About a year ago at this time, the MSU baseball team returned home to a frozen baseball field and the bitter chill of March. This year has been a much different story.
Having won six of their last seven games to cap a 17-game road trip, the Spartans (10-7) return home to host Oakland in the first series of the year at McLane Baseball Stadium at Kobs Field.
As the Spartans return home following an extended road trip, senior pitcher Tony Bucciferro said he hopes the recent success of the team is a signal of good faith for this weekend’s series against Oakland.
“We’re doing pretty well, especially the last seven games,” Bucciferro said. “We’re in a good spot to really do some good and get something going, and maybe start a little winning streak. But coming over to home — we’ve always done great at home in the past — and I’m looking forward to seeing some fans, and it’s going to be a great time, great atmosphere and hopefully beautiful weather.”
Returning home won’t be the only source of momentum for the Spartans. MSU took down then-No. 11 St. John’s 11-4 on opening day in the Big Ten/Big East Challenge and followed it up with wins against Baylor, Xavier, Seton Hall and Pittsburgh.
Opening success leads the Spartans to a tie with Illinois for third place in the Big Ten. Also, the competitive early schedule should go a long way when official Ratings Percentage Index, or RPI, rankings are available to determine seeding in the NCAA Tournament, head coach Jake Boss Jr. said.
“We haven’t really played that many games like that the last three years because I didn’t want to schedule that because I didn’t think we were ready for it,” Boss said.
“We saw our guys start to get better and better. We kind of thought we had an idea a few years ago that we’re at the point now with the program where we would be ready to take on teams like Texas A&M and Baylor in a regional atmosphere at their place.”
Fence busters
Boss often lives by the mantra that hitting is contagious up and down the lineup.
The Spartans have been led at the plate by a pair of juniors, outfielder Jordan Keur and second baseman Ryan Jones, who have hit .406 and .385 in 17 games, respectively. As a team, the Spartans have hit .273, which is good for fifth in the Big Ten behind Purdue (.350), Nebraska (.335), Northwestern (.294) and Illinois (.294).
Even as the Spartans have struggled at times in missing sophomore catcher and infielder Joel Fisher to injury, Jones said the bats are starting to warm up, and this weekend will be an extension of that.
“Especially for the younger guys, they like to see us be successful, especially in the top of the lineup,” Jones said. “It’s usually us at the top of the lineup, me, (junior third baseman Torsten Boss) and Keur. … We were kind of shaky at the beginning, we were a little rusty for some reason. We just look forward to getting on base first and seeing what everybody else can do.”
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