His past with the Eagles ups the stakes when his current new team takes on his old one. In a game originally scheduled March 12, the Spartans will travel to Ypsilanti on Wednesday to play Eastern Michigan at 5 p.m.

“I’m still close with a lot of those players that were there,” Boss said. “We had a great year together when we were there. It’s kind of bittersweet before and after the game. But during the game, it’s just like playing anybody else; you want to beat them just like they want to beat us. Once that umpire says play ball, it’s all business.”

The Spartans took two-of-three games from Eastern Michigan last season, and after today’s rescheduled game, MSU will play the Eagles two more times April 27 and 28.

“Coach Boss coached there for a long time so he knows about the whole system,” senior outfielder Eli Boike said. “He really likes to beat Eastern because he came from there. We back him 100 percent and we’ll try to give him a win.”

After Wednesday’s midweek game, the Spartans will open a four-game road set this weekend against Notre Dame. Then MSU will have its home opener March 26 against Oakland and Big Ten play will open the following weekend when Iowa travels to East Lansing for a three-game series at McLane Stadium.

“These games are giving us good preparation for the conference season,” Boss said. “In a couple weeks, it will be good to get out on our own field and get ready to play and prepare for what’s going to be a challenging Big Ten season.”

Sunshine is always nice

Many students are hoping for warm weather to add to the fun of St. Patrick’s Day, and the Spartans also are hoping for sunny skies Wednesday afternoon.

MSU is coming off a long road trek, where the team played its first 12 games under the warm, sunny skies of the south, posting an 8-4 record. This easily trumps the Spartans’ 2-13 record they posted last year during their Southern spring schedule.

“Down South we had a real successful trip this year compared to last year,” Boike said. “Last year we had a rough one, and this year we saw a lot of success. We let a few slip away that we thought we could have won, but overall it was pretty good.”

Wednesday’s game against Eastern Michigan actually will be the first game the Spartans have played in Michigan, and luckily the weather is predicted to mirror what the Spartans experienced in the South. According to weather.com, Wednesday’s temperature in Ypsilanti will be in the high 50s when the first pitch is thrown.

Sunny weather shouldn’t affect the playing conditions too much, as Eastern Michigan plays on turf.

The Spartans practice on turf throughout the winter, so Boss isn’t too concerned with his team making the adjustment.

“We have the same type of turf inside that they have down there at Eastern,” Boss said. “You get a lot truer hop on the turf. It shouldn’t be a problem for us.”

Defensive heros

Through 12 games, MSU leads the Big Ten with a .982 fielding percentage.

The Spartans also have posted a conference-low eight errors in that span.

“We’ve been playing good baseball lately, and we’ve been playing really good defense,” junior shortstop Jonathan Roof said. “We aren’t giving up a lot of runs. We are doing pretty well defensively so far.”