Photo by: Jeremy Fleming
No. 23 Spartans Belt Six Home Runs To Blast Harvard, 14-1, Friday To Open Greenville Residency
2/28/2025 11:16:00 PM | Baseball
Picot pelts pair of homers including first-inning grand slam; Dzierwa rings up 10 Ks for third-straight outing with double-digit strikeouts.
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- No. 23 Michigan State baseball was boosted by six home runs at the plate and Joseph Dzierwa on the mound to blast Harvard, 14-1, in seven-innings due to the run-rule, in the Spartans' first game of their residency at Fluor Field, home of the Greenville Drive.
MSU put its first ranking since 2016 on the line for the first time, and the Spartans wasted little time in bolting out to an 8-0 lead after the first inning, bashing three home runs in the opening inning, despite coming into Friday's game with just one home run through the first seven games of the season.
"I'm real proud of our guys. I thought offensively, they executed the approach really well," MSU baseball head coach Jake Boss Jr. said.Â
The six home runs in a game is the Spartans' most round-trippers in a game since March 26, 2017 at Illinois when the Green & White mashed eight.
Meanwhile, on the mound, junior pitcher Joseph Dzierwa rang up 10 Ks through 6.0 innings pitched, to improve to 3-0 on the young season, while ringing up double-figure strikeouts for the fourth-straight game dating back to last season's final outing. While Dzierwa did yield his first run of the season, on a solo home run in the fourth inning, he sprayed four hits while not walking anyone and hitting one batter. He now has 33 strikeouts on the season, while allowing just six hits, with two walks and one run, for a 0.47 ERA.
"I thought Joseph threw well," Boss said. Â "I think a lot of times it's hard to go back out and throw when you've been sitting for so long, and we had a long first inning and another long fourth inning, but to Joseph's credit, he went back out and did what he did and did a great job tonight."
Dzierwa's outing was finished off by senior pitcher Dominic Pianto, who was familiar with Fluor Field, having played for Furman in 2020 before the Paladins discontinued baseball and Pianto transferred to Michigan State. The senior righty went 1.0 IP with two hits and two Ks, finishing the game with a strikeout.
At the plate, MSU knocked out a season-high 15 hits to produce a season-high 14 runs, marking the Spartans' third double-digit hit outing in the last four games, and have hung at eight runs or more on the scoreboard in the last four games.
"I'm just proud of our guys for keeping an even keel and a good approach and putting a big number up," Boss said.
MSU's six home runs were hit by five different Spartans, with sophomore outfielder Parker Picot pelting the first two home runs of his collegiate career, including a grand slam to right center in the first inning. Two batters later, graduate catcher Caleb Berry bashed his first homer as a Spartan and first as a Division I player, transferring to MSU from NAIA Milligan. Berry's homer was to nearly the same spot as Picot's in right center.
Later in the first frame, senior outfielder JT Sokolove smashed a solo shot into the seats at the top of the Green Monster on Fluor Field, which has nearly the same specs as Fenway Park, as the Greenville Drive are the Single-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, with the Green Monster just seven-feet shorter than Fenway.
In the fourth, senior infielder Nick Williams bashed his first homer of the season to straight-away center field off the batter's eye. Two batters later, Picot crushed his second of the night into an apartment porch on the third-story of the apartments beyond the wall at Fluor Field. Later in the inning, junior infielder Jacob Anderson homered to left center to nearly the same spot as Picots, off the porch of a second-story apartment.
Friday night's eight-run first frame was added on to with a six-run fourth frame. The Spartans have now scored 17 runs in the first inning through eight games.Â
"We got the barrel to the ball a lot, and I think our approach was really good, we tied to stay in the middle of the field, and when we swung, we didn't want to get ourselves out so we really wanted to swing with intent and try to hit balls hard. We're trying to hit line drives and we backspun a bunch of balls to the middle of the field today, and the ball was carrying pretty good to right center for us."
Michigan State and Harvard continue their three-game series on Saturday with another evening game with a 6 p.m. first pitch.
"Harvard is going to compete hard tomorrow, there's no question, (Harvard head coach) Coach Decker has done a great job for a long time with that program and those guys are going to be ready to go," Boss said. "Tomorrow's a new day, so we know that we need to be ready for a good effort out of Harvard and we need to match that effort out of our guys."
MSU's defense Friday night was boosted by two "strike 'em out, throw 'em out" as Dzierwa fired the strikeout and Berry provided the throw outs to two Harvard base stealing attempts to sophomore infielder Ryan McKay for the tags.
Five Spartans rapped out multiple hits, led by Sokolove going 3-for-4, while McKay and Berry were both 2-for-3, in addition to Picot and Seymour both going 2-for-4. N.Williams, Anderson, senior designated hitter Will Shannon, junior outfielder Jake Dresselhouse all added a hit, as all nine starters had at least one hit apiece. Along with the six home runs, McKay and Seymour socked doubles.
Picot's grand slam and solo home run gave him five RBI for the night, for the first Spartan with five ribbies since Greg Ziegler on May 4 of last season vs. Michigan.
Anderson had three RBI from his three-run HR, while N.Williams and Berry had two RBI apiece. Sokolove and Shannon each drove in one run each.
Friday was the Spartans' first of eight games in 10 days at its home-away-from-home, Fluor Field, in Greenville, South Carolina, home of the Greenville Drive, the high-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, for MSU's Spring Break trip Feb. 28-March 9.
MSU continues the Harvard three-game series, Saturday and Sunday, March 1 and 2, then play Western Carolina on Wednesday, March 5 in a single midweek contest.Â
The Spartans then host the First Pitch Invitational on Friday-Sunday, March 7-9, tangling with Cornell and UAB on March 7, then Winthrop on March 8 and UAB again on March 9.
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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MSU put its first ranking since 2016 on the line for the first time, and the Spartans wasted little time in bolting out to an 8-0 lead after the first inning, bashing three home runs in the opening inning, despite coming into Friday's game with just one home run through the first seven games of the season.
"I'm real proud of our guys. I thought offensively, they executed the approach really well," MSU baseball head coach Jake Boss Jr. said.Â
The six home runs in a game is the Spartans' most round-trippers in a game since March 26, 2017 at Illinois when the Green & White mashed eight.
Meanwhile, on the mound, junior pitcher Joseph Dzierwa rang up 10 Ks through 6.0 innings pitched, to improve to 3-0 on the young season, while ringing up double-figure strikeouts for the fourth-straight game dating back to last season's final outing. While Dzierwa did yield his first run of the season, on a solo home run in the fourth inning, he sprayed four hits while not walking anyone and hitting one batter. He now has 33 strikeouts on the season, while allowing just six hits, with two walks and one run, for a 0.47 ERA.
"I thought Joseph threw well," Boss said. Â "I think a lot of times it's hard to go back out and throw when you've been sitting for so long, and we had a long first inning and another long fourth inning, but to Joseph's credit, he went back out and did what he did and did a great job tonight."
Dzierwa's outing was finished off by senior pitcher Dominic Pianto, who was familiar with Fluor Field, having played for Furman in 2020 before the Paladins discontinued baseball and Pianto transferred to Michigan State. The senior righty went 1.0 IP with two hits and two Ks, finishing the game with a strikeout.
At the plate, MSU knocked out a season-high 15 hits to produce a season-high 14 runs, marking the Spartans' third double-digit hit outing in the last four games, and have hung at eight runs or more on the scoreboard in the last four games.
"I'm just proud of our guys for keeping an even keel and a good approach and putting a big number up," Boss said.
MSU's six home runs were hit by five different Spartans, with sophomore outfielder Parker Picot pelting the first two home runs of his collegiate career, including a grand slam to right center in the first inning. Two batters later, graduate catcher Caleb Berry bashed his first homer as a Spartan and first as a Division I player, transferring to MSU from NAIA Milligan. Berry's homer was to nearly the same spot as Picot's in right center.
Later in the first frame, senior outfielder JT Sokolove smashed a solo shot into the seats at the top of the Green Monster on Fluor Field, which has nearly the same specs as Fenway Park, as the Greenville Drive are the Single-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, with the Green Monster just seven-feet shorter than Fenway.
In the fourth, senior infielder Nick Williams bashed his first homer of the season to straight-away center field off the batter's eye. Two batters later, Picot crushed his second of the night into an apartment porch on the third-story of the apartments beyond the wall at Fluor Field. Later in the inning, junior infielder Jacob Anderson homered to left center to nearly the same spot as Picots, off the porch of a second-story apartment.
Friday night's eight-run first frame was added on to with a six-run fourth frame. The Spartans have now scored 17 runs in the first inning through eight games.Â
"We got the barrel to the ball a lot, and I think our approach was really good, we tied to stay in the middle of the field, and when we swung, we didn't want to get ourselves out so we really wanted to swing with intent and try to hit balls hard. We're trying to hit line drives and we backspun a bunch of balls to the middle of the field today, and the ball was carrying pretty good to right center for us."
Michigan State and Harvard continue their three-game series on Saturday with another evening game with a 6 p.m. first pitch.
"Harvard is going to compete hard tomorrow, there's no question, (Harvard head coach) Coach Decker has done a great job for a long time with that program and those guys are going to be ready to go," Boss said. "Tomorrow's a new day, so we know that we need to be ready for a good effort out of Harvard and we need to match that effort out of our guys."
MSU's defense Friday night was boosted by two "strike 'em out, throw 'em out" as Dzierwa fired the strikeout and Berry provided the throw outs to two Harvard base stealing attempts to sophomore infielder Ryan McKay for the tags.
Five Spartans rapped out multiple hits, led by Sokolove going 3-for-4, while McKay and Berry were both 2-for-3, in addition to Picot and Seymour both going 2-for-4. N.Williams, Anderson, senior designated hitter Will Shannon, junior outfielder Jake Dresselhouse all added a hit, as all nine starters had at least one hit apiece. Along with the six home runs, McKay and Seymour socked doubles.
Picot's grand slam and solo home run gave him five RBI for the night, for the first Spartan with five ribbies since Greg Ziegler on May 4 of last season vs. Michigan.
Anderson had three RBI from his three-run HR, while N.Williams and Berry had two RBI apiece. Sokolove and Shannon each drove in one run each.
Friday was the Spartans' first of eight games in 10 days at its home-away-from-home, Fluor Field, in Greenville, South Carolina, home of the Greenville Drive, the high-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, for MSU's Spring Break trip Feb. 28-March 9.
MSU continues the Harvard three-game series, Saturday and Sunday, March 1 and 2, then play Western Carolina on Wednesday, March 5 in a single midweek contest.Â
The Spartans then host the First Pitch Invitational on Friday-Sunday, March 7-9, tangling with Cornell and UAB on March 7, then Winthrop on March 8 and UAB again on March 9.
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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