Michigan State University Athletics
Photo by: Jeremy Fleming
Spartan Baseball Presents 2021 Team Awards
6/15/2021 2:17:00 PM | Baseball
Walker recipient of both John Kobs MVP and Kirk Gibson Offensive Player of Year Awards, Erla collects Robin Roberts Most Valuable Pitcher for second-straight season.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball head coach Jake Boss Jr. announced the winners of the 2021 team.
MSU posted a 17-27 record in 2021, playing a Big Ten Conference-only schedule due to the COVID-19 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.
Sophomore outfielder Zaid Walker was tabbed as the John Kobs Most Valuable Player Award recipient as well as the Kirk Gibson Offensive Player of the Year. This marked the third-straight year that the same player collected both accolades after Bailey Peterson earned both in 2020 and Marty Bechina did in 2019.
Redshirt-junior pitcher Mason Erla was named the Robin Roberts Most Valuable Pitcher for the second-straight year. Freshman infielder Trent Farquhar garnered the Danny Litwhiler Defensive Player of the Year Award honors. Senior outfielder Joe Stewart was the recipient of the Steve Garvey Most Improved Player, while the Jerry Sutton Student-Athlete Award went to senior outfielder Bryce Kelley. Senior pitcher Sam Benschoter was the recipient of the Craig Hendricks Spartan Spirit Award.
Walker, a native of Homewood, Ill., was one of two Spartans to start and play in all 44 games, along with Kelley. Walker led MSU and ranked 22nd in the B1G with a .308 average, also leading the team and rank 20th in the B1G with 31 RBI. He also led the team in hits (52), runs scored (29) and total bases (71), while ranking second on the team in stolen bases (7), third in both home runs (3) and on-base percentage (.367), and fifth in slugging percentage (.420). Walker also tied for third with total extra base hits with 12 on eight doubles, one triple and three home runs.
In the 44-game season, Walker had at least one hit in 31 of the 44 games played, and also led the team with 14 multiple hit games, with two hits in eight games, three hits in five games, and shared the team-high for most hits in a game this season with four, coming vs. Northwestern on March 13 at Greenville. With nine multiple RBI games, Walker also led MSU, logging five games with two RBI and four games with three RBI. He had a stretch of three RBI twice in three games, April 11 vs. Purdue and April 16 at Illinois, also logging three ribbies on March 6 vs. Maryland.
Walker also owned the longest hitting streak of the season, hitting safely in nine-straight games (March 13-27), and also owned the second-longest reached base streak of 14 in a row (March 13-April 9). In the outfield, Walker tallied 77 putouts and four assists, including robbing a home run vs. Northwestern on March 13 in Greenville, and a pair of nice sliding catches in the same inning of the game vs. Iowa on May 29, snaring the first and third outs of the sixth inning.
Erla, a native of Cass City, Mich., posted five wins in 13 starts, leading MSU in 79.2 IP, ringing up a team-leading 80 strikeouts, which ranked tied for 10th in the B1G, and also ranking 10th in the conference with a 3.50 ERA. The right-hander fired six or more strikeouts in 11 of his 13 starts, including seven or more in his first three starts. Erla rang up his season-high eight strikeouts in three different games, including two of his first three outings, highlighted by his match-up vs. Illinois on March 20 at the Ann Arbor pod weekend, firing 7.0 IP and eight strikeouts without a run, yielding a season-low of four hits, all singles, and only walking two. He had two appearances without allowing an earned run, with an outing on April 17 vs. Purdue joining the aforementioned outing vs. Illinois, as well as two appearances with only one earned run (April 9 vs. Penn State; May 21 at Rutgers).
The 80 strikeouts this season give Erla 243 for his career, now No. 3 MSU's career list, the most since Tony Bucciferro's 273 Ks (2009-12), and behind record-holder Bryan Gale (2001-04) with 277. Erla became just the fifth pitcher in MSU history to reach the 200 strikeout plateau, topping the 200 K mark on with seven strikeouts on April 9 vs. Penn State. In his next outing, on April 17 vs. Purdue, Erla passed Cam Vieaux (2014-16) at 202 Ks for the No. 4 spot on the list and took over the No. 3 spot from Ron Perranoski (1956-58) with 223 strikeouts on May 7 vs. Michigan with his third eight-K outing.
Farquhar, a Highland, Mich., native, made 38 starts, with 37 coming at second base and one at shortstop, and posted 100 assists, 85 putouts and was a part of 21 double plays, as Michigan State led the Big Ten with 41 double plays turned, ranking 45th in the NCAA, as well as leading the B1G and ranking 11th in the NCAA with 0.93 double plays per game. Farquhar posted a season-high seven assists vs. Penn State on April 9, the most by an individual fielder this season. He had at least three putouts in 14 games, including a season-high five vs. Nebraska on April 23.
At the plate, Farquhar was the Spartans' leadoff batter in 32 games, hitting .272, including sharing the team-lead and ranking tied for 21st in the B1G in doubles with 10. He also tied for third on the team with total extra base hits with 12 on 10 doubles, one triple, and one home run, belting his first collegiate home run in the Purdue game on April 12, blasting a solo shot down the right field line and into the Red Cedar River. Farquhar led MSU with a .381 on-base percentage, ranking second on the team and tied for 14th in the B1G with 24 walks, as well as ranking tied for second on the team with four hit-by-pitch.
Farquhar had a team-high 18-game on-base streak, reaching base in every game that he had an at bat from March 12-April 12, snapping the streak on April 16 by not reaching base at Illinois. He finished the season logging at least one hit in 12 of the last 16 games, having a five-game hit streak halted without a hit on May 8, but bounced back with three hits on May 9 and two knocks on May 14, then adding three hits on May 21 at Rutgers. For the season, his longest hitting streak was seven games (March 12-21), finishing with at least one hit in 28 of 39 games with an at bat. Farquhar was tied for second on the team with 11 multiple hit games, including a team-best tying nine games with two hits, as well as two games with a season-high three hits, coming on May 9 vs. Michigan, then matching it on May 21 at Rutgers. He also had three multi-RBI games, which tied for third on the team, with three games with two ribbies each, most recently on April 25 vs. Nebraska.
Stewart, a native of Portage, Mich., entered the 2021 season with just three total hits in 17 total games played, posting only 19 career at bats prior to this season. However, he had a torrid start to the 2021 season and swung a hot bat throughout, finishing with a .276 average, leading MSU in total extra base hits with 15 on nine doubles, one triple and five home runs, ranking second or tied for second in all three categories. Stewart was also second on the team in RBI (24), and total bases (66), as well as third in slugging percentage (.455), and fifth in both average and runs scored (21).
Stewart hit .471 (8-for-17) in the four games of the Ann Arbor pod vs. Illinois and Michigan on March 20-22, including four doubles, coming in a span of three games, with one vs. Illinois in the opener on March 20, then two in the game on March 21 vs. Illinois before another one in the nightcap vs. Michigan, one of his season-high four hits. Stewart also had a team-best five RBI, with three coming March 20 vs. Illinois, coming to bat with the bases loaded and clearing them with a three-run double. He also had a standout play in the field of the win on March 22, getting an outfield assist to end the fourth inning, firing a frozen rope to junior catcher Adam Proctor at home, and Proctor made a nice snag and tag on the UM runner for the out to end the inning and preserve MSU's 2-0 lead.
With five multi-RBI games, Stewart was second on the team, logging two games with two ribbies, two with three, and a season-high four RBI, coming at Rutgers on May 23. Stewart also had 10 multi-hit games, with five games with two hits, four contests with three hits and one game with career-high four hits. He had a season-long seven-game hitting streak (March 12-21), as well as a seven-game reached base streak over the same span. In the field, Stewart made 34 starts in center field, making 71 putouts and five assists.
Kelley is a native of Rockford, Mich., and is a four-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honoree, as well as an Academic All-Big Ten selection. He earned 2020 CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic First-Team All-District® accolades and is a nomination for the 2021 honor. Kelley also was the recipient of the MSU SASS Scholar-Athlete Award for 2021 for having the highest GPA on the baseball team, and he also is a three-time honoree of Highest Honors for MSU Athletics Honor Roll.
On the field, Kelley led MSU and ranked sixth in the B1G with 11 stolen bases. Kelley became the new MSU career stolen base king this season, as he broke the record on April 11 vs. Purdue, swiping his 80th career base, passing Anthony Cheky's previous record of 79 from 2012-15. Kelley broke the record in the first inning, by stealing third. He reached on a walk, then moved to second on a groundout, before swiping third. After swiping No. 80, he was congratulated by third base coach Graham Sikes, and presented the record setting base by a member of the MSU Facilities grounds crew in a special presentation, while the small crowd of family of the student-athletes gave Kelley a standing ovation. Kelley's record-setting moment was No. 5 on NCAA Baseball's Player of the Week. Kelley padded his record finished his Spartan career with 83 swipes.
At the plate, Kelley led the team and ranked third in the B1G with 30 walks, as well as ranking sixth in the league in walks/game (0.68). Kelley also finished third on the team in runs scored (26), fifth in hits (39) and on-base percentage (.357).
Benschoter, a native of Tecumseh, Mich., earned the Craig Hendricks Spartan Spirit Award, the award given to the most positive team player who is enthusiastic, trustworthy, conscientious, hard-working, and good humored in honor of Spartan Baseball alum Craig Hendricks. In true selfless fashion, Benschoter gave up the opportunity to start on Senior Day vs. Iowa in favor of coming out of the bullpen so that fellow senior Jarret Olson could make his one and only start of the year because of an injury suffered before the season began.
For the season, Benschoter was second on the team and tied for 12th in the B1G with 79 strikeouts, posting three wins in eight starts in 69.1 IP. Benschoter finished eighth in the B1G in strikeouts per nine innings (10.3).He opened the season in explosive fashion, firing a then career-high 10 strikeouts in a 6-0 shutout Victory for MSU over Maryland in the 2021 season-opener on March 5 at Fluor Field in Greenville, South Carolina, going a career-high 8.0 innings. In MSU's first game since March 8, 2020, before the rest of the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Benschoter didn't show any signs of layoff, as he provided much of the excitement on the night, and was dealing, scattering just five hits to a Maryland offense that hit .258 as a team, and the Spartan hurler stymied the Terrapin offense, shutting them out after they led the Big Ten last year with 111 runs in 15 games (7.4 runs per game, including striking out well-decorated Preseason Award winner Maxwell Costes twice as part of holding him to 0-3.
Benschoter had another smashing outing on April 25, striking out a modern day school record 17 batters vs. B1G-leader Nebraska in 9.1 IP of relief. The 17 strikeouts is the most in modern day school history, bettering Mark Mulder's 16 Ks against Campbell on March 7, 1998. He was named to Collegiate Baseball National Players of the Week list on April 26, and was named the Big Ten Conference Baseball Co-Pitcher of the Week on April 27 for his performance. Coming into game to start the third inning, Benschoter struck out the side in the third and fifth innings on the way on the way to stymieing Nebraska bats, as they entered game leading the Big Ten in batting average, and Benschoter did not allow a hit until the eighth. Benschoter racked up two strikeouts in the fourth and sixth innings, and after yielding a leadoff single in the ninth, chalked up three strikeouts. The 17 Ks matched the most in the B1G this season and was tied for the second-most in a game in the NCAA this season, while the 9.1 IP is the most in the B1G and second-most in NCAA.
His 10 Ks vs. Maryland and 17 vs. Nebraska were two of his three double-digit strikeout outings on the season, also with 10 vs. Indiana on March 27, also in a relief role.
John Kobs Most Valuable Player: Zaid Walker
Robin Roberts Most Valuable Pitcher: Mason Erla
Kirk Gibson Offensive Player of the Year: Zaid Walker
Danny Litwhiler Defensive Player of the Year: Trent Farquhar
Steve Garvey Most Improved Player: Joe Stewart
Jerry Sutton Student-Athlete Award: Bryce Kelley
Craig Hendricks Spartan Spirit Award: Sam Benschoter
MSU posted a 17-27 record in 2021, playing a Big Ten Conference-only schedule due to the COVID-19 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.
Sophomore outfielder Zaid Walker was tabbed as the John Kobs Most Valuable Player Award recipient as well as the Kirk Gibson Offensive Player of the Year. This marked the third-straight year that the same player collected both accolades after Bailey Peterson earned both in 2020 and Marty Bechina did in 2019.
Redshirt-junior pitcher Mason Erla was named the Robin Roberts Most Valuable Pitcher for the second-straight year. Freshman infielder Trent Farquhar garnered the Danny Litwhiler Defensive Player of the Year Award honors. Senior outfielder Joe Stewart was the recipient of the Steve Garvey Most Improved Player, while the Jerry Sutton Student-Athlete Award went to senior outfielder Bryce Kelley. Senior pitcher Sam Benschoter was the recipient of the Craig Hendricks Spartan Spirit Award.
Walker, a native of Homewood, Ill., was one of two Spartans to start and play in all 44 games, along with Kelley. Walker led MSU and ranked 22nd in the B1G with a .308 average, also leading the team and rank 20th in the B1G with 31 RBI. He also led the team in hits (52), runs scored (29) and total bases (71), while ranking second on the team in stolen bases (7), third in both home runs (3) and on-base percentage (.367), and fifth in slugging percentage (.420). Walker also tied for third with total extra base hits with 12 on eight doubles, one triple and three home runs.
In the 44-game season, Walker had at least one hit in 31 of the 44 games played, and also led the team with 14 multiple hit games, with two hits in eight games, three hits in five games, and shared the team-high for most hits in a game this season with four, coming vs. Northwestern on March 13 at Greenville. With nine multiple RBI games, Walker also led MSU, logging five games with two RBI and four games with three RBI. He had a stretch of three RBI twice in three games, April 11 vs. Purdue and April 16 at Illinois, also logging three ribbies on March 6 vs. Maryland.
Walker also owned the longest hitting streak of the season, hitting safely in nine-straight games (March 13-27), and also owned the second-longest reached base streak of 14 in a row (March 13-April 9). In the outfield, Walker tallied 77 putouts and four assists, including robbing a home run vs. Northwestern on March 13 in Greenville, and a pair of nice sliding catches in the same inning of the game vs. Iowa on May 29, snaring the first and third outs of the sixth inning.
Erla, a native of Cass City, Mich., posted five wins in 13 starts, leading MSU in 79.2 IP, ringing up a team-leading 80 strikeouts, which ranked tied for 10th in the B1G, and also ranking 10th in the conference with a 3.50 ERA. The right-hander fired six or more strikeouts in 11 of his 13 starts, including seven or more in his first three starts. Erla rang up his season-high eight strikeouts in three different games, including two of his first three outings, highlighted by his match-up vs. Illinois on March 20 at the Ann Arbor pod weekend, firing 7.0 IP and eight strikeouts without a run, yielding a season-low of four hits, all singles, and only walking two. He had two appearances without allowing an earned run, with an outing on April 17 vs. Purdue joining the aforementioned outing vs. Illinois, as well as two appearances with only one earned run (April 9 vs. Penn State; May 21 at Rutgers).
The 80 strikeouts this season give Erla 243 for his career, now No. 3 MSU's career list, the most since Tony Bucciferro's 273 Ks (2009-12), and behind record-holder Bryan Gale (2001-04) with 277. Erla became just the fifth pitcher in MSU history to reach the 200 strikeout plateau, topping the 200 K mark on with seven strikeouts on April 9 vs. Penn State. In his next outing, on April 17 vs. Purdue, Erla passed Cam Vieaux (2014-16) at 202 Ks for the No. 4 spot on the list and took over the No. 3 spot from Ron Perranoski (1956-58) with 223 strikeouts on May 7 vs. Michigan with his third eight-K outing.
Farquhar, a Highland, Mich., native, made 38 starts, with 37 coming at second base and one at shortstop, and posted 100 assists, 85 putouts and was a part of 21 double plays, as Michigan State led the Big Ten with 41 double plays turned, ranking 45th in the NCAA, as well as leading the B1G and ranking 11th in the NCAA with 0.93 double plays per game. Farquhar posted a season-high seven assists vs. Penn State on April 9, the most by an individual fielder this season. He had at least three putouts in 14 games, including a season-high five vs. Nebraska on April 23.
At the plate, Farquhar was the Spartans' leadoff batter in 32 games, hitting .272, including sharing the team-lead and ranking tied for 21st in the B1G in doubles with 10. He also tied for third on the team with total extra base hits with 12 on 10 doubles, one triple, and one home run, belting his first collegiate home run in the Purdue game on April 12, blasting a solo shot down the right field line and into the Red Cedar River. Farquhar led MSU with a .381 on-base percentage, ranking second on the team and tied for 14th in the B1G with 24 walks, as well as ranking tied for second on the team with four hit-by-pitch.
Farquhar had a team-high 18-game on-base streak, reaching base in every game that he had an at bat from March 12-April 12, snapping the streak on April 16 by not reaching base at Illinois. He finished the season logging at least one hit in 12 of the last 16 games, having a five-game hit streak halted without a hit on May 8, but bounced back with three hits on May 9 and two knocks on May 14, then adding three hits on May 21 at Rutgers. For the season, his longest hitting streak was seven games (March 12-21), finishing with at least one hit in 28 of 39 games with an at bat. Farquhar was tied for second on the team with 11 multiple hit games, including a team-best tying nine games with two hits, as well as two games with a season-high three hits, coming on May 9 vs. Michigan, then matching it on May 21 at Rutgers. He also had three multi-RBI games, which tied for third on the team, with three games with two ribbies each, most recently on April 25 vs. Nebraska.
Stewart, a native of Portage, Mich., entered the 2021 season with just three total hits in 17 total games played, posting only 19 career at bats prior to this season. However, he had a torrid start to the 2021 season and swung a hot bat throughout, finishing with a .276 average, leading MSU in total extra base hits with 15 on nine doubles, one triple and five home runs, ranking second or tied for second in all three categories. Stewart was also second on the team in RBI (24), and total bases (66), as well as third in slugging percentage (.455), and fifth in both average and runs scored (21).
Stewart hit .471 (8-for-17) in the four games of the Ann Arbor pod vs. Illinois and Michigan on March 20-22, including four doubles, coming in a span of three games, with one vs. Illinois in the opener on March 20, then two in the game on March 21 vs. Illinois before another one in the nightcap vs. Michigan, one of his season-high four hits. Stewart also had a team-best five RBI, with three coming March 20 vs. Illinois, coming to bat with the bases loaded and clearing them with a three-run double. He also had a standout play in the field of the win on March 22, getting an outfield assist to end the fourth inning, firing a frozen rope to junior catcher Adam Proctor at home, and Proctor made a nice snag and tag on the UM runner for the out to end the inning and preserve MSU's 2-0 lead.
With five multi-RBI games, Stewart was second on the team, logging two games with two ribbies, two with three, and a season-high four RBI, coming at Rutgers on May 23. Stewart also had 10 multi-hit games, with five games with two hits, four contests with three hits and one game with career-high four hits. He had a season-long seven-game hitting streak (March 12-21), as well as a seven-game reached base streak over the same span. In the field, Stewart made 34 starts in center field, making 71 putouts and five assists.
Kelley is a native of Rockford, Mich., and is a four-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honoree, as well as an Academic All-Big Ten selection. He earned 2020 CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic First-Team All-District® accolades and is a nomination for the 2021 honor. Kelley also was the recipient of the MSU SASS Scholar-Athlete Award for 2021 for having the highest GPA on the baseball team, and he also is a three-time honoree of Highest Honors for MSU Athletics Honor Roll.
On the field, Kelley led MSU and ranked sixth in the B1G with 11 stolen bases. Kelley became the new MSU career stolen base king this season, as he broke the record on April 11 vs. Purdue, swiping his 80th career base, passing Anthony Cheky's previous record of 79 from 2012-15. Kelley broke the record in the first inning, by stealing third. He reached on a walk, then moved to second on a groundout, before swiping third. After swiping No. 80, he was congratulated by third base coach Graham Sikes, and presented the record setting base by a member of the MSU Facilities grounds crew in a special presentation, while the small crowd of family of the student-athletes gave Kelley a standing ovation. Kelley's record-setting moment was No. 5 on NCAA Baseball's Player of the Week. Kelley padded his record finished his Spartan career with 83 swipes.
At the plate, Kelley led the team and ranked third in the B1G with 30 walks, as well as ranking sixth in the league in walks/game (0.68). Kelley also finished third on the team in runs scored (26), fifth in hits (39) and on-base percentage (.357).
Benschoter, a native of Tecumseh, Mich., earned the Craig Hendricks Spartan Spirit Award, the award given to the most positive team player who is enthusiastic, trustworthy, conscientious, hard-working, and good humored in honor of Spartan Baseball alum Craig Hendricks. In true selfless fashion, Benschoter gave up the opportunity to start on Senior Day vs. Iowa in favor of coming out of the bullpen so that fellow senior Jarret Olson could make his one and only start of the year because of an injury suffered before the season began.
For the season, Benschoter was second on the team and tied for 12th in the B1G with 79 strikeouts, posting three wins in eight starts in 69.1 IP. Benschoter finished eighth in the B1G in strikeouts per nine innings (10.3).He opened the season in explosive fashion, firing a then career-high 10 strikeouts in a 6-0 shutout Victory for MSU over Maryland in the 2021 season-opener on March 5 at Fluor Field in Greenville, South Carolina, going a career-high 8.0 innings. In MSU's first game since March 8, 2020, before the rest of the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Benschoter didn't show any signs of layoff, as he provided much of the excitement on the night, and was dealing, scattering just five hits to a Maryland offense that hit .258 as a team, and the Spartan hurler stymied the Terrapin offense, shutting them out after they led the Big Ten last year with 111 runs in 15 games (7.4 runs per game, including striking out well-decorated Preseason Award winner Maxwell Costes twice as part of holding him to 0-3.
Benschoter had another smashing outing on April 25, striking out a modern day school record 17 batters vs. B1G-leader Nebraska in 9.1 IP of relief. The 17 strikeouts is the most in modern day school history, bettering Mark Mulder's 16 Ks against Campbell on March 7, 1998. He was named to Collegiate Baseball National Players of the Week list on April 26, and was named the Big Ten Conference Baseball Co-Pitcher of the Week on April 27 for his performance. Coming into game to start the third inning, Benschoter struck out the side in the third and fifth innings on the way on the way to stymieing Nebraska bats, as they entered game leading the Big Ten in batting average, and Benschoter did not allow a hit until the eighth. Benschoter racked up two strikeouts in the fourth and sixth innings, and after yielding a leadoff single in the ninth, chalked up three strikeouts. The 17 Ks matched the most in the B1G this season and was tied for the second-most in a game in the NCAA this season, while the 9.1 IP is the most in the B1G and second-most in NCAA.
His 10 Ks vs. Maryland and 17 vs. Nebraska were two of his three double-digit strikeout outings on the season, also with 10 vs. Indiana on March 27, also in a relief role.
John Kobs Most Valuable Player: Zaid Walker
Robin Roberts Most Valuable Pitcher: Mason Erla
Kirk Gibson Offensive Player of the Year: Zaid Walker
Danny Litwhiler Defensive Player of the Year: Trent Farquhar
Steve Garvey Most Improved Player: Joe Stewart
Jerry Sutton Student-Athlete Award: Bryce Kelley
Craig Hendricks Spartan Spirit Award: Sam Benschoter
Players Mentioned
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