Michigan State University Athletics
Photo by: Jeremy Fleming
Three Spartans Tabbed Big Ten Preseason Players To Watch
3/4/2021 12:02:00 PM | Baseball
Erla, Kelley and Peterson earn recognition ahead of Friday’s season-opener.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Three Michigan State baseball players earned Big Ten Preseason Players to Watch honors, as the conference announced its preseason honors list and preseason poll ahead of Friday's 2021 season openers around the league.
The conference coaches voted on the top six teams and also selected three student-athletes from their own squads to a Preseason Honors list.
Junior pitcher Mason Erla, senior outfielder Bryce Kelley and senior infielder Bailey Peterson earned the preseason recognition.
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Erla collects his third preseason accolade, as he was a Preseason All-American by Perfect Game and Collegiate Baseball.
The Spartan pitcher was a postseason Second-Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball, becoming Michigan State's first All-American since 2015 when relief pitcher Dakota Mekkes was a Third-Team National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) All-American. Erla was the Spartans' first starting pitcher to earn All-American accolades since 1998, when Mark Mulder was a Third-Team Collegiate Baseball/Louisville Slugger All-American.
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.Â
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.
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Kelley, a native of Rockford, Michigan, was tabbed as the Danny Litwhiler Defensive Player of the Year for the second-straight season as part of the 2020 MSU team awards. He also collected the 2020 MSU SASS Scholar-Athlete Award for having the highest GPA on the baseball team, and was also named to the 2020 Google Cloud Academic First-Team All-District® Baseball Team
Last season, 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.Â
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.Â
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.
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Peterson, a native of Grandville, Michigan, was voted to receive the John Kobs Most Valuable Player Award, while also earning the Kirk Gibson Offensive Player of the Year Award as part of the MSU Team Awards after the shortened 2020 season. He 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.Â
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.
Michigan State opens the abbreviated 2021 season on Friday, March 5, taking on Maryland in a four-game series played at Fluor Field at Greenville, South Carolina. The season and series-opener is Friday at 6:30 p.m., before a doubleheader Saturday starting at 4:30 p.m., before Sunday's series finale starting at 1:30 p.m.
While no fans are allowed besides families, fans can follow all the action from Fluor Field on Big Ten Network+ and live stats, with both links available at MSUSpartans.com.
2021 BIG TEN BASEBALL PRESEASON POLL (top six teams)
Rank   Team
1Â Â Â Michigan
2Â Â Â Indiana
3Â Â Â Ohio State
4Â Â Â Iowa
5Â Â Â Maryland
6Â Â Â Illinois
2021 BIG TEN BASEBALL PRESEASON HONORS LIST
Branden Comia, SS, So., Illinois
Andrew Hoffmann, RHP, So., Illinois
Taylor Jackson, OF, Jr., Illinois
Cole Barr, 3B, Jr., Indiana
McCade Brown, RHP, So., Indiana
Grant Richardson, CF, So., Indiana
Austin Martin, C, Sr., Iowa
Ben Norman, OF, Sr., Iowa      Â
Trenton Wallace, LHP/OF, Jr., Iowa
Randy Bednar, OF, Sr., Maryland
Sean Burke, RHP, So., Maryland
Maxwell Costes, 1B, Jr., Maryland
Steven Hajjar, LHP, So., Michigan
Jimmy Obertop, 1B/C, So., Michigan
Cameron Weston, RHP, So., Michigan
Mason Erla, RHP, Jr., Michigan State
Bryce Kelley, OF/LHP, Sr., Michigan State
Bailey Peterson, 2B, Sr., Michigan State
Sam Ireland, RHP/1B, So., Minnesota
Zach Raabe, 2B, Jr., Minnesota
Jack Wassel, 3B, Sr., Minnesota
Chance Hroch, RHP, Sr., Nebraska
Cade Povich, LHP, Jr., Nebraska
Spencer Schwellenbach, SS/RHP, Jr., Nebraska
Michael Doherty, RHP, Jr., Northwestern
Shawn Goosenberg, SS, Jr., Northwestern
Tyler Uberstine, RHP, Jr., Northwestern
TJ Brock, RHP, Jr., Ohio State
Garrett Burhenn, RHP, Jr., Ohio State
Seth Lonsway, LHP, Jr., Ohio State
Bailey Dees, RHP, Jr., Penn StateÂ
Gavin Homer, IF, Sr., Penn StateÂ
Tyler Shingledecker, LHP, So., Penn StateÂ
Skyler Hunter, OF, Sr., Purdue
Trent Johnson, RHP, Sr., Purdue
Ben Nisle, OF, Sr., Purdue
Danny DiGeorgio, SS, Sr., Rutgers
Harry Rutkowski, LHP, Jr., Rutgers
Richie Schiekofer, CF, Jr., Rutgers
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The conference coaches voted on the top six teams and also selected three student-athletes from their own squads to a Preseason Honors list.
Junior pitcher Mason Erla, senior outfielder Bryce Kelley and senior infielder Bailey Peterson earned the preseason recognition.
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Erla collects his third preseason accolade, as he was a Preseason All-American by Perfect Game and Collegiate Baseball.
The Spartan pitcher was a postseason Second-Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball, becoming Michigan State's first All-American since 2015 when relief pitcher Dakota Mekkes was a Third-Team National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) All-American. Erla was the Spartans' first starting pitcher to earn All-American accolades since 1998, when Mark Mulder was a Third-Team Collegiate Baseball/Louisville Slugger All-American.
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.Â
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.
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Kelley, a native of Rockford, Michigan, was tabbed as the Danny Litwhiler Defensive Player of the Year for the second-straight season as part of the 2020 MSU team awards. He also collected the 2020 MSU SASS Scholar-Athlete Award for having the highest GPA on the baseball team, and was also named to the 2020 Google Cloud Academic First-Team All-District® Baseball Team
Last season, 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.Â
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.Â
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.
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Peterson, a native of Grandville, Michigan, was voted to receive the John Kobs Most Valuable Player Award, while also earning the Kirk Gibson Offensive Player of the Year Award as part of the MSU Team Awards after the shortened 2020 season. He 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.Â
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.
Michigan State opens the abbreviated 2021 season on Friday, March 5, taking on Maryland in a four-game series played at Fluor Field at Greenville, South Carolina. The season and series-opener is Friday at 6:30 p.m., before a doubleheader Saturday starting at 4:30 p.m., before Sunday's series finale starting at 1:30 p.m.
While no fans are allowed besides families, fans can follow all the action from Fluor Field on Big Ten Network+ and live stats, with both links available at MSUSpartans.com.
2021 BIG TEN BASEBALL PRESEASON POLL (top six teams)
Rank   Team
1Â Â Â Michigan
2Â Â Â Indiana
3Â Â Â Ohio State
4Â Â Â Iowa
5Â Â Â Maryland
6Â Â Â Illinois
2021 BIG TEN BASEBALL PRESEASON HONORS LIST
Branden Comia, SS, So., Illinois
Andrew Hoffmann, RHP, So., Illinois
Taylor Jackson, OF, Jr., Illinois
Cole Barr, 3B, Jr., Indiana
McCade Brown, RHP, So., Indiana
Grant Richardson, CF, So., Indiana
Austin Martin, C, Sr., Iowa
Ben Norman, OF, Sr., Iowa      Â
Trenton Wallace, LHP/OF, Jr., Iowa
Randy Bednar, OF, Sr., Maryland
Sean Burke, RHP, So., Maryland
Maxwell Costes, 1B, Jr., Maryland
Steven Hajjar, LHP, So., Michigan
Jimmy Obertop, 1B/C, So., Michigan
Cameron Weston, RHP, So., Michigan
Mason Erla, RHP, Jr., Michigan State
Bryce Kelley, OF/LHP, Sr., Michigan State
Bailey Peterson, 2B, Sr., Michigan State
Sam Ireland, RHP/1B, So., Minnesota
Zach Raabe, 2B, Jr., Minnesota
Jack Wassel, 3B, Sr., Minnesota
Chance Hroch, RHP, Sr., Nebraska
Cade Povich, LHP, Jr., Nebraska
Spencer Schwellenbach, SS/RHP, Jr., Nebraska
Michael Doherty, RHP, Jr., Northwestern
Shawn Goosenberg, SS, Jr., Northwestern
Tyler Uberstine, RHP, Jr., Northwestern
TJ Brock, RHP, Jr., Ohio State
Garrett Burhenn, RHP, Jr., Ohio State
Seth Lonsway, LHP, Jr., Ohio State
Bailey Dees, RHP, Jr., Penn StateÂ
Gavin Homer, IF, Sr., Penn StateÂ
Tyler Shingledecker, LHP, So., Penn StateÂ
Skyler Hunter, OF, Sr., Purdue
Trent Johnson, RHP, Sr., Purdue
Ben Nisle, OF, Sr., Purdue
Danny DiGeorgio, SS, Sr., Rutgers
Harry Rutkowski, LHP, Jr., Rutgers
Richie Schiekofer, CF, Jr., Rutgers
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Players Mentioned
INF/OF
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RHP
/ Baseball
OF/LHP
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IF/OF
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