Dzierwa Garners B1G Pitcher Of The Week For Fourth Time

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State junior pitcher Joseph Dzierwa was named Big Ten Conference Pitcher of the Week, announced Monday afternoon by the league office.

It's the second-straight week that Dzierwa garnered the recognition, marking the second time this season that he's collected the accolade in back-to-back weeks. No MSU player had picked up back-to-back B1G weekly honors of any kind before Dzierwa did it the first two weeks of the season, earning the award Feb. 17 and 24, and he's now done it again on May 5 and 12.

By earning B1G Pitcher of the Week four times this season, Dzierwa is the first B1G pitcher to earn the award four times in a season since 2009 when Ohio State's Alex Wimmers was a four-time winner.

Dzierwa, a native of Haskins, Ohio, stymied No. 25 USC's bats by firing eight strikeouts in 7.0 IP in only allowing two hits and zero walks in leading the Spartans to a 5-0 Victory for MSU over the Trojans on Friday night.

USC entered game hitting .293 as a team, with 492 hits and 215 walks, averaging 10.3 hits and 4.5 walks per game, and Dzierwa limited the Trojans to three and zero, respectively. Dzierwa also helped deal USC its only home shutout of the season, as the Trojans were playing their final home series this weekend, and only the second time this season they've been shutout.

Along with his Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honor, Dzierwa was also recognized by Baseball America and D1Baseball for Friday night performances.

It was the second-straight Friday night that Dzierwa and the Spartans shutout a Top 25 team after last week's 2-0 Victory for MSU over No. 6 Oregon, as Dzierwa pitched a complete-game shutout with 11 strikeouts. Michigan State then beat USC again on Saturday, to mark the first time since 2019 that MSU had three wins over Top 25 teams.

Dzierwa led MSU to win the series at No. 25 USC, snapping the Trojans' eight-series win streak, their longest since 1978.

The Spartans are the first previous Big Ten team to win a series at one of the four West Coast new B1G members.

MSU is also only one of three of the previous B1G teams to take a series from the West Coast members, joining Ohio State over Oregon and Rutgers over Washington, but the Buckeyes and Scarlet Knights were the home teams in both of those series, entering the final weekend of the regular-season, with UCLA playing at Northwestern, Oregon playing at Iowa, and USC playing at Washington.

This Friday night, Dzierwa was dealing again, ringing up eight Ks in only yielding two hits in 7.0 IP. He retired the first eight batters he faced, striking out half of those eight, including back-to-back Ks in the third. After yielding a one-out HBP and a single in the third, he retired the next six Trojan batters, before a two-out double in the fifth, but thwarted any threat by the Trojans by ringing up a strikeout to end the inning.

Dzierwa then chalked up a three-up, three-down frame in both the sixth and seventh innings, ending both frames with strikeouts, including back-to-back Ks in the seventh, for his final outs of the night.

This is Dzierwa's fourth B1G Pitcher of the Week Award this season, collecting the first two honors of the season in back-to-back weeks (Feb. 17 and 24), to become the first MSU player with back-to-back B1G weekly awards of any kind in program history, and then doing so again with the second half this week, earning it on May 5 and 12. He is also the first Spartan player to earn any kind of B1G weekly honor four times in a season.

Dzierwa is the second MSU pitcher to collect at least four Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors in their career. He joins Bryan Gale with five from 2001-04.

Overall, this is Dzierwa's fifth career B1G weekly honor, as he was tabbed B1G Freshman of the Week on April 10, 2023.

Michigan State wraps up regular-season action against Minnesota in a three-game B1G series, Thursday-Saturday, May 15-17, in which will be MSU Senior Weekend Celebrations, presented by HAP, at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium.

Thursday and Saturday's games are both 6:02 p.m. start times, with Saturday's regular-season finale slated for 1:02 p.m.

Saturday is "517 Day" when the Spartans take on Minnesota.

All fans are encouraged to bring non-expired canned food items to support our canned food drive, benefiting the Southside Community Kitchen.

The Spartans' 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," "Listen Live" and "Live Stats" links where available.

Michigan State baseball tickets are available online at msuspartans.evenue.net, by contacting the Spartan Ticket Office at 517-355-1610 or by email at tickets@msu.edu for questions or more information.

Players Mentioned

Joseph Dzierwa

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