There's no question that the MSU baseball team was going to "take some lumps" this year, as freshman center fielder Ryan Sontag put it.
With five games remaining, a team that has 15 freshman and nine sophomores is getting better and has a 20-28 overall record and 9-15 in Big Ten play, good for ninth in the current standings.
"We're just looking to get some more at-bats before we go to Northwestern," said MSU manager Ted Mahan. "We've got five more games, and we're going to try and win as many as we can, finish on a positive note."
If the Spartans are going to finish strong, there is no doubt Sontag will have something to do with the success, just as he did this last weekend. He went 7-for-12 with three doubles, seven runs scored and five walks - exactly what Mahan is looking for out of a lead-off hitter.
"My job is to get on base and then let the big guys knock me in," Sontag said. "It worked out pretty well this weekend."
Mahan said Sontag had a good series, and he has really come on in the second half of the season. Sontag said it was about mid-season that he started hitting first in the order and has been successful in that role.
"I feel comfortable in the lead-off spot," Sontag said. "Once you have the confidence, as an individual, it's so much easier to perform."
One way in which MSU hasn't performed defensively is in committing errors at key points in the game.
Mahan said both Sontag's performance with the bat and the entire team's struggles in the field are part of having a young ball club.
"Hopefully, with experience, those things will get better," Mahan said. "Our youth shows at times, but hopefully the experience (this season) will help."
The Spartans play 3 p.m. Tuesday at Central Michigan before traveling to Evanston, Ill., to close out the Big Ten regular season with a four-game series at Northwestern.
No more Morris
The lone senior on MSU's baseball team is Erik Morris, who played in his final game at Kobs Field on Sunday against Penn State.
"I didn't even realize it until (Sunday) morning, when people started telling me that it was my last game here," Morris said. "But you have to treat it like any other game here; you can't go up there thinking anything different.
"I am going to miss the place a little bit," Morris said. "It's been my home for four years."
Morris has played in 155 games for the Spartans in his four-year career, with all but one of those games coming in the last three seasons.
"I haven't done as much as I've wanted to offensively all year," Morris said. "I don't know if put pressure on myself or what."
While Morris is hitting .302 after a 5-for-15 weekend pitching against Penn State, that number is a little lower than his last two seasons. In 2002, Morris hit .311, and last season he hit a career-best .321, with 10 home runs.
