 1.0 RBI/game, along with ranking second on the team and tied for 11th in B1G with 14 runs scored.

Defensively, Ahn made all 14 starts at first base, ranking 13th in B1G in fielding chances with 97, while also ranking 13th in league with 89 putouts, adding six assists, and was part of four double plays, second-most on team.

Ahn was named the Big Ten Conference Player of the Week on March 2 for his performance in helping MSU win the 2020 First Pitch Invitational going 3-0 for the weekend at Fluor Field, home of the Greenville Drive. He hit .636 (7-of-11) for the weekend, with six RBI and five runs scored, including posting an .818 slugging percentage and a .615 on-base percentage. Ahn also added two stolen bases, one walk and one sacrifice fly, in scoring five runs for the three-game weekend. Ahn also posted at least two hits in all three games, including going 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBI in MSU's 8-7 win over Kansas on Feb. 28, scoring the winning run of the walk-off victory, adding one walk and walk stolen base, along with a sac fly. He went 2-for-4 with an RBI, a run scored and stolen base in the 4-3 win over Western Carolina on Feb. 29, driving in the first run of the game with an RBI single in the first, adding a single and stolen base in the third. Ahn then wrapped up the weekend going 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored in MSU's come-from-behind 8-6 win over Ball State on March 1. He smacked an RBI triple in the third inning of the game for MSU's second run of the game, and later, in the seventh, knocked a two-run single for the Spartans' first runs of inning, sparking MSU's comeback from down 6-2 for second and third RBI of the day.

Sleeman, an Alto, Michigan native, was also a multi-year member of MSU Athletics Honor Roll, graduating with degree in management and posted a 4.0 GPA in first semester in pursuit of an MBA.

On the field, Sleeman shared the team-lead by making seven appearances, including one start, posting a 2-1 record with one save and part of one shutout, chalking up 25 strikeouts with a 2.00 ERA in 18.0 IP. Sleeman ranked 11th in the Big Ten with 2.00 ERA, as well as tied for 11th by stymieing opposition bats to a .191 average against, and also tying for 13th with 25 strikeouts. He also ranked tied for third in B1G with seven appearances and tied for seventh with six games in relief.

Sleeman picked up the save and part of a shutout in the same game, vs. Troy on March 6, pitching the final 2.0 IP, ringing up four strikeouts, to earn the save and preserve the shutout for starter Mason Erla. Sleeman made his lone start of the season vs. Morehead State (Feb. 16), going season-high 6.0 IP and career-high seven strikeouts, one of three outings on the season without allowing a run.

Gieselman, a native of Commerce, Michigan, was the recipient of the Craig Hendricks Spartan Spirit Award. While Gieselman did not make any pitching appearances, he was a great teammate in the dugout and bullpen, always cheering on and supporting his teammates, offering encouraging words when needed to his teammates through their highs and lows.

John Kobs Most Valuable Player: Bailey Peterson
Robin Roberts Most Valuable Pitcher: Mason Erla
Kirk Gibson Offensive Player of the Year: Bailey Peterson
Danny Litwhiler Defensive Player of the Year: Bryce Kelley
Steve Garvey Most Improved Player: Peter Ahn
Jerry Sutton Student-Athlete Award: Caleb Sleeman
Craig Hendricks Spartan Spirit Award: Danny Gieselman

Related News

Players Mentioned

Peter Ahn

Marty Bechina

Mason Erla

Danny Gieselman

Bryce Kelley

Bailey Peterson

Caleb Sleeman

Gabe Sotres

Related Videos