“They stressed from day one playing baseball the right way, and they got that losing mentality out of us early on,” Eckerle said. “(In Boss’ first year), after a bad game, he reamed us pretty hard and said this isn’t acceptable, and we’re not going to play the way we have in the past.”

As the team mobbed the right side of the pitcher’s mound in a towering dogpile Friday after clinching a share of the Big Ten championship, the weight of three decades of losing had been lifted.

Behind strong pitching from senior Kurt Wunderlich and junior Tony Bucciferro and a lineup designed to score runs and slug with some of the best in the country, the Spartans proved they could be a force to be reckoned with in the Big Ten for years to come.

Even as the team is set to lose MSU’s all-time hits leader in Eckerle, its third winningest pitcher in Wunderlich along with the fourth all-time RBI leader in first baseman Jeff Holm, Boss has built and recruited a team to compete and eventually make their own marks on the record book.

Sophomore second baseman Ryan Jones carried a 33-game hitting streak during the season and tallied a respectable 71 hits batting behind Eckerle. On the other side of the diamond, junior shortstop Justin Scanlon and sophomore third baseman Torsten Boss proved to be solid defenders and will be staples in next year’s lineup.

On the mound for the Spartans, Bucciferro will have little trouble stepping into the top starter position vacated by Wunderlich. Sophomore pitcher Andrew Waszak will have a larger role in the rotation in 2012 but showed flashes of brilliance during the year that indicates he’s capable of doing so.

Freshman pitcher David Garner likely will see his role increase in 2012 also, as he showed maturity and poise during the year usually demonstrated by more experienced hurlers.

Bottom line: If they can stay healthy and focused, the Spartans have depth in most key positions and have the talent and the experience to sustain success.

As Athletics Director Mark Hollis and MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon presented the team with the Big Ten championship trophy along with shirts and hats Saturday following a loss to Northwestern, it was clear what kind of program is being built here and how far this team, this program and this coaching staff have come since the day Boss stepped onto campus.

Following the game Friday, Eckerle and Holm were quick to run out to the Big Ten championship banner in left field and add a makeshift “‘11” in white tape to mark their place in history.

Winning a share of the Big Ten championship not only demonstrates the success of one team or one group of players, but it proves this is a program that might be adding banners to the left field wall of McLane Baseball Stadium at Kobs Field for many years to come.

“We’re part of history now, and it feels really good to be a part of that,” Holm said. “(The trophy) is ours now, and nobody can take that from us.”