MSU Baseball Meets ACU In Altered Three-Game Weekend

MICHIGAN STATE (3-1, 0-0 B1G) at ABILENE CHRISTIAN (1-3, 0-0 WAC)
Location	Crutcher Scott Field \|\| Abilene, Texas
Tickets	ACU Tickets
Weather	High/Low - Sun: 56^° / 30^° \| Mon: 65^° / 39^°
Game Notes	Michigan State \| ACU
Social Media	@MSUbaseball \| MichiganStateBaseball @msu_baseball
Television	None
Game 1	Sunday, Feb. 27 - G1 - 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT
Probable Pitching Matchup	ACU: #21 SO RHP Tyler Morgan (0-0, 7.36 ERA) MSU: #32 SR RHP Zach Iverson (0-0, 2.25 ERA)
Coverage	Live Stats \| Watch Live through ACU Streaming \| Listen Live through Abilene Radio
Game 2	Sunday, Feb. 27 - G2 - 5 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. CT
Probable Pitching Matchup	ACU: #17 JR RHP Breck Eichelberger (0-1, 10.38 ERA) MSU: #24 SO LHP Nick Powers (0-0, 2.25 ERA)
Coverage	Live Stats \| Watch Live through ACU Streaming \| Listen Live through Abilene Radio
Game 3	Monday, Feb. 28 - G2 - 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT
Probable Pitching Matchup	ACU: #16 JR LHP Adam Stephenson (0-1, 5.40 ERA) MSU: #42 FR RHP Ryan Szczepaniak (1-0, 3.60 ERA)
Coverage	Live Stats \| Watch Live through ACU Streaming

Leading Off... MSU Meets ACU In Altered Three-Game Weekend

• Michigan State baseball heads to Abilene, Texas to tangle with the Abilene Christian Wildcats in an altered three-game weekend series, after inclement weather in Texas altered MSU's travel and competition schedule, trimming the weekend series from a four-game series to a three-game set ... MSU and ACU will now open with a doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 27, with a 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT first pitch, followed by game two starting at approximately 5 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. CT ... The Spartans and Wildcats will then tangle in a single game on Monday, Feb. 28 in a 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT start time.

• Fans can follow this weekend series with "Watch Live" and "Live Stats" links at MSUSpartans.com, to watch through ACU's provided video stream via WAC Digital Network ... Sunday's doubleheader will also air on the radio with "listen live" links at MSUSpartans.com, from 102.7 The Bear in Abilene.

• The Spartans are tangling with the Wildcats for the first time since 2017, when MSU and ACU met for the first time in series history, with a four-game set in Abilene, Feb. 17-19, 2017 ... Again, if history has any say in this weekend, the scoreboard could be in for a Peleton-ish workout, as MSU swept the four-game series winning by an average of 13-6, collecting 9-2, 9-7, 19-7 and 14-5 victories, bashing eight home runs in the weekend on the way to hitting .401 for the four games ... Meanwhile, Spartan pitchers posted a 3.50 ERA for the weekend, firing 26 Ks, averaging 6.5 strikeouts per game.

LEAVING LAS VEGAS IN THE GREEN, MSU 3-1 OR BETTER FOR THIRD SEASON IN A ROW
Michigan State is 3-1 or better through its first four games for the third-straight season ... MSU also opened 3-1 in 2021, winning the series with Maryland played at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C., to open the 2021 Big Ten Conference only abbreviated season ... the Spartans started the 2020 season 4-0, sweeping the series with Morehead State in an all-MSU series at Shipyard Park in Charleston, S.C.

VIVA LAS VEGAS
The bright light city set the Spartan bats on fire, as MSU bashed eight home runs in the four games (2.0 per game) ... By comparison, last season the Spartans didn't knock their eighth home run of the season until the 26th game of the season ... Michigan State hit at least one home run in each of the four games, as last season's Spartan bats only had one streak of three or more games with a home run, a six-game spurt from May 13-23.

FOUR AND LONG-BALLING IN LAS VEGAS
Of the eight home runs, Michigan State hit four homers in game two of Saturday's doubleheader, marking the first time that MSU hit four round-trippers in a game since raking eight at Illinois on March 26, 2017.

RAIN MEN
Of the eight Spartan home runs on the weekend, three were the first home runs for sophomore infielders Mitch Jebb and Brock Vradenburg, as well as redshirt-freshman catcher Christian Williams ... For Williams, his two-run round-tripper in the eighth inning of game two of Saturday's doubleheader was also his first hit as a Spartans.

OCEAN'S 11
MSU's pitching staff rang up 11 strikeouts in each of Saturday's doubleheader games, as the Spartans started off with double-digit Ks for the third year in a row ... Michigan State finished with 42 total strikeouts for the weekend (10.5 per game).

HARD EIGHT
Of the 11 strikeouts in Saturday's opening game of the twinbill, junior pitcher Conner Tomasic fired eight of them in 5.0 IP of relief of sophomore starter Nick Powers ... after a little rocky start, Tomasic settled in nicely, ringing up eight strikeouts over 5.0 IP to earn his first win in his first Spartan action ... Tomasic's eight Ks led the way for the most by a Spartan pitcher over the weekend ... he rang up three punchouts in the fifth to end the Rebel rally, adding two Ks in the seventh as part of a three-up, three-down inning, the first time that MSU set UNLV down in order in the game ... Tomasic also retired the Rebels in order in the ninth, including ending the game with a KL.

DIAMOND DEBUTS ARE FOREVER
A total of 11 Spartan players and one coach made their debuts for the Green & White, with four position players and seven pitchers seeing their first official action for MSU: redshirt-freshman catcher Bryan Broecker, redshirt-freshman infielder Sam Busch, redshirt-freshman catcher Christian Williams and sophomore infielder Parker Pilat; while on the mound, graduate senior Kyle Bischoff, junior Andrew Carson, sophomore Harrison Cook, sophomore Kyle Dunning, redshirt-freshman Dominic Pianto, freshman Ryan Szczepaniak and junior Conner Tomasic all made their Spartan debuts ... Additionally, first-year volunteer assistant coach Andrew Stone made his debut on the Spartan staff.

SCOUTING ACU
Abilene Christian is 1-3 after its season-opening series hosting North Dakota State, in similar fashion to the MSU at UNLV series, with the homestanding Wildcats winning the opening game, 5-3, before the visiting Bison swept the doubleheader on Saturday, 7-4 and 4-0, then won Sunday's getaway game, 10-7.

ACU is coming off its first-ever Southland Conference championship, along with winning a school-record 36 games, finishing 36-21 overall and 25-13 in Southland Conference play, winning the regular-season title. The Wildcats were picked to win the Southwest Division of the Western Athletic Conference in 2022, picking up all five first-place votes in their first season in the WAC.

Sophomore outfielder Miller Ladusau hit .400 (4-for-10) in playing three games with two doubles and an RBI ... Four other Wildcats are hitting .333 in graduate senior outfielder Colton Eager (5-for-15), junior outfielder Grayson Tatrow (5-for-15), senior outfielder Tommy Cruz (3-for-9) and sophomore outfielder Aaron Staehely (2-for-6) ... Tatrow leads ACU with four RBI, while Eager and Cruz add two apiece ... Additionally, Tatrow belted one of the Wildcats' three home runs in the opening weekend, with a three-run shot in the fourth inning of Sunday's game, tying the game at 7-all, before NDSU tacked on a run in each of the sixth, eighth and ninth innings to pull away for the win.

On the mound, sophomore right-hander Tyler Morgan is the Wildcats' series-opener starter, Morgan went 3.2 IP last weekend with six Ks, scattering four hits and yielding three runs and three walks, with a 7.36 ERA in a no-decision ... Junior righty Breck Eichelberger is game two's probable starter, tallying four Ks in 4.1 IP with eight hits and five runs, with one walk, with a 10.38 ERA and 0-1 record ... Junior lefty Adam Stephenson is slated to get the ball to start the series-finale, toting 5.40 ERA and an 0-1 mark, with a team-high nine strikeouts against four hits and four walks in 3.1 IP.

ACU head coach Rick McCarty is in his fourth season at the reins of the Wildcats' program, posting a 70-58 record. McCarthy was named the Southland Conference Coach of the Year last season.

MICHIGAN STATE BASEBALL TO PLAY 56-GAME SCHEDULE IN 2022
Michigan State baseball will play a 56-game ledger in 2022, the Spartans' first full slate of games since 2019 after the previous two seasons were cut short due to COVID, playing just 12 games in 2020 before getting shutdown, and playing a Big Ten Conference-only schedule in 2021.

MSU will play 21 home games at McLane Stadium at Kobs Field, with the home-opener on Friday, March 19. The home slate is highlighted by hosting in-state rival Michigan in a three-game Big Ten Conference series, one of four B1G series at home, along with Illinois (March 25-27), Minnesota (April 29-May 1) and Iowa (May 13-15).

"We're excited to get back to a 56-game schedule after two years of having an abbreviated schedule due to COVID. Playing 24 conference games again is going to be exciting," Boss said. "We're also looking forward to having 22 home games, which features quality opponents for our terrific fans to come out and cheer us on at McLane Stadium at Kobs Field."

The Spartans' schedule includes some repeat visits to locations, as well as to some places they haven't been in a while or even completely new places.

"We're also going on the road to some places that we've been before, that are familiar to us and our current players, and we're going to some new places for them," Boss said. "UNLV is someplace we haven't been, and Michigan State hasn't been in a long time. So we're excited to go play a good program. Abilene Christian is coming off a great year and should be a heck of a challenge for us.

"Some unique experiences our guys are going to be able to have is going to Minneapolis and playing in US Bank Stadium, that is something that they're never going to forget. Going to Greenville is a staple of our schedule every year, and something that we thoroughly enjoy, getting to play Clemson this year, along with very challenging First Pitch Invitational opponents."

As announced on Nov. 16, the Crosstown Showdown between the Spartans and the Lansing Lugnuts, High-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics, will resume in 2022, meeting up at Jackson® Field™ on April 6.

"We're excited to play in the Crosstown Showdown again, against the Lansing Lugnuts, and it's just another opportunity for our guys to experience something that they'll never forget as part of our program," Boss said.

The Crosstown Showdown is one of 15 games on the 2022 Spartan schedule in six different professional stadiums, including also facing off with Notre Dame at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan (April 26).

"Along with the Crosstown Showdown, another great experience for our guys is playing at Comerica Park, and this year, we're fortunate to have Notre Dame come to Detroit to meet us there," Boss said. "Playing an outstanding opponent coming off a great year, in that atmosphere, is going to be something pretty special."

Michigan State will also play at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis (March 4-6), Fluor Field in Greenville, South Carolina (March 9-13) for neutral games. MSU will also play at Penn State, who plays at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park in State College, Pennsylvania (May 6-8) and playing at Nebraska, at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park in Lincoln, Nebraska (May 19-21).

"Every one of our guys' dreams is to go play pro baseball and to get a chance to play in those kind of environments, first of all US Bank Stadium, which is certainly unique, but an impressive venue nonetheless, being able to play at a place like Fluor Field, and a place like Jackson Field is something that is hopefully in the cards for a majority of our guys down the road. So it's a great taste the pro ball and hopefully a taste of things to come," Boss said.

MSU BASEBALL TO WEAR "JP" UNIFORM PATCH TRIBUTE TO JIM PIGNATARO
Michigan State baseball head coach Jake Boss Jr. announced Thursday that the Spartans will be wearing a "JP" patch on all of their jerseys during the 2022 season as a tribute to long-time MSU administrator Jim Pignataro, who passed away this past August.

Pignataro served as the Executive Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Services at Michigan State, and he was the sport administrator for Spartan baseball.

"Jim was just a special guy to our program," Boss said. "His leadership was phenomenal, and his passion for Michigan State and our baseball program was second-to-none. He poured his heart and soul into everything that he did with our program. We're proud to honor him and his legacy. His family, his wife Alana, and his kids Alison and Jimmy, will always have a special place in our hearts and in our program. We're proud to carry Jim's spirit with us onto the field."

The JP patch is located on the back collar of all of the Spartans' game jerseys that they will wear throughout the season.

Prior to being elevated to his most recent position, Pignataro served as the Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Services (2008-15) and Director of Student-Athlete Support Services (SASS) from 2002-17. He oversaw the directors of Student-Athlete Engagement, Academic Services, Athletic Training, Strength and Conditioning and Sports Nutrition in addition to serving as a sport administrator for several Spartan programs.

Pignataro served as the Assistant to the Director and Athletics Academic Coordinator at Michigan State from 1996-2000. He left MSU to serve as the Assistant Athletics Director for Academics at Eastern Michigan University from June 2000 to June 2002. Prior to his arrival at MSU he worked in Athletic Academic Services at Florida State University (1995-96) and the University of Tennessee (1994-1995).

SPARTAN LEGEND BOB APISA TALKED TO TEAM PRIOR TO UNLV SERIES
Michigan State football legend Bob Apisa met with and spoke to the MSU baseball team on Thursday, Feb. 17 after the Spartans' practice at UNLV's Earl E. Wilson Stadium, and also posed for several pictures, then met each player.

Recruited by Duffy Daugherty, Apisa was a two-time All-American in 1965 and 1966 during his time at Michigan State. He was the starting fullback on back-to-back Big Ten and National Champion teams in 1965 and 1966, scoring a combined 18 touchdowns over the two seasons, and was a 1966 consensus first-team All-Big Ten selection. Apisa finished his career as MSU's most prolific rushing fullback with 1,343 yards, in addition to being a great blocker for Spartan tailbacks.

Apisa was born in American Samoa as part of eleven children, moving to Hawaii at the age of seven, and went on to earn a football scholarship at MSU, and became the first player of Samoan ancestry to be named All-American. He played in the 1966 "Game of the Century" against Notre Dame, which was also the first-ever live television sports broadcast in Hawaii. Apisa was also part of Daugherty's integration of college football, and will be part of a statue tribute as part of the upcoming renovations to the Duffy Daugherty Building for MSU Athletics in the upcoming.

In 2017, Apisa was inducted into the Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2018, he was inducted into the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame.

After football, Apisa went into acting, and was in the Sandlot (home plate umpire), as well as many other roles, including movies (Hard Target and The Nutty Professor), and television (Magnum P.I., Hawaii 5-0 and Airwolf).

Apisa's grandson, Jacob Isaia, was a three-year letterwinner on the Spartan football team, playing offensive line. Apisa resides in Las Vegas.

THREE SPARTANS GARNER BIG TEN PRESEASON PLAYERS TO WATCH RECOGNITION
Farquhar, Jebb, Walker collect kudos ahead of Friday's season-opener.
Three Michigan State baseball players earned Big Ten Preseason Players to Watch honors, as the conference announced its preseason honors list and preseason poll on Thursday, ahead of Friday's 2022 season-opening action.

The conference coaches voted on the top six teams and also selected three student-athletes from their own squads to a Preseason Honors list.

Sophomore infielders Trent Farquhar and Mitch Jebb were joined by junior outfielder Zaid Walker in earning preseason honors.

Farquhar, a native of Highland, Mich., earned the Danny Litwhiler Defensive Player of the Year MSU team award last season, as he made 38 starts, with 37 coming at second base and one at shortstop, posting 100 assists, 85 putouts. He was a part of 21 double plays, as MSU 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. He posted a season-high seven assists vs. Penn State on April 9, the most by an individual fielder during the season, including having 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 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 2021 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. The sophomore infielder 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.

Jebb, a native of Saginaw, Mich., was named to Big Ten All-Freshman Team last season after he posted a .276 average, sharing the team lead with two triples as part of ranking second on the team in hits (45). He also ranked third on the team with 44 starts, just one of five Spartans to play in 40+ games, missing just one game in the 2021 season.

Last season, Jebb also shared the team lead in doubles (10), while also ranking third in total bases (59), tied for third in extra-base hits with 12 on 10 doubles and two triples, fourth in runs scored (25), tied for fourth in stolen bases (4) and tied for sixth in RBI (15). He also ranked second on squad with 11 multi-hit outings, logging nine games with two hits apiece to go with season-high three hits in two contests.

With four multiple RBI games, Jebb also ranked third on MSU. He also tied for the second-longest hitting streak of the season at eight, from March 28-April 12, while ranking tied for fifth on the team in reached base streak at eight over the same span. Jebb logged a seven-game hitting streak to close out the season (May 16-30), with four multi-hit outings in that six-game span, going 12-for-28 (.429) with four doubles and two RBI.

In the field, Jebb was the Spartans' primary shortstop all season long, making all 44 of starts at short. He made 62 putouts and had a team-high 125 assists, along with being a part of 33 of MSU's 41 double plays, as the Spartans shared the B1G-lead and were tied for 11th in the NCAA in double plays per game (0.93), with the 41 DPs ranking second in the B1G.

A native of Homewood, Ill., Walker is looking to build off a successful 2021 season that saw him earn Third Team All-Big Ten accolades, as well as selected as the John Kobs Most Valuable Player Award recipient as well as the Kirk Gibson Offensive Player of the Year MSU team awards.

Last season, Walker was one of two Spartans to start and play in all 44 games, along with outfielder Bryce Kelley. Hed MSU and ranked 22nd in the B1G with a .308 average, also leading the team and ranking 20th in the B1G with 31 RBI. Additionally, Walker 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). He also tied for third in 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.

Walker also led MSU with nine multiple RBI games, 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 garnered the first Big Ten Player of the Week honors of his career on March 10 for his performance in the opening weekend after hitting a team-leading .462 (6-13), with five RBI and one double, logging a .538 slugging percentage and scoring three runs in helping MSU win three of four games against Maryland in Greenville in the opening weekend of the season. He had at least one hit in all four games, including going 3-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored in MSU's 7-4 win in game one of the March 6 doubleheader, and also beat out an infield single to keep Michigan State's rally going in the seventh inning of the March 6 nightcap of the twinbill, to drive in what turned out to be the game-winning run, completing the Spartans' comeback after a 4-0 lead by Maryland, in the 5-4 Victory for MSU.

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, he 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.

UP NEXT:
• Michigan State heads to Minneapolis, Minn. to play in the Cambria Baseball Tournament at US Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings, Friday-Sunday, March 4-6 ... MSU opens on Friday, March 4 taking on Kansas at 12 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. CT, before meeting Notre Dame on Saturday, March 5, also at 12 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. CT ... The Spartans wrap up the weekend on Sunday, March 6 against West Virginia at 11 a.m. ET / 10 a.m. CT.

MSU is meeting Kansas for the first of back-to-back weekends, as the Spartans will also tangle with the Jayhawks the following weekend on Sunday, March 13 in the First Pitch Invitational at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C.

Michigan State will be facing Notre Dame in the first of three meetings this season, also playing them on April 26 at Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers, in Detroit, Mich., and on May 10 in South Bend.

Next Sunday's meeting with WVU is the only meeting this season between the Spartans and Mountaineers.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kyle Bischoff

Bryan Broecker

Sam Busch

Andrew Carson

Harrison Cook

Kyle Dunning

Trent Farquhar

Zach Iverson

Mitch Jebb

Bryce Kelley

Dominic Pianto

Parker Pilat

Nick Powers

Ryan Szczepaniak

Conner Tomasic

Brock Vradenburg

Zaid Walker

Christian Williams