Dzierwa Named National Pitcher Of The Year Award Semifinalist

OMAHA, Neb. -- Michigan State baseball player Joseph Dzierwa was named one of 16 semifinalists for the National Pitcher of the Year Award, as presented by the College Baseball Foundation.

Dzierwa continues to add to his award collection, with this recent accolade his third national award semifinalist recognition, joining USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award and NCBWA's Dick Howser Trophy.

A Haskins, Ohio native, Dzierwa was also named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and also garnered First Team All-B1G accolades. He was the only player that was a unanimous selection to the First Team.

Dzierwa became the second Spartan to be named B1G Pitcher of the Year, joining Kurt Wunderlich in 2011. He is the sixth Spartan player to earn a major player award from the B1G, joining Player of the Year Award winners Bob Malek in 2002 and Jeff Holm in 2011, along with B1G Freshman of the Year Ryan Sontag in 2005 and Ryan Jones in 2010. MSU Baseball has also won three Coach of the Year Awards with Tom Smith in both 1988 and 1992, and Jake Boss Jr. in 2011.

Dzierwa currently has an 8-3 record with a 2.36 ERA, firing 104 strikeouts in 91.2 innings pitched in 15 starts. The 104 strikeouts is second in the B1G and 23rd in the NCAA . He has thrown one complete game shutout, as part of four combined shutouts, in holding the opposition to .201 against him.

The Spartan southpaw is also second in the B1G and is 23rd in the NCAA in WHIP (0.98), along with fourth in the league and 44th in the nation in fewest hits allowed per nine innings (6.41).

Dzierwa continues to establish new program top marks, as he is the first Spartan player in program history to be a four-time Big Ten Pitcher of the Week, doing so in back-to-back weeks twice. 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.

These two B1G honors in 2025 give Dzierwa four career Big Ten accolades, as he garnered Second Team All-Big Ten accolades as a sophomore in 2024 after earning Big Ten All-Freshman Team recognition in 2023.

With the 104 strikeouts for the season, Dzierwa became the fifth Spartan pitcher in program history to reach the 100 K milestone, and the first since Nick Bates in 2002 with 100. Dzierwa passed Bates and finishes at No. 4 on MSU's single-season strikeout list.

It also gives him 255 for his career, holding at No. 3 on MSU's career strikeout list.

The Spartans are the No. 12 seed in the Big Ten Conference Baseball Tournament, Presented by IFS.ai, and Spartans will take on No. 1 seed and B1G regular-season co-champion Oregon on Thursday, May 22, at 6 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. CT.

The 2025 B1G Tournament is held at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Neb., site of the NCAA Men's College World Series.

The Big Ten Network will broadcast every game of the tournament. Games will also be available on the FOX Sports App. Single-game and all-session packages are on sale at www.bigten.org/baseballtickets.

MSU's 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," "Listen Live" and "Live Stats" links where available.

Dzierwa Named National Pitcher Of The Year Award Semifinalist

Players Mentioned

Joseph Dzierwa

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