Joey Nowak
Once upon a time, if you wanted to go to an MSU baseball game, you had to weigh it against a sore back and fiberglass in the seat of your pants from a pathetic excuse for stadium seating.
There was no regional Big Ten Network exposure, the media accommodations were akin to Marshall Mathers’ first trailer park home and player introduction music came from what sounded more like an iHome than a PA system.
Nobody in the MSU baseball community longs for those days of yore. Oh, and did I mention the team is better now? A lot better.
So much has changed at what has transformed from Kobs Field to McLane Baseball Stadium in the four years since I first covered the MSU baseball team, then under head coach David Grewe. But nobody knows that more than this year’s group of seniors — Bo Felt, Eli Boike, Chris Roberts, Kurtis Frymier, Kyle Corcoran and Ben Vrobel — who, along with a few other upperclassmen and the steady hand of head coach Jake Boss Jr., deserve full credit for a remarkable program turnaround.
In 2007, the Spartans finished the season 25-26 and 15-16 in the Big Ten. A seven-run blown lead in the last game of the season kept the Spartans just shy of a berth in the Big Ten Tournament.
In 2008, Grewe brought in another excellent recruiting class, but MSU faltered to a 24-29 mark (12-18 Big Ten). Grewe left for greener (purple-er?) pastures for traditional powerhouse LSU and the transformation began.
Boss came to MSU from
zEastern Michigan and has completely changed the identity of the program. The Spartans bunt, steal bases, consistently make plays in the field and, most importantly, like each other. Team chemistry, an essential component in championship ballclubs, is reportedly higher than the team’s nation-best fielding percentage.
It’s only fitting that — relatively speaking — new digs, a new coach and a new mentality have spurned one of the best starts in school history.
Along with fielding percentage (.983), they’re second by a point in batting average (.335) and third in ERA (4.74) and. After snapping a five-year drought of absence from the Big Ten Tournament last season, their 22 wins are two
more than any team in the conference this year and their 4-2 Big Ten mark has them in first place heading into a pivotal home three-game weekend series against Ohio State.
If MSU can take two out of three from the Buckeyes, they’ll prove this start is no fluke and that MSU, indeed, is the Big Ten team to beat.
Basketball season was fun, but it’s come and gone. Meander over to McLane Stadium this weekend to see the spring’s version of the best ballclub on campus.
Joey Nowak is a State News baseball reporter. He can be reached at_ nowakjo2@msu.edu..
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
