The MSU baseball team exceeded most peoples expectations this season, but was unable to meet its own goals of winning a Big Ten title.
The Spartans fell short in both the regular season and the Big Ten Tournament. MSU beat Penn State, but lost to Purdue and Ohio State to knock itself out of the double-elimination tournament and end the Spartans' season last weekend.
"I would say it was a really good season but not great," MSU head coach Ted Mahan said. "A great season is if you win a championship. We didn't accomplish that but we made some strides."
MSU (33-26) finished third in the Big Ten with a 19-13 record. The conference record was the Spartans' winningest in school history.
The Spartans had a chance to tie for the Big Ten title if they swept their final home series against Northwestern. MSU went 2-2 that weekend and although there was no Big Ten title, the team gained a lot of experience.
"We had a chance going into the last weekend to capture a piece of the Big Ten title," Mahan said. "We had not been in that situation before and knowing that we can come that close will just help the team next year."
The confidence of being a part of the Big Ten title race certainly helped the team and was rewarding, especially proving wrong some of the early season predictions.
"Most people predicted us to finish ninth in the Big Ten before the season," junior right fielder Travis Gulick said. "Finishing third and doing better than most people thought made it that much better."
The team's success also translated into many individual accolades. Four Spartans earned All-Big Ten honors. Senior third baseman James Moreno, senior relief pitcher Adam White and Gulick were all named to the first team. It was the first time since 1978 that three Spartans were named to the first team. Senior pitcher Bryan Gale was named to the second team.
Gale leaves MSU as one of school's top pitchers. He set the career record for strikeouts and innings pitched. Gale also tied the MSU record for career wins. Despite the numerous records set, Gale felt that his senior year could have been better.
"As far as my career goes, I'm pretty happy with how it has turned out," Gale said. "I had a decent senior season as far as stats go but not as many wins as I would like. Two more wins and we could have won the conference."
Losing seniors Gale, Moreno, and White will hurt, but Mahan expects his younger players to step up. Many of the freshmen garnered a lot of playing time and success including left fielder Ryan Basham. Basham was named to this year's Big Ten All-Tournament Team after hitting .500 during MSU's three tournament games.
"We had some very good freshmen this year and they will only get better," Mahan said. "We need them to because we will be a real young team next year with 17 or 18 freshmen and sophomores traveling, maybe the youngest team in the country."
Despite the youth of next year's team and the possibility of losing Gulick to the draft, Gale believes that the team will be able to capitalize on the success from this year and what he and the other seniors have built over the past four years.
"There are at least four or five guys coming back that are really good," Gale said. "I think that they will do everything to keep the success we've had for Spartan baseball alive."
