“Fundamentally, they’ve always been good,” MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. “They always play the right way. I don’t know that they have a lot of power or are going to run any better than anybody else, but they’re going to play good defense and going to pitch it well. It’s going to be a good test.”

Senior right-hander and tri-captain Nolan Moody got his first career start as a Spartan in the team’s first game, going seven strong innings and earning the victory. As the team’s closer last season, Moody had a 5.88 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 26 innings of work. After his first outing on Friday, his ERA stands at 2.57. Moody said he felt great on the mound and just needs to tweak a few details about his preparation.

“I’m still getting used to the whole warm-up process,” he said. “That’s a whole work in progress more than anything. The first inning, I wasn’t as ready to pitch as I’d like to have been. I just noticed it when it got too close to game time because I didn’t feel like I was ready and was rushing. It was fine once I got into the flow of the game but it’s something I have to work on because I hadn’t done it in college before.”

Last season, the Spartans went 2-1 in their first weekend before dropping their next two. This weekend, they’ll look to right the ship in their only four-game series of the year. Moody, sophomore pitcher A.J. Achter and senior pitcher A.J. Dunn are expected to start the first three games.

Through the first weekend, the team was led offensively by junior infielder/outfielder Chris Roberts, who is atop the Spartans’ roster with a .417 batting average with sophomore shortstop Jonathan Roof. With four hits on the weekend, sophomore outfielder Brandon Eckerle is also hitting .400.

“It was just nice to get outside and kind of get a different background behind the pitcher,” Roberts said. “It helps to pick up the ball a little bit better.”

The highlight of the weekend for the Spartans may have come on the basepaths. They stole nine bases in the three games, including seven in the opener. The seven stolen bases were the most since the Spartans stole six in an April 2006 game against Penn State.

“That’s how I want to play,” Boss said. “I want to get us to the point where even if the other team knows it’s going to happen, we’ll still be able to execute it. We’re going to be a team that likes to steal, hit and run and put guys in motion and make teams make plays. … I told the guys that’s how we hope to play and we’re not going to take our foot off the gas pedal until the game’s over.”