Sluggers go on road to take on Hoosiers
The MSU baseball team will look to gain some ground in the Big Ten this weekend with four games.
The Spartans will face Indiana in a four-game series beginning today at 3 p.m. at Sembower Field in Bloomington, Ind. They will play a doubleheader on Saturday and the final game is slated for 1 p.m. Sunday.
MSU is in last place in the Big Ten with a 1-5 conference record, but winning this weekend's series against the Hoosiers could put them right back into the hunt.
"We expect to go in and take three out of four (games)," right-handed pitcher Tim Day said. "We hope to take four, but we're going to just play to win the series."
MSU hammered Indiana last year in the Big Ten tourney, 14-1.
"I think that whenever you beat a team in a tournament, the next year they're going to come out fired up and ready to play."
MSU manager Ted Mahan said the road wins would be big, and hopefully the team can build off last weekend in which the team went 2-1 at home.
"We just need to go down and win some games because that's the key, it's how you survive, you win on the road."
Jonathan Malavolti
Track, field competes in tough field of teams
Hopefully, the weather down south is better than it was in East Lansing last week.
That's what both the men's and women's track and field teams will be hoping for, as they travel to Knoxville, Tenn., for the Sea Ray Relays today.
Both teams were scheduled to host the Spartan Open last week, but it was canceled because of inclement weather.
This weekend, the Spartans will take on athletes from a variety of schools, including Big Ten rivals Michigan and Penn State, local universities Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan and a slew of national powers including host Tennessee.
The MSU women's team already has one outdoor match under its belt. It went to the Raleigh Relays in North Carolina last month.
The men's team will participate in its first outdoor match of the season today.
Kristofer Karol
'U' travels to Purdue
The MSU women's golf team takes to the links this weekend for the first time in more than two weeks, when it travels to Purdue for the Lady Boilermaker Invitational.
And senior Jessica Till likely has the most momentum heading into the event, following a season-best 13th-place finish at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational late last month. The Spartans finished ninth out of 12 teams at the event.
This weekend's 54-hole event is the final competition of the season for the women before they head to Iowa for the Big Ten Championship on April 25.
Kristofer Karol
Jorgensen leads squad to Kepler Invitational
With only two events remaining until the beginning of the Big Ten Championship on May 2-4, the MSU men's golf team will try to tune up at the Robert Kepler Invitational on Saturday.
Head coach Mark Hankins will take his nine men to Columbus, Ohio, coming off a 14th-place finish out of 16 teams three weeks ago at the Oregon Duck Invitational.
Senior Eric Jorgensen leads the team with a 73.10 stroke average, and two other players have a top-10 finish this season.
Kristofer Karol
Tennis team hopes to end long losing streak
The MSU women's tennis team will try to break out of a four-game losing skid this weekend at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility.
Purdue (9-9 overall, 3-3 Big Ten) comes to town at 10 a.m. Saturday, and the Spartans will duke it out with Illinois (12-5, 5-1) at 10 a.m. Sunday.
The Boilermakers are coming off an upset of No. 40 Louisiana State on Wednesday, and the No. 22 Fighting Illini have beaten the Spartans in each of the team's last 11 meetings. Purdue beat MSU in East Lansing 4-3 last season.
MSU (8-10, 0-6) lost to Indiana last week, and it sits at the bottom of the Big Ten.
Kristofer Karol
Men's tennis looking for 3rd straight win
Junior Chris Mitchell will be heading into the No. 59 MSU men's tennis team's matches this weekend on a high note.
Mitchell earned Co-Big Ten Men's Tennis Player of the Week honors Thursday, after he went undefeated in singles and doubles matches against Michigan and Indiana last week. MSU won both matches. The Spartans (12-9 overall, 3-3 Big Ten) will travel to No. 1 Illinois on Saturday and No. 50 Purdue on Sunday. The Illini (18-0, 6-0) played Louisiana State on Thursday afternoon, and the Boilermakers (10-6, 4-2) are fourth in the Big Ten standings.
Kristofer Karol
