Sophomore reliever Tony Wieber said the key to the early dominance from the pitching staff has been throwing strikes and allowing the defense to make plays behind them.

“The pitching staff has done great all year from starters to relievers, closers, everyone,” Wieber said. “I found out last year if you throw strikes and let them hit it, our defense will pick us up, so I think the big thing is throwing strikes and our defense playing well.”

Offensively, the key has been team speed and aggressive play calling from head coach Jake Boss Jr.
Senior outfielder and co-captain Brandon Eckerle credits his coach for instilling that game plan within the team.

“Coach likes to be aggressive on the bases, and pulling out the bunts and all of that is a big part of our game,” Eckerle said. “We have a lot of speed on our team. And anytime you can get a walk or a hit and steal second, it’s like hitting a double, so it’s very important to our team.”

Sophomore outfielder Torsten Boss said the bats the team uses are part of the reasoning behind the strategy, but the execution is what makes it effective.

“With these new bats, there’s not that much pop,” Boss said. “We’ve just got to execute the running game — the small game — and that’s what we’ve been doing this whole weekend.”

For an upperclassman such as Eckerle, who has been a part of many changes in the MSU baseball program, the sweep represented a stark difference from earlier in his career.

“Anytime you can beat your rivals like that at their home place, their home field, it feels great,” Eckerle said. “I’ve been on the other side of that. My freshman year we got swept by these guys, so to go out senior year, sweeping Michigan feels pretty good.”

With the Big Ten season about to get underway, junior catcher Andy Johnson said beating Michigan serves as a good starting point with important games right around the corner.

“It’s huge for our confidence,” Johnson said. “We had a little bit of a rough weekend in Evansville, and with the Big Ten starting next week, it gives us a lot of confidence going into conference play.”

Coming into the series, many MSU players said it would serve as a measurement for where the team is and in terms of the long-term goals moving forward.

After a resounding result this weekend, Johnson said the answer is clear.

“I think it pretty much shows that we’re going to be up in the top part of the Big Ten and that we’ve got a really good chance of taking home the title this year,” he said.