“I think it’s a big step for our program, really,” Boss said. “Again, it’s some place that Michigan State hasn’t been at in a while and I really think that we can play for championships here on a yearly basis and this is the first step in doing that.”

“Now our job is to — we kind of reached that goal — now we need to reevaluate and try to raise the bar a little bit and hopefully we can go down and play well and we’ll see what happens.”

MSU dropped five consecutive games after clinching the tournament spot, but won its regular season finale at Indiana to give the team momentum — and they might need all of that momentum with Illinois on the docket. The Spartans were swept by the Fighting Illini in the first series of conference play and were outscored 16-5 in those three games.

Illinois is a speedy team, stealing a conference-best 78 bases. Much like the Spartans, the Illini are not a power-hitting squad, but they are patient as they had the fewest strikeouts in the league and were near the top in batting average and walks. But senior third baseman A.J. Shindler said those Spartans at the beginning of the year were different than the ones who will take the field today. It was when MSU beat the Lansing Lugnuts 12-2 on April 16 in the Crosstown Showdown — an exhibition game — when Shindler said the Spartans had a transformative turnaround.

“We went out and beat a team full of professionals pretty, pretty bad, 12-2. And we thought if we can play with these guys we can play with anyone, and that’s what we’ve been doing,” he said. “That’s a team that’s getting paid to play and we just went out there and took it to them pretty good. That’s good for our confidence knowing we can go out there and play with anyone.”

Shindler, however, is the only MSU player who knows opposing left-handed starting pitcher Phil Haig. The two played against each other in the summer, and Haig was hurt when the Spartans played at Illinois earlier this season. Shindler called Haig a “pretty typical left-hander” who collects a lot of strikeouts and ground ball outs. He throws a changeup, curveball and solid two-seam and four-seam fastballs, Shindler said.

MSU senior right-handed starting pitcher Nolan Moody will be called upon by the Spartans to try to shut down Illinois. Born and raised in East Lansing, Moody has been a Spartans fan his whole life and is eager to represent the Green and White in the Big Ten Tournament. And being from East Lansing, he has personal connections to the 2004 Big Ten Tournament team.

“I played with a number of those guys the last time they went to the Big Ten Tournament, and I know they always talked about what a thrill it is to get to play in a situation where it’s kind of win or go home,” he said. “So though we haven’t played in it before, we’ve heard from the other guys what it’s like and hopefully we can take a little of that with us.”

Boss said it’s players like Moody — who was converted to a starting pitcher this year — who make a Big Ten Tournament bid special for MSU.

“He’s got a lot of pride for Michigan State,” Boss said. “We talked with our guys about that as well, too, what an honor it is to play here and play for Michigan State and to put that ‘S’ on your hat, to put that on every day is something that not a lot of people get the chance to do.”