Friday, March 29, 2024

Spartans’ practices, games benefit from mild weather

February 22, 2012
Second baseman freshman Ryan Jones high fives his teammate, senior infielder Chris Roberts after scoring a run during Saturday's game against Indiana University. Jones hit for the cycle, helping to boost the Spartan's to a 10-4 victory over the Hoosiers in the second game of the three game series. The State News File Photo
Second baseman freshman Ryan Jones high fives his teammate, senior infielder Chris Roberts after scoring a run during Saturday's game against Indiana University. Jones hit for the cycle, helping to boost the Spartan's to a 10-4 victory over the Hoosiers in the second game of the three game series. The State News File Photo —
Photo by Lauren Wood | and Lauren Wood The State News

Most years when major league teams are headed to camp under the sunny skies of Florida or Arizona, head coach Jake Boss Jr. and the MSU baseball team are cooped up indoors.

But with the mild weather and minimal snow in East Lansing for most of the winter season, the Spartans — who are coming off back-to-back 30-win seasons and a Big Ten Championship — have been able to practice outside for nearly two weeks. Being outside provides a different look for the players, and it had an effect on the team’s opening weekend, Boss said.

“I think we saw some differences this year in our first practice outside down south in Florida. (It) was much better than last year’s,” Boss said. “We didn’t really have many troubles with fly balls or depth perception or things like that down there. So there were three cleaner games, I guess, in that regard.”

As a part of the Big East/Big Ten Baseball Challenge, the Spartans opened up with three games in Florida last week.

Using the momentum of senior pitcher Tony Bucciferro’s six scoreless innings and a six-run inning in the bottom of the eighth, the Spartans upset No. 11 St. John’s 11-4 on Friday. The win against St. John’s was the highest-ranked team MSU has beaten since No. 6 Rice on March 7, 2008.

The Spartans followed up that performance with a 2-1 loss to South Florida on Saturday that Boss said carried into Sunday’s 7-6 loss to No. 15 Louisville.

“We only won one of (three), but we were close to the last out, pretty much with two really good teams that we lost to,” Bucciferro said. “So it was promising that we were able to stay in the game that whole way, but it was disappointing that we couldn’t pull it out.”

Despite not being fully happy with the results of opening weekend, junior second baseman Ryan Jones said getting outside ahead of time will help the team in its opening stretch of the year.

“Us getting outside, it’s definitely different from in (McLane Baseball Stadium’s indoor complex) or in Duffy (Daugherty Football Building) because we don’t get to see fly balls and just the atmosphere,” Jones said. “Being outside and being able to get used to that and not having the first game be our first time outside was definitely a plus.”
 
Rolling out the red carpet
The Spartans continue their beginning-of-the-year road trip this weekend with four games in Greenville, S.C.

It will be the fifth straight year that MSU will play games at Fluor Field, the home field of the Minor League Baseball Class A Greenville Drive of the South Atlantic League. Drive co-owner and team president Craig Brown is an MSU alumnus and has tried to make MSU feel at home on the road when they travel to Greenville.

Even with the Spartans playing for a month on the road, the trip is one of the team’s more exciting stops before it returns home at the end of March, Boss said.

“It’s the best trip we take all year,” Boss said. “They treat us like we are their own ball club. It’s a beautiful ballpark, it’s a beautiful locker room, it’s a great city, and like I said, everybody is very welcoming down there. It’s almost like they’re looking forward to the Spartans coming to town.”

Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.

Discussion

Share and discuss “Spartans’ practices, games benefit from mild weather” on social media.