Ann Arbor — Jimmy Pickens knew he would have a chance. In a game that lasted 13 innings Sunday, the freshman right fielder knew he would have enough at-bats to hopefully make a difference as the MSU baseball team looked to avoid the sweep against arch-rival Michigan.
The MSU baseball team has assembled a pitching core to compete with any team in the nation. But great pitching is useless without offensive support. Jake Boss Jr. acknowledges that this much is true. But as the Spartans found out this weekend, there’s a fine line between the theory of scoring runs and the literal production of them.
On paper, the MSU baseball team has an offense to compete with any team in the Big Ten and many teams across the country.
After taking two out of three against Ohio State last weekend to open up Big Ten play, the MSU baseball fell to in-state rival Michigan 4-0 in the weekend opener on Friday in Ann Arbor. Senior pitcher Tony Bucciferro took the loss for the Spartans (18-9 overall, 2-2 Big Ten) and his record on the year falls to 3-2.
Lansing – With a weekend three-game series against Michigan approaching, Jake Boss Jr. saw an opportunity in the Crosstown Showdown to showcase the depth of his pitchers in his arsenal.
After a break from the usual grind Thursday at the Crosstown Showdown, the MSU baseball team gets back to Big Ten play Friday with the first of three games against arch-rvial Michigan. With Thursday’s 7-0 loss to the Lansing Lugnuts being a fun exhibition, the Spartans (18-8 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) will have to turn up the intensity for the series with the Wolverines (12-16, 0-3). And junior utility player Tony Wieber said that shouldn’t be a problem. “I don’t think you need much motivation,” Wieber said.
The MSU baseball team continued its winning ways with a 6-1 victory against Eastern Michigan on Wednesday in Ypsilianti, Mich. With the Crosstown Showdown with the Lansing Lugnuts on Thursday at Cooley Law School Stadium in Lansing along with a three-game series this weekend with in-state rival Michigan, head coach Jake Boss Jr. limited the innings of his pitchers in the game.
Jimmy Pickens considers himself blessed to have played in professional baseball stadiums multiple times since he picked up the game as a kid. As a freshman out of Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Pickens even has had the chance to play in the Detroit Tigers’ Comerica Park in the Catholic League Championship. Still, Pickens said he can’t wait to get a taste of his first Crosstown Showdown at 7:05 p.m. Thursday, when he and the MSU baseball team take on the Single-A Lansing Lugnuts at Cooley Law School Stadium in Lansing.
For the sixth-straight year, the Lansing Lugnuts will open up the season against the MSU baseball team. The Lugnuts — the Single-A affiliate of the MLB’s Toronto Blue Jays — made it to the Midwest League Championship series last season, a few months after the Spartans won the Big Ten championship. The annual Crosstown Showdown provides Greater Lansing baseball fans a chance to see two top-of-their-level teams face off at Cooley Law School Stadium.
After wrapping up a three-game series with Ohio State on Monday, the MSU baseball team doesn’t have a chance for much rest before a busy weekend. Two days after the Spartans (17-8 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) knocked off the Buckeyes 10-5 to take two of three games in their first Big Ten series of the season, MSU will hit the road for a 6:05 p.m. game Wednesday against Eastern Michigan (10-17, 3-3 MAC) in Ypsilanti, Mich.
After losing the first game of the Big Ten season 1-0 against Ohio State on Saturday, baseball head coach Jake Boss Jr. said his Spartans knew they had two chances to redeem themselves against the Buckeyes. And by scraping out a 2-1 win Sunday and 10-5 victory Monday, MSU did just that, capturing two-of-three to open conference play at McLane Baseball Stadium at Old College Field.
Nearing the midway point of the baseball season, head coach Jake Boss Jr. has grown certain of the strength of this year’s ball club — the pitching. In the first two games of a three-game weekend series against Ohio State, senior Tony Bucciferro and junior Andrew Waszak combined to surrender just a single run in 16 innings of work, picking up a no decision and a win, respectively.
Driving in the winning run before earning the save in the same game would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most baseball players. For Tony Wieber, it’s becoming a regular occurrence.
Tony Bucciferro hasn’t always had the best luck against Ohio State. Coming into Saturday’s matchup, the senior pitcher had surrendered 22 hits and 13 earned runs in 10.2 innings of work in his last two outings against the Buckeyes. Even as Bucciferro reversed his fortune Saturday with a nine strikeout performance with just two hits surrendered in eight innings, the MSU baseball team (15-8 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) couldn’t overcome the two walks by his replacement sophomore David Garner in the ninth and were out-dueled by the Buckeyes, 1-0, at McLane Baseball Stadium at Old College Field.
Tony Bucciferro knows he’s expected to have a good outing when he takes the mound for the MSU baseball team (15-7) at 1:05 p.m. on Saturday at McLane Baseball Stadium at Kobs Field in the Big Ten opener against Ohio State (13-10 overall, 1-2 Big Ten).
Looking at the box score, there’s very little that stands out about Tony Wieber’s ground out in the bottom of the ninth inning. However, it might have been the most significant at-bat of the ballgame between MSU and Central Michigan Wednesday at McLane Baseball Stadium at Kobs Field.
Before the MSU baseball team started the 2012 season, the Spartans came together and made it a goal to not take any plays off. After losing in the Big Ten Tournament last season, MSU was denied an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, and head coach Jake Boss Jr.
In the midst of an eight-game home stand, the MSU baseball team hosts its first midweek game of the season at 3:05 p.m. Tuesday at Kobs Field at McLane Baseball Stadium.
For MSU pitcher Mike Theodore, Sunday was a welcomed change-up. After starting the first four games of his Spartan career on the road, the sophomore right-hander — who transferred from Tennessee — made his first appearance at Kobs Field at McLane Baseball Stadium on Sunday against Oakland.
Jake Boss Jr. is an offensive minded baseball coach. The fifth year MSU head coach isn’t all about home runs and power hitting, necessarily, but he loves when his team can go out and produce runs in various situations. That’s why Boss left the field after Saturday’s 11-2 win over Oakland at Kobs Field at McLane Baseball Stadium with a bigger smile on his face than after Friday’s 2-1 nailbiter. “If we execute, good things are going to happen,” Boss said.