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Spartans to play Oakland in 3-game series home opener

March 22, 2012

Despite earning a program-building victory against then-No. 11 St. John’s in its first official game of the season on the road, there’s nothing like a little home cooking for Ryan Jones and the MSU baseball team.

Following an opening stretch of 17 games on the road, the Spartans (10-7) return to McLane Baseball Stadium at Kobs Field for the first time in the young season this weekend for a three-game set with Oakland (3-12), starting at 3:05 p.m. on Friday.

With the benefit of key victories against St. John’s, along with No. 25 Baylor, Seton Hall and Xavier on the road, the Spartans have earned experience against solid teams to start the year, Jones said. But if the team wants get on the path to repeat its Big Ten championship of a season ago, it starts with taking care of the Golden Grizzlies this weekend in front of its home crowd.

“We always look forward to playing at home, especially with our success in the past,” said Jones, who is second-leading hitter with a .385 average for the Spartans. “Playing on the road is tough, especially when you’re going to tough places like (Texas) A&M and Baylor. It’s just tough to sneak out wins and especially to play well. It’s tough with crowds, and it’s a battle. We’re just looking forward to playing here at home, and hopefully we get a good turnout.”

In the all-time series, the Spartans hold a commanding 25-3-0 (.893) advantage over in-state opponent Oakland, including earning a doubleheader split with the Golden Grizzlies in the team’s most recent meeting last season.

The Spartans are on a roll as of late, winning six of their seven games, including the team’s first series sweep of the season last weekend on the road against Cincinnati (8-9) at Marge Schott Stadium.

Much of the success of the current stretch can be attributed to the wealth of pitching the Spartans have at their disposal. Other than notable senior ace Tony Bucciferro – who leads the staff with a 3-1 record and 28 strikeouts – the Spartans have seen strong performances by junior Andrew Waszak (1-1, 1.34 ERA), sophomore Mike Theodore (1-1, 1.42 ERA) and junior closer Tony Wieber (2.16 ERA, 4 saves).

As the Spartans prepare to return home, Bucciferro said the pitching staff has been competitive with one another for success, which will go a long way in the Big Ten season.

“Our pitching staff is doing great,” Bucciferro said. “Out of our weekend guys, I might be having the worst ERA out of all of them. I’m looking at these guys like, ‘Where is this coming from?’ But I love to see that. It’s a competition between us, a little off the field, on the field deal. And our bullpen, they’re getting it done. … Everyone’s doing their job and grinding it out.”

Instead of scheduling a light schedule in the opening month of the season, head coach Jake Boss Jr. said the team’s success in road games are a chance for the Spartans to rise in the Ratings Percentage Index, or RPI, and hopefully pick up some points when NCAA Tournament season rolls around.

Boss said the team proved it could compete with some of the tougher teams in college baseball on the road and that the experience of tougher competition will prove valuable for MSU in the home opener and also as it moves on into Big Ten play later in the year.

“We feel pretty good about where we are right now,” Boss said. “We played well for the most part last weekend, and things are going in the right direction. We learned a lot at A&M, we learned a lot at Baylor, we learned a lot from playing good programs and hopefully we saw things start to come together last weekend and hopefully that can continue into this weekend.”

The series with Oakland marks the first three of an eight-game home stand that starts with the Golden Grizzlies, continues with Bowling Green (March 27), Central Michigan (March 28) and concludes in a three-game series with Ohio State (March 30-April 1) at McLane Baseball Stadium at Kobs Field.

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