Friday, April 19, 2024

Sports | Baseball

BASEBALL

Spartans pick up first win of young season

The MSU baseball team earned its first win of the season with a 4-2 victory over Jacksonville on Sunday at the Coca-Cola Classic in Mobile, Ala. Senior pitcher John Dwan got the win, recording four strikeouts while only allowing three hits and one run. The Spartans broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth inning by scoring three runs.

BASEBALL

Baseball team hosts First Pitch Dinner Sunday

The MSU baseball team will host its second annual First Pitch Dinner at 1 p.m. Sunday in Spartan Stadium's LaSalle Bank Club. Tickets for the event are $25 for children and students, $30 for MSU baseball alumni and $50 for the general public.

BASEBALL

Day named Big Ten's player of the week

Freshman Kyle Day went 11-for-17 with eight RBIs on seven extra-base hits last week and was honored as the Big Ten Player of the Week. Day, who leads the Big Ten in walks with 17, gets time at catcher and left field.

BASEBALL

Walking off with a win

Lansing — Oliver Wolcott pumped his fist, then disappeared into a mob of his teammates. The senior third baseman's 10th-inning walk-off double had just scored junior catcher Sean Walker to give MSU a 9-8 win against Indiana on Sunday afternoon at Oldsmobile Park. "It's been a couple years," Wolcott said of his last walk-off hit.

BASEBALL

Stealing bases becoming a crime for Spartans baseball

It's the top of the first inning of the MSU baseball team's game against Grand Valley State on Wednesday and sophomore rightfielder Tony Clausen is settling into the batter's box. Lakers pitcher Grant Payton steps on the mound, then glances over his shoulder at MSU junior shortstop Troy Krider, who's on first base after leading off the inning with a line-drive single to right. Krider leads a few feet off the base, leaning away from it like he's being pulled by an invisible magnet.

BASEBALL

MSU too much for Grand Valley

The MSU baseball team turned Kobs Field into a manufacturing plant Wednesday afternoon. Only six of MSU's 17 hits went for extra bases, but the Spartans efficiently moved runners around the basepaths all afternoon, pounding Grand Valley State, 14-5. "That's just my coaching style," head coach David Grewe said.

BASEBALL

Teams will keep fans interested during playoffs

The baseball playoffs are finally upon us after a long and grueling season that came down to the final day for four different teams. The Boston Red Sox knew they were going to have a shot at the playoffs; they just didn't know whether it would come after Sunday or after a one-game playoff against the Cleveland Indians today. But after the Chicago White Sox successfully knocked off the Indians early Sunday, the Red Sox knew they were in the playoffs and it didn't matter if they won their game or not. The Indians' loss guaranteed the Red Sox the wild card for the third straight season, the same wild card they won last year before winning the World Series. For the Indians, the season ends in disappointment.

BASEBALL

Tigers back to .500, can win American League Wild Card

Oct. 2, 2005 - The Detroit Tigers defeat the Minnesota Twins and win the American League Wild Card by one game. At the beginning of the season, the Wild Card spot was just a tiny thought in the minds of Tigers fans. The Chicago White Sox took control of the Central Division early and have run away with the title, while the Tigers slipped below .500 and into third or fourth place, out of contention for any playoff consideration. However, as of Sunday, the Tigers were back to the .500-mark at 49-49 and only four games out of the Wild Card lead, held by Minnesota and Oakland.

BASEBALL

Mason names former Notre Dame assistant as baseball coach

It took MSU athletic director Ron Mason four weeks to find the next MSU head baseball coach, but on Wednesday morning at the Kellogg Center he announced David Grewe will take over that position. "The final decision was mine, but I had some help along the way from some baseball people that I trust," Mason said.

BASEBALL

All-Star voting rules should be rewritten

Once again Major League Baseball's All-Star teams will be a concoction of some of the best players in the game - and a bunch of guys who had a good first half of the season. MLB's brilliant idea of allowing the fans to vote in the starters - America's biggest popularity contest - usually works out, but it's way too much power for the fans to have their hands on. The rest of the process involves the players getting to vote for the reserves for each team, the managers making sure each team is represented by one player, and finally, the last spot on each roster is voted by the fans from a list of five players. Right now, managers choose a few players, players choose the rest of the reserves, fans choose one reserve and all of the starters.

BASEBALL

Lugnuts take out Dragons with 7-2 win

With only seven games left before the end of the first half of the season, the Lansing Lugnuts needed all the wins they could get - and they got one Sunday against the Dayton Dragons, winning 7-2. "Hopefully we can get things put together and try to get more wins than the team we're chasing," Lugnuts' manager Ken Joyce said. The Lugnuts (33-29) started the day one game behind the Fort Wayne Wizards for the final playoff spot in the East Division.