Friday, March 29, 2024

Sluggers want April to be showered with wins

April 2, 2003

Last month was not one to remember for the MSU baseball team.

The Spartans (5-17 overall, 0-4 Big Ten) lost the first 10 games of March and 16 of 18 overall.

Although MSU lost a lot of firepower in the offseason, the team's 17 losses are disappointing considering last season's 38-19 record.

MSU manager Ted Mahan said playing every game on the road so far has something to do with the poor start.

"I don't know many teams in the country that play 22 consecutive road games against good teams," Mahan said. "It's tough. It's a contributing factor, but we have underachieved as a team. The coaches and players didn't think we'd have this kind of a start.

"We just really need to play and win to get our confidence back. And we certainly hope playing at home is a remedy."

MSU plays Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne at 3 p.m. today at Kobs Field. If the Spartans hope to get on the winning track, hitting and pitching will have to improve.

Of all its starters, only senior catcher Brady Burrill and sophomore second basemen Travis Gulick are hitting above .300 with batting averages of .423 and .341, respectively.

As a team, MSU is hitting .274 and scoring 4.4 runs per game, compared to a .344 average and 8.8 runs per game in 2002.

The pitching staff has been suspect as well.

Sophomore pitcher Tim Day and junior pitcher Bryan Gale finished a combined 19-7 last season. The tandem is 4-8 this season. The rest of the staff is 1-9.

"It just seems we've done the wrong things at the wrong time," Mahan said. "Obviously, we can't continue or we won't have a chance to do anything this year."

Freshman right-hander Chris Toepper (0-1, 7.15 ERA) will get the start against IPFW (7-10). Toepper usually comes out of the bullpen on weekends, but Mahan uses a pitch-by-committee technique during midweek games.

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