Michigan State Opens 2023 Season In Arizona At Desert Invitational and Against Grand Canyon

MICHIGAN STATE (0-0, 0-0 B1G) at 2023 MLB Desert Invitational / at Grand Canyon
Teams	Michigan State, Michigan Fresno State, Arizona / Michigan State vs. Grand Canyon
Location	Sloan Park / SRF at Talking Stick / Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark \|\| Phoenix, Ariz.
Tickets	MLB Desert Invitational Tickets
Weather	High/Low - Fri: 66^° / 49^° \| Sat: 74^° / 47^° \| Sun: 73^° / 54^° \| Mon: 71^° / 53^°
Game Notes	MICHIGAN STATE \| MICHIGAN \| FRESNO STATE \| ARIZONA \| GRAND CANYON
Social Media	@MSUbaseball \| MichiganStateBaseball @msu_baseball
Television	None
Game 1	MSU vs. Michigan \| Friday, Feb. 17 \| 6 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. MT
Probable Pitching Matchup	UM: TBA (0-0, 0.00 ERA) MSU: #46 JR LHP Nick Powers (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Coverage	Live Stats \| Watch Live
Game 2	MSU vs. Fresno State \| Sunday, Feb. 19 \| 3 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. MT
Probable Pitching Matchup	FS: #47 SR RHP Roman Angelo (0-0, 0.00 ERA) MSU: #44 R-SO RHP Adam Berghorst (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Coverage	Live Stats \| Watch Live
Game 3	MSU vs. Arizona \| Sunday, Feb. 19 \| 8 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. MT
Probable Pitching Matchup	UA: #48 JR LHP Bradon Zastrow (0-0, 0.00 ERA) MSU: #29 R-SO RHP Noah Matheny (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Coverage	Live Stats \| Watch Live
Game 4	MSU vs. Grand Canyon \| Monday, Feb. 20 \| 1 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. MT
Probable Pitching Matchup	GCU: TBA (0-0, 0.00 ERA) MSU: #17 SR RHP Andrew Carson (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Coverage	Live Stats \| Watch Live

• Michigan State baseball opens the 2023 season by traveling to Phoenix, Arizona to compete in the 2023 Major League Baseball Desert Invitational for three games, Friday-Sunday, Feb. 17-19, and will remain in the Phoenix area to take on Grand Canyon on Monday, Feb. 20 ... MSU will open against in-state rival Michigan on Friday at 6 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. MT at Sloan Park, the Spring Training home of the Chicago Cubs ... After an off day Saturday, the Spartans will then play a split doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 19, first against Fresno State at 3 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. MT before Michigan State wraps up tournament action by playing Arizona at 8 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. MT, with both of Sunday's games being played at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, the Spring Training home of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies ... The Spartans then play at Grand Canyon on Monday, Feb. 20 at 1 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. MT, at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark, in a game unaffiliated with the tournament ... The Spartans' weekend schedule is subject to change.

• Friday's game and Sunday's twinbill will streamed through MLB.com, while Monday's game at GCU will be streamed on ESPN+, with a subscription fee.

• Fans can follow this weekend's action with "Watch Live" and "Live Stats" links at MSUSpartans.com, with video streaming available for all four games during the extended weekend.

• MSU is making its first trek to the Phoenix area for a tournament since 2014 when the Spartans played in the Pac 12-B1G Challenge in Surprise, Arizona, going 2-1 including upsetting No. 1 Oregon State, 8-7.

• The Spartans were last in the Phoenix area in 2019, playing at Arizona State in Tempe in a three-game series, losing all three, before heading to Tucson and beating Arizona.

MSU vs. UM NOTES
• Michigan State's season-opener on Friday against in-state rival Michigan is the first time that MSU has opened against UM since 1943, and overall the seventh time that the Spartans have lifted the lid on a season by taking on the Wolverines:

1943
1907
1896
1891
1890
1887

• Friday's match-up between MSU and UM will also be just the second-ever meeting outside the state of Michigan and first since 1959 when the Spartans and Wolverines played in Tallahassee, Florida, when Michigan State won, 1-0.

• The match-up on the diamond Friday between MSU and UM is the first of two Spartans vs. Wolverines contest of the weekend, as Michigan State men's basketball will be playing at Michigan on Saturday night in Ann Arbor.

MSU vs. FRESNO STATE NOTES
• Michigan State and Fresno State are meeting for the first time since 2018 when the Spartans traveled to the Valley for a four-game series ... the 2018 series was the return trip from 2017, when the Bulldogs came to Michigan, with the series being shifted to Grand Rapids due to flooding in East Lansing, and was relocated to Fifth Third Ballpark in Grand Rapids, home of the Western Michigan Whitecaps minor league team.

• The first MSU-FS meeting was in the 2012 NCAA Regionals in Palo Alto, Calif., hosted by Stanford, with Fresno State eliminating Michigan State, 8-2, with up-and-coming Bulldog star Aaron Judge going 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored, with one strikeout, and also making a run-saving catch against the fence for the third out of the third inning to thwart a Spartan rally.

• Sunday's meeting will be the first match-up in the short series between the Spartans and Bulldogs without Fresno State legendary head coach Mike Batesole in the Fresno State dugout, as he stepped down in December, 2022, after 20 seasons at the leash of the Bulldogs ... Ryan Overland will serve as interim head coach for the 2023 season.

MSU vs. ARIZONA NOTES
• After meeting in back-to-back seasons in 2018 and 2019, Michigan State is meeting Arizona for the third time in the last six seasons ... MSU won, 9-5, in Tucson on March 5, 2019 ... the Spartans also beat the Wildcats, 3-2, in 2018 in Minneapolis at the Dairy Queen Classic/B1G-Pac 12 Challenge at U.S. Bank Stadium.

• The Spartans and Wildcats first met in 1954 in MSU's lone College World Series appearance, with Michigan State winning, 2-1.

MSU vs. GCU NOTES
• Michigan State and Grand Canyon are meeting on the diamond for the first time.

PROFESSIONAL STADIUM EXPERIENCE
• This weekend's three games of the MLB Desert Invitational are Michigan State's first games played in two different professional stadiums ... overall, MSU is slated to play eight official games and one exhibition contest in four different professional stadiums.

The Spartans will also play five games this season at their home-away-from-home, Fluor Field, in Greenville, S.C., home of the Greenville Drive, taking on Wofford (March 8), then hosting the 2023 First Pitch Invitational on March 10-12 against Western Carolina and Kansas.

Michigan State will take on the Lansing Lugnuts, the High-A affiliate of the Oakland A's, in the 2023 Crosstown Showdown on April 4 at Jackson Field in an exhibition game.

Last season, MSU played in five different professional stadiums, and playing 15 official games, along with one exhibition contest.

The Spartans played at US Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings, for the Minnesota Cambria Classic, for the first meeting with Notre Dame on March 5, along with Kansas (March 4) and West Virginia (March 6), going 2-1 ... MSU also played at its home-away-from-home, Fluor Field, in Greenville, S.C., home of the Greenville Drive, March 9 & 10-13, going 2-2.

The Spartans played the Lansing Lugnuts in the Crosstown Showdown on April 6 at Jackson Field (L, 3-2 in exhibition), and then Michigan State returned to Jackson Field on April 15 to take on Michigan in the Capital Clash, losing the in-state battle ... MSU also played No. 12 Notre Dame at Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers on April 26, winning 6-2.

Michigan State played at Penn State at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, home of the State College Spikes minor league team, losing all three ballgames with the Nittany Lions May 8-9 ... MSU then played Nebraska at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park in Lincoln, home of the Lincoln Saltdogs of the American Association of Professional Baseball.

MICHIGAN STATE ONE OF 10 SCHOOLS WITH A CFP, MF4 AND CWS APPEARANCE
• Michigan State is one of 10 schools in the country with a College Football Playoff, Men's Basketball Final Four appearance and a College World Series appearance, including one of three Big Ten Conference schools:

Michigan State
Florida State
Georgia
LSU
Michigan
Notre Dame
Ohio State
Oklahoma
Oregon
Washington

TRIO OF SPARTANS EARN B1G PRESEASON PLAYERS TO WATCH ACCOLADES
• 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 2023 season-opening action around the conference.

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 infielders Trent Farquhar and Mitch Jebb, along with senior outfielder Casey Mayes garnered preseason recognition.

Farquhar, a native of Highland, Mich., is now a two-time Preseason All-B1G honoree, after earning recognition last season ... he also has garnered B1G honors in the classroom, as he is a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and also earned Big Ten Distinguished Scholar accolades.

The Spartans' primary second baseman was the recipient of the Danny Litwhiler Defensive Player of the Year MSU Team Award for the second-straight year ... Last season, he started all 54 games at second base, leading the Big Ten in fielding double plays with 39, helping MSU lead the B1G and rank fifth in the NCAA with 53 double plays, as well as leading the conference and ranking sixth in the country with 0.98 double plays per game ... For the season, Farquhar posted 143 assists and 115 putouts.

At the plate, Farquhar hit .271 with 29 RBI in 2022, as well as ranking tied for second on the team with six home runs, including the first grand slam of his Spartan career in MSU's season-finale at Nebraska on May 21 ... Farquhar was also second on the team with a .392 on-base percentage, 34 walks and eight hit by pitches, along with third in both runs scored (37) and doubles (13) ... He had a nine-game hitting streak (March 29 - April 13), ranking fourth on the Spartan squad, as well as ranking second with an 18-game reached base streak ... Farquhar was also fourth on the team in multiple hit games (14) and tied for fourth in multiple RBI games (6).

Jebb, a native of Saginaw, Mich., is also a two-time Preseason All-B1G award collector ... The Spartans' primary shortstop also earned Third-Team All-Big Ten Conference honors in 2022 and named to Big Ten All-Freshman Team in 2021.

Jebb has been tabbed to several 2023 preseason MLB Prospects lists, including No. 44 on MLB's Top 100 Prospects; No. 60 on d1baseball.com's College Top 100 Prospects and the No. 76 MLB Draft Prospect by ProspectsLive.

He is coming off a big summer of 2022 in which he finished ranked No. 3 on Baseball America's Top 50 Cape Cod League Prospects list, after helping the Harbor Hawks to the West Division Championship series, ending with a 22-16-6 record, hitting .356 in 149 at-bats, leading the Harbor Hawks with eight doubles and three triples, while swiping 26 stolen bases ... Jebb was also elected to the West Division All-Star Team for the 2022 Cape Cod League All-Star Game for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks.

Jebb was selected as the 2022 MSU John Kobs Most Valuable Player Award recipient as well as the Kirk Gibson Offensive Player of the Year for the team awards ... He led MSU and ranked tied for eighth in the B1G with a .356 average, also topping the team and ranking fifth in the B1G with 78 hits ... Additionally, Jebb led the team in stolen bases and walks, ranking eighth in the conference with 20 stolen bases and sixth in the league with 38 walks ... He was tied for second on team with six home runs ... Furthermore, Jebb led the B1G and ranked 17th in the NCAA in toughest to strikeout - with just one K every 13.7 ABs - on just 16 Ks in 209 ABs.

He also tied for second on the team and tied for seventh in the B1G with three triples ... Jebb also had MSU's longest hitting streak (14 games) and reached base streak (19 games), along with team-high for multiple hit games (23) and multiple RBI games (12) ... The Spartan shortstop started the season on a 14-game hitting streak that was part of a 21-game hitting streak dating back to the last seven games of 2021 season ... He also had an eight-game hitting streak (April 29-May 11) and a seven-game hitting streak (April 17-26), as well as finishing the season with a six-game hitting streak (May 14-21), ending the year with at least one hit in 14 of the last 15 games, 29 of last 34 games ... Jebb did not go hitless in back-to-back games during the last 34-game stretch of the season, with that 34-game streak coming after only a stretch of consecutive games without a hit in a three-game spurt (March 25-27) during three-game Illinois series, one of only two teams that didn't have a hit against, joining one game vs. Purdue Fort Wayne ... He had at least one hit in 45 of the 54 games.

In the field, the Spartan shortstop was third in the B1G with 29 fielding double plays, and sixth in assists with 138 ... He was named Big Ten Player of the Week on March 16, for first career B1G weekly honor, for performance during MSU's four games during the week of March 7-13 in Greenville, South Carolina at Fluor Field, highlighted by belting two HR in the same game including a leadoff HR and then a two-run walk-off HR to cap the Spartan comeback in a 10-8 Victory for MSU over Cincinnati, for first multi-HR game of career.

Mayes, a Wichita, Kan. native, earns his first B1G recognition for playing, as he is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honoree, and recipient of the MSU Scholar-Athlete Award at the Spartan Academic Excellence Gala (April 11, 2022), for having the highest GPA on the baseball team ... He also earned the Jerry Sutton Student-Athlete MSU Team Award.

In 2022, Mayes started all 54 games, and was one of three Spartans to do so, joining Jebb and Farquhar ... Mayes made 49 starts in left field and five starts at DH ... He led MSU and the Big Ten as part of ranking tied for third in the NCAA with seven triples, including two in the Penn State series and added one at Michigan on May 17, scoring on an error on the play for a "Little League" home run.

Mayes also ranked second on the team with a .306 average, additionally ranking second on the team in hits (68), third in total bases (104), tied for third in stolen bases (11), fourth in slugging percentage (.468), fifth in home runs (4), runs scored (29) and RBI (28), and tied for fifth in doubles (10) ... He was also second on team with 21 multiple hit games with two hits in 15 games and three hits in six games.

The Spartan outfielder opened the season with a season-long eight-game hitting streak (Feb. 18-March 4), including six multiple-hit games in that stretch, highlighted by back-to-back three-hit outings in games against UNLV (Feb. 19 and 20) along with four games with two hits, including in all three games of the series at Abilene Christian (Feb. 27 and 28), going 6-for-11 with a double and triple in the three games.

He knocked in multiple RBI in six games to tie for third on the team, with two ribbies in four games, while driving in a career-high tying three RBI in two other games ... Additionally, he tallied three games with multiple extra-base hits ... In the outfield, Mayes made 90 putouts and had one assist.

BIG BATS RETURNING
• Michigan State returns its top five players in seven different offensive categories at the plate: batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs, hits, home runs and RBI.

All five of the Spartans' top average hitters return in Mitch Jebb (.356), Casey Mayes (.306), Jack Frank (.294), Brock Vradenburg (.280), Bryan Broecker (.271).

MSU also returns its top five in slugging percentage in Frank (.527), Jebb (.511), Christian Williams (.470), Mayes (.468) and Vradenburg (.446).

The Green & White also has its top five in on-base percentage back in Jebb (.448), Trent Farquhar (.392), Frank (.376), Vradenburg (.363) and Broecker (.358).

In runs scored, MSU has tops five returns in Frank and Jebb (38), Farquhar (37), Broecker (31) and Mayes (29).

Jebb also tops the five Spartan returners in hits (78), followed by Mayes (68), Frank (59), Farquhar (56) and Broecker (48).

In home runs, Frank led the way (9), preceding Farquhar and Jebb (6), Vradenburg (5) and Mayes (4).

Additionally, Jebb topped the team in RBI (46), followed by Frank (34), Vradenburg and Farquhar (29) and Mayes (28).

ALMOST ALL ROUND-TRIPPERS RETURNING
• Along with the top five for home runs last year, Michigan State returns 92.3 percent of its home runs from 2022, returning 36 of the 39 home runs from a year ago.

BIG RETURNS ON MOUND
• Michigan State's pitching staff also has big returns, with 68.9 percent of its strikeout totals returning, led by its top three for punchouts, led by team-leader, right-hander Harrison Cook (50), along with southpaw Nick Powers (45) ... While the Spartans lost the number four and five spots on the team totals, they do have the number six spot back in righty Ryan Szczepaniak (35).

Additionally, the Spartan pitchers have the top three for batters struck out looking back in staff-leaders Cook and Carson (18), along with Powers (13).

The Green & White also has a majority of its starts and innings pitched returning, including four of the top five, led by numbers one and two in Cook (13), followed by Powers (11), along with fourth in Szczepaniak (8) and tied for fifth in Aidan Arbaugh (4) ... overall, the Spartans have 72.2 percent (39 of 54) of their starts returning.

For innings pitched, MSU has four of the top five back in number two Powers (58.2), followed by Cook (53.2), Rush (43.2) and Szczepaniak (42.1) ... overall, the Green & White pitchers have 66.6 percent (313.1 of 470.2 IP) of their inning pitched back in 2023.

UP NEXT
• MSU heads to South Carolina next weekend for the first of three-straight weekends ... the Spartans open at USC Upstate on Friday, Feb. 24 in Spartanburg, S.C. in a 3 p.m. ET first pitch, followed by playing at Gardner-Webb in Boiling Springs, N.C. on Saturday, Feb. 25 in a 2 p.m. ET start time ... Michigan State then wraps up the weekend at Presbyterian in Clinton, S.C. on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 1 p.m. ... MSU's weekend schedule is subject to change.

Michigan State Opens 2023 Season In Arizona At Desert Invitational and Against Grand Canyon

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Aidan Arbaugh

Adam Berghorst

Bryan Broecker

Andrew Carson

Harrison Cook

Trent Farquhar

Jack Frank

Mitch Jebb

Noah Matheny

Casey Mayes

Nick Powers

Ryan Szczepaniak

Brock Vradenburg

Christian Williams

Michigan State Opens 2023 Season In Arizona At Desert Invitational and Against Grand Canyon

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Aidan Arbaugh

Adam Berghorst

Bryan Broecker

Andrew Carson

Harrison Cook

Trent Farquhar

Jack Frank

Mitch Jebb

Noah Matheny

Casey Mayes

Nick Powers

Ryan Szczepaniak

Brock Vradenburg

Christian Williams

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