Photo by: Bobby Alworth/Washington State Athletic Communications
Dzierwa’s Career-High Dozen Ks and Spartan Bats Tame Cougars, 9-2, Friday
2/21/2025 7:16:00 PM | Baseball
Junior southpaw fires career-high for third-straight career outing; MSU 5-0 for first time since 2016.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- Behind a career-high 12 strikeouts from Joseph Dzierwa and a season-high 13 hits, Michigan State baseball walloped Washington State, 9-2, Friday at a windy and chilly Whataburger Field at Corpus Christi, Texas in the opening game of the Kleberg Bank College Classic.
With Friday's Victory for MSU, the Spartans are 5-0 first time since 2016 when they started 6-0. WSU slides to 0-5. Friday was also the first-ever meeting on the baseball diamond between the Spartans and Cougars.
Dzierwa posted his third-straight outing either tying or setting a new career-high dating back to last season, after he fired 11 Ks vs. Nebraska in the 2024 season-finale, then 11 Ks last Friday in Cary, N.C. vs. Western Michigan, before Friday's dozen punchouts.
Friday's 12 strikeouts by the Spartan southpaw were the most by an MSU pitcher since Sam Benschoter rang up 17 Ks in 9.1 IP of relief on April 21, 2021 vs. Nebraska. Dzierwa's 12 Ks were also the most in the Big Ten to date, and he now has two of the top five single-game pitching performances in the league in the midst of the second weekend of the season.
"Joseph was really, really good again today," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "He was in control the whole way and had multiple pitches for strikes, and he was pretty efficient, even with a lot of strikeouts, he only threw 83 pitches, and he got a lot of outs early in the count. He also fielded his position really well, and I thought he defended the bunt extremely well today. So, all-in-all, a really good day for him."
Friday's game time temperature in Corpus Christi was 41 degrees, with windy conditions.
Despite the cold conditions, MSU's bats were hot on Friday, as the Spartans knocked a season-high 13 hits with eight of the nine starters having at least one hit. The Spartans also were blazing on the basepaths, swiping a season-best seven stolen bases.
"I'm really proud of our guys, I thought we played the brand of baseball that we want to play, today," Boss said. "We got great pitching out of Joseph, we played really good defense, and we were aggressive on the bases. We ran a little bit and we bunted it a little bit. It was a tough day to hit because of not only the temperature, but the wind was blowing straight in, so anything in the air didn't go anywhere. So we really felt like we had to try to manufacture some runs, and I thought we did a really good job of forcing the issue there in the first and then again in the eighth."
MSU hung four runs on the board in the top of the first, then adding a run in the seventh before four more in the eighth.
The Spartans' 4-run first frame was their second big inning of the season, after just one in the opening four games, but was one of two in the game, adding four more in the eighth. MSU's offense adjusted to the conditions, as all 13 hits were singles, including six infield hits, with Picot and Seymour knocking back-to-back singles to short in the eighth.
Dzierwa went 7.0 innings with one hit and one walk, and those both came in the first frame, and he was nearly perfect after that until the sixth with, hitting a batter with one out, but then got two flyouts to end the inning.
After striking out the first seven batters faced last week vs. WMU, Dzierwa appeared to be starting Friday afternoon's contest the same way, ringing up Ks on the first two WSU batters. However, he then yielded a two-out walk followed by a single, but then chalked up his third punchout of the inning to slam the door on any thoughts of a rally the Cougars might have had.
Dzierwa then retired the next 14 Cougar batters faced with a total of 10 Ks through five innings, before hitting a batter in the sixth inning. In the seventh, he induced a popup and then fired back-to-back strikeouts looking to end his day with the 12 punchouts in 7.0 IP, with only one hit, one walk and one hit-by-pitch, in only 83 pitches.
Redshirt-sophomore pitcher Tate Farquhar took over in the eighth and went 1.2 IP with two Ks, two hits, three walks and allowed two runs in the ninth, before the Spartans went to the bullpen and brought on Dominic Pianto. The senior reliever made his season debut in dramatic fashion, chalking up a strikeout to end the game and spark the Victory for MSU celebration.
Offensive-wise, four different Spartans had two hits apiece, as graduate outfielder JT Sokolove (2-for-3), senior outfielder Nick Williams (2-for-4), senior infielder Sam Busch (2-for-5) and junior outfielder Parker Picot (2-for-4) all had multiple hits. All four scored at least one run, with N.Williams and Picot touching home twice, while Sokolove and Busch had a run each.
Sophomore infielder Ryan McKay and graduate catcher Caleb Berry were both 1-for-4 with a run scored, while junior infielders Randy Seymour and Jacob Anderson were 1-for-3 and 1-for-4, respectively. Junior pinch-hitter Jake Dresselhouse was 1-for-1.
Anderson drove in a team-high two RBI, while McKay, N.Williams, Picot, Seymour and senior infielder Will Shannon all had an RBI apiece.
Michigan State entered Friday having scored 14 runs on 16 total hits in the four games of the opening weekend, but got the offensive rolling on Sunday.
The Spartans erupted out of the gates with a four-run first frame. Sokolove got hit-by-pitch and stole second. McKay then followed by driving him in, then proceeded to steal second and move to third on a wild pitch. N.Williams came to bat and brought McKay in with an infield single to third, and then the Spartan outfielder swiped second and advanced to third on a throwing error on the play. N.Williams wasn't on third for long, as Shannon drove him in with a groundout.
That brought Busch to the plate, and he laced a single to center, and then joined in the stolen base party, swiping second. Graduate transfer Berry then smacked a single to left for his first Division I hit, as he transferred from NAIA level Milligan University (Tenn.). With runners on first and third, Berry stole second, but a throwing error on the play allowed Busch to score, completing the Spartans' big inning and a 4-0 lead.
Similar to the chilly conditions, the scoreboard was frozen at that score until the seventh, when Picot led off with a single and advanced to second on a throwing error on the play. Seymour sacrificed Picot over to third, and Anderson single to left to plate Picot for a 5-0 advantage.
N.Williams led off the eighth with a single, then freshman pinch-hitter Isaac Sturgess drew a walk. Two batters later, N.Williams and Sturgess successfully executed the double-steal, before Berry followed with a walk to fill the bags full of Spartans. After a Washington State pitching change, Picot and Seymour then knocked their RBI infield singles in succession to bring in N.Williams and Sturgess, respectively. Berry then darted home on a wild pitch. Anderson followed with an RBI groundout to bring Pico in to score, for MSU's fourth run of the frame, as well as its ninth and final run of the game with a 9-0 lead.
Wazzu scratched the shutout in the top of the ninth with back-to-back hits after only one hit through the first eight innings, and pushed across two runs, before Pianto came on to slam the door and seal the Victory for MSU.
MSU continues Kleberg Bank College Classic action on Saturday, Feb. 22, taking on the host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 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 weekend schedule is subject to further 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."
With Friday's Victory for MSU, the Spartans are 5-0 first time since 2016 when they started 6-0. WSU slides to 0-5. Friday was also the first-ever meeting on the baseball diamond between the Spartans and Cougars.
Dzierwa posted his third-straight outing either tying or setting a new career-high dating back to last season, after he fired 11 Ks vs. Nebraska in the 2024 season-finale, then 11 Ks last Friday in Cary, N.C. vs. Western Michigan, before Friday's dozen punchouts.
Friday's 12 strikeouts by the Spartan southpaw were the most by an MSU pitcher since Sam Benschoter rang up 17 Ks in 9.1 IP of relief on April 21, 2021 vs. Nebraska. Dzierwa's 12 Ks were also the most in the Big Ten to date, and he now has two of the top five single-game pitching performances in the league in the midst of the second weekend of the season.
"Joseph was really, really good again today," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "He was in control the whole way and had multiple pitches for strikes, and he was pretty efficient, even with a lot of strikeouts, he only threw 83 pitches, and he got a lot of outs early in the count. He also fielded his position really well, and I thought he defended the bunt extremely well today. So, all-in-all, a really good day for him."
Friday's game time temperature in Corpus Christi was 41 degrees, with windy conditions.
Despite the cold conditions, MSU's bats were hot on Friday, as the Spartans knocked a season-high 13 hits with eight of the nine starters having at least one hit. The Spartans also were blazing on the basepaths, swiping a season-best seven stolen bases.
"I'm really proud of our guys, I thought we played the brand of baseball that we want to play, today," Boss said. "We got great pitching out of Joseph, we played really good defense, and we were aggressive on the bases. We ran a little bit and we bunted it a little bit. It was a tough day to hit because of not only the temperature, but the wind was blowing straight in, so anything in the air didn't go anywhere. So we really felt like we had to try to manufacture some runs, and I thought we did a really good job of forcing the issue there in the first and then again in the eighth."
MSU hung four runs on the board in the top of the first, then adding a run in the seventh before four more in the eighth.
The Spartans' 4-run first frame was their second big inning of the season, after just one in the opening four games, but was one of two in the game, adding four more in the eighth. MSU's offense adjusted to the conditions, as all 13 hits were singles, including six infield hits, with Picot and Seymour knocking back-to-back singles to short in the eighth.
Dzierwa went 7.0 innings with one hit and one walk, and those both came in the first frame, and he was nearly perfect after that until the sixth with, hitting a batter with one out, but then got two flyouts to end the inning.
After striking out the first seven batters faced last week vs. WMU, Dzierwa appeared to be starting Friday afternoon's contest the same way, ringing up Ks on the first two WSU batters. However, he then yielded a two-out walk followed by a single, but then chalked up his third punchout of the inning to slam the door on any thoughts of a rally the Cougars might have had.
Dzierwa then retired the next 14 Cougar batters faced with a total of 10 Ks through five innings, before hitting a batter in the sixth inning. In the seventh, he induced a popup and then fired back-to-back strikeouts looking to end his day with the 12 punchouts in 7.0 IP, with only one hit, one walk and one hit-by-pitch, in only 83 pitches.
Redshirt-sophomore pitcher Tate Farquhar took over in the eighth and went 1.2 IP with two Ks, two hits, three walks and allowed two runs in the ninth, before the Spartans went to the bullpen and brought on Dominic Pianto. The senior reliever made his season debut in dramatic fashion, chalking up a strikeout to end the game and spark the Victory for MSU celebration.
Offensive-wise, four different Spartans had two hits apiece, as graduate outfielder JT Sokolove (2-for-3), senior outfielder Nick Williams (2-for-4), senior infielder Sam Busch (2-for-5) and junior outfielder Parker Picot (2-for-4) all had multiple hits. All four scored at least one run, with N.Williams and Picot touching home twice, while Sokolove and Busch had a run each.
Sophomore infielder Ryan McKay and graduate catcher Caleb Berry were both 1-for-4 with a run scored, while junior infielders Randy Seymour and Jacob Anderson were 1-for-3 and 1-for-4, respectively. Junior pinch-hitter Jake Dresselhouse was 1-for-1.
Anderson drove in a team-high two RBI, while McKay, N.Williams, Picot, Seymour and senior infielder Will Shannon all had an RBI apiece.
Michigan State entered Friday having scored 14 runs on 16 total hits in the four games of the opening weekend, but got the offensive rolling on Sunday.
The Spartans erupted out of the gates with a four-run first frame. Sokolove got hit-by-pitch and stole second. McKay then followed by driving him in, then proceeded to steal second and move to third on a wild pitch. N.Williams came to bat and brought McKay in with an infield single to third, and then the Spartan outfielder swiped second and advanced to third on a throwing error on the play. N.Williams wasn't on third for long, as Shannon drove him in with a groundout.
That brought Busch to the plate, and he laced a single to center, and then joined in the stolen base party, swiping second. Graduate transfer Berry then smacked a single to left for his first Division I hit, as he transferred from NAIA level Milligan University (Tenn.). With runners on first and third, Berry stole second, but a throwing error on the play allowed Busch to score, completing the Spartans' big inning and a 4-0 lead.
Similar to the chilly conditions, the scoreboard was frozen at that score until the seventh, when Picot led off with a single and advanced to second on a throwing error on the play. Seymour sacrificed Picot over to third, and Anderson single to left to plate Picot for a 5-0 advantage.
N.Williams led off the eighth with a single, then freshman pinch-hitter Isaac Sturgess drew a walk. Two batters later, N.Williams and Sturgess successfully executed the double-steal, before Berry followed with a walk to fill the bags full of Spartans. After a Washington State pitching change, Picot and Seymour then knocked their RBI infield singles in succession to bring in N.Williams and Sturgess, respectively. Berry then darted home on a wild pitch. Anderson followed with an RBI groundout to bring Pico in to score, for MSU's fourth run of the frame, as well as its ninth and final run of the game with a 9-0 lead.
Wazzu scratched the shutout in the top of the ninth with back-to-back hits after only one hit through the first eight innings, and pushed across two runs, before Pianto came on to slam the door and seal the Victory for MSU.
MSU continues Kleberg Bank College Classic action on Saturday, Feb. 22, taking on the host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 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 weekend schedule is subject to further 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."
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