Photo by: Tim Cowie - Tim Cowie Photography
Dzierwa Collects B1G Pitcher Of The Week Accolades
2/17/2025 7:16:00 PM | Baseball
Spartan southpaw chalks up career-high tying 11 Ks in season-opener on way to MSU’s 4-0 opening weekend and ranked among others receiving votes in NCBWA Top 25 Poll.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball's junior pitcher Joseph Dzierwa was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week for the opening week of the season, announced Monday evening by the conference office.
This is Dzierwa's first career Big Ten Pitcher of the Week accolade, but his fifth overall league recognition. He was a 2024 All-Big Ten Second Team selection, as well as a two-time B1G Preseason Player to Watch List member (2024 and 2025). He was also Big Ten Freshman of the Week once (April 10, 2023).
Dzierwa is the first Michigan State pitcher to earn B1G Pitcher of the Week honors since May 1, 2023 when former teammate Harrison Cook earned the accolade.
The Spartan southpaw burst out of the gates in Friday's 2025 season-opener in Cary, N.C., against Western Michigan, tying a career-high by firing 11 strikeouts in 6.0 IP, good for a 1.8 K/inning and a 16.5 K/9 average). Dzierwa opened the game with seven straight strikeouts in the first seven batters faced, and did not allow a run of any kind in holding Western Michigan to just one hit.
Dzierwa, a native of Haskins, Ohio, was named one of D1Baseball.com's Friday standouts and his photo was the lead for the Friday's standouts, as the 11 Ks was second-most by a D1 pitcher on Friday. His D1Baseball.com game score of 80 was the highest in the B1G and second in the NCAA for Friday's games, and also tops in the B1G and holding at second overall for both Friday and Saturday's games.
The 11 Ks was tied for the most in the B1G in the opening weekend. Dzierwa was one of five pitchers in the conference to post 10 or more strikeouts in the opening weekend, but he was the only pitcher in the B1G that didn't yield a run of any kind, and his 0.33 WHIP was the lowest of any B1G pitcher with 10+ strikeouts.
Dzierwa's 11 strikeouts Friday night tied his career-best punchout total in back-to-back outings, as his previous time with 11 Ks came in his final outing of 2024 against Nebraska on May 17, 2024.
MSU's junior starting pitcher rang up seven-straight Ks to open Friday's game one of the season, striking out the side in the first and second innings and the first batter of the third, on the way to a perfect game through 4.2 IP, retiring his first 14 batters faced.
After a pair of groundouts ended the third, a lineout and another grounder started the fourth, before another strikeout to end the inning. He started the fifth frame with two more Ks before yielding a single to WMU's Chris Akers, but then thwarted any threat the Broncos had with another strikeout, his 11th through 5.0 innings. Dzierwa worked around a two-out walk and a stolen base by inducing a groundout to end the sixth and his day, as the Spartans corralled the Broncos, 2-0, in the 2025 season lid-lifter. MSU won its season-opener for the sixth time in the last seven seasons, as well as improving to 14-3 in the 17 season-openers under head coach Jake Boss Jr.
Dzierwa's opening game win helped MSU go 4-0 on the weekend, as the Spartans have started the season 4-0 for the first time since 2020. Michigan State was the first team in the country to four wins after sweeping a pair of DHs on the weekend in roughly 22 hours, starting at 4 pm Friday and 9:30 am Saturday.
The Spartans were rewarded for their opening weekend success, as they were among others receiving votes in this week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Top 25 Poll for Week 1 of the 2025 season.
MSU's 4-0 start is its third under head coach Jake Boss Jr., opening 6-0 in 2016 and 4-0 in 2020.
Michigan State has won five in a row overall dating back to last season, after winning its 2024 regular-season finale. The Spartans' five-game win streak overlapping the 2024 and 2025 seasons is the third-longest active streak in Division I, behind Hawai'i with a nine-game win streak and UCLA with a six-game win streak dating back to 2024.
MSU is slated to face UCLA this weekend, when the Spartans head to Corpus Christi, Texas for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Kleberg Bank College Classic at Whataburger Field. MSU will play Washington State on Friday, Feb. 21 at 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT, before facing the host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT. The Spartans then wrap up the weekend by taking on new fellow B1G team UCLA in a non-conference game on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 11:30 a.m. ET/10:30 am CT.
The Spartans' schedule is subject to change, fans can stay tuned to MSUSpartans.com and @MSUBaseball on Twitter for schedule updates, along with follow this weekend's action with "Watch Live" and "Live Stats."
This is Dzierwa's first career Big Ten Pitcher of the Week accolade, but his fifth overall league recognition. He was a 2024 All-Big Ten Second Team selection, as well as a two-time B1G Preseason Player to Watch List member (2024 and 2025). He was also Big Ten Freshman of the Week once (April 10, 2023).
Dzierwa is the first Michigan State pitcher to earn B1G Pitcher of the Week honors since May 1, 2023 when former teammate Harrison Cook earned the accolade.
The Spartan southpaw burst out of the gates in Friday's 2025 season-opener in Cary, N.C., against Western Michigan, tying a career-high by firing 11 strikeouts in 6.0 IP, good for a 1.8 K/inning and a 16.5 K/9 average). Dzierwa opened the game with seven straight strikeouts in the first seven batters faced, and did not allow a run of any kind in holding Western Michigan to just one hit.
Dzierwa, a native of Haskins, Ohio, was named one of D1Baseball.com's Friday standouts and his photo was the lead for the Friday's standouts, as the 11 Ks was second-most by a D1 pitcher on Friday. His D1Baseball.com game score of 80 was the highest in the B1G and second in the NCAA for Friday's games, and also tops in the B1G and holding at second overall for both Friday and Saturday's games.
The 11 Ks was tied for the most in the B1G in the opening weekend. Dzierwa was one of five pitchers in the conference to post 10 or more strikeouts in the opening weekend, but he was the only pitcher in the B1G that didn't yield a run of any kind, and his 0.33 WHIP was the lowest of any B1G pitcher with 10+ strikeouts.
Dzierwa's 11 strikeouts Friday night tied his career-best punchout total in back-to-back outings, as his previous time with 11 Ks came in his final outing of 2024 against Nebraska on May 17, 2024.
MSU's junior starting pitcher rang up seven-straight Ks to open Friday's game one of the season, striking out the side in the first and second innings and the first batter of the third, on the way to a perfect game through 4.2 IP, retiring his first 14 batters faced.
After a pair of groundouts ended the third, a lineout and another grounder started the fourth, before another strikeout to end the inning. He started the fifth frame with two more Ks before yielding a single to WMU's Chris Akers, but then thwarted any threat the Broncos had with another strikeout, his 11th through 5.0 innings. Dzierwa worked around a two-out walk and a stolen base by inducing a groundout to end the sixth and his day, as the Spartans corralled the Broncos, 2-0, in the 2025 season lid-lifter. MSU won its season-opener for the sixth time in the last seven seasons, as well as improving to 14-3 in the 17 season-openers under head coach Jake Boss Jr.
Dzierwa's opening game win helped MSU go 4-0 on the weekend, as the Spartans have started the season 4-0 for the first time since 2020. Michigan State was the first team in the country to four wins after sweeping a pair of DHs on the weekend in roughly 22 hours, starting at 4 pm Friday and 9:30 am Saturday.
The Spartans were rewarded for their opening weekend success, as they were among others receiving votes in this week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Top 25 Poll for Week 1 of the 2025 season.
MSU's 4-0 start is its third under head coach Jake Boss Jr., opening 6-0 in 2016 and 4-0 in 2020.
Michigan State has won five in a row overall dating back to last season, after winning its 2024 regular-season finale. The Spartans' five-game win streak overlapping the 2024 and 2025 seasons is the third-longest active streak in Division I, behind Hawai'i with a nine-game win streak and UCLA with a six-game win streak dating back to 2024.
MSU is slated to face UCLA this weekend, when the Spartans head to Corpus Christi, Texas for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Kleberg Bank College Classic at Whataburger Field. MSU will play Washington State on Friday, Feb. 21 at 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT, before facing the host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT. The Spartans then wrap up the weekend by taking on new fellow B1G team UCLA in a non-conference game on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 11:30 a.m. ET/10:30 am CT.
The Spartans' schedule is subject to change, fans can stay tuned to MSUSpartans.com and @MSUBaseball on Twitter for schedule updates, along with follow this weekend's action with "Watch Live" and "Live Stats."
Players Mentioned
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