The MSU baseball team did finish its season losing three of its last four games, but the Spartans were close to winning almost all of their last nine games.
The MSU baseball team finished its season with a win, after dropping the first three games on the road at Northwestern this weekend.
Lansing - Down one run in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Lansing Lugnuts finally broke through against Wisconsin starting pitcher Jason Snyder, scoring three runs en route to a 5-3 win Monday night. "We do give up runs early, but these guys come back.
There's no question that the MSU baseball team was going to "take some lumps" this year, as freshman center fielder Ryan Sontag put it. With five games remaining, a team that has 15 freshman and nine sophomores is getting better and has a 20-28 overall record and 9-15 in Big Ten play, good for ninth in the current standings. "We're just looking to get some more at-bats before we go to Northwestern," said MSU manager Ted Mahan.
The Spartans split with Penn State after dropping the final game in a four game set, 3-2, to the Nittany Lions at Kobs Field on Sunday. The Spartans (20-28 overall, 9-15 Big Ten) scored a run in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI single by left fielder Ryan Basham.
Today's MSU baseball game against Michigan at Oldsmobile Park in Lansing at 7 p.m. will feature a "Study Break Special" at $1 for MSU students, faculty and staff with an MSU identification. In addition, MSU men's basketball players Tim Bograkos and Andy Harvey will throw out the first pitch. The Spartans are coming off a 9-8 comeback win against Central Michigan on Wednesday.
It was a career day for MSU sophomore catcher Kris Morris. Morris hit his first two career home runs and drove in six runs in the MSU baseball team's 14-7 rout of Indiana Tech on Tuesday afternoon at Kobs Field. "It was probably one of the best offensive days of my life," Morris said "It was great." Morris' big game came in the wake of a season-ending arm injury to Sean Walker. MSU's offense was on fire in the first three innings, scoring eight runs and driving Indiana Tech pitcher Marc Caban out of the game. In the first inning, MSU sophomore left fielder Ryan Basham's double drove in sophomore right fielder Adam Tripp to give MSU (16-18 overall) a 1-0 lead. MSU scored two in the second on Morris' first career home run, a bomb to center field, but the Warriors cut the lead to 3-1 in the top of the third on an RBI single by second baseman Adam Storms. But the Spartans exploded in the bottom half of the inning, as RBI singles by designated hitter Alan Cattrysse and third baseman Oliver Wolcott put up two more runs before Morris connected on his second home run of the game, an opposite field shot to right field, putting MSU ahead 8-1. "He's been getting better, he's swinging the bat better," MSU head coach Ted Mahan said of Morris.
Lansing - Lugnuts manager Ken Joyce compared his team's hitting Thursday night to the power outage that briefly took place after the game - short circuited. It was another pitching duel for the first five innings at Oldsmobile Park between Lansing and South Bend until the Silver Hawks' bats came to life enough for a 5-1 victory.
The MSU baseball team was between a rock and a hard place for much of the four-game weekend series against Illinois at Kobs Field. The Spartans were blown out 12-3 in Friday's series opener, then fell both times in Saturday's doubleheader, 9-2 and 6-5. "We told them that they battled all the way through.
It was a game of season highs for the MSU baseball team, as the Spartans successfully swung the bat for a season-high 26 hits and scored a season-high 20 runs in a 20-9 win over Saginaw Valley State on Tuesday at Kobs Field. "I think we're confident now," MSU head coach Ted Mahan said.
The MSU baseball team dropped its second game in a row Wednesday against Wayne State in its home opener at Kobs Field. Wayne State led early 2-0 and never looked back to pull off the 9-4 win. With the conference season opener coming up Friday at Iowa, MSU manager Ted Mahan isn't happy with his team's efforts. Starting freshman pitcher Mark Sorenson gave up four runs on five hits in three innings.
The MSU baseball team lost to No. 6 Florida, 13-2, on Saturday at McKethan Stadium. The Gators used an 11-run rally over the final three innings to defeat the Spartans.
Ben Dunn is thankful the Boston Red Sox shared. Dunn, who was an intern on the grounds crew at Boston's Fenway Park last summer, received a nice chunk of change after the team won the World Series championship last fall. Although Dunn, a 26-year-old sophomore in the two-year Sports and Commercial Turf Management program at MSU, wouldn't let on to how much money he received from the team, he did reveal that they "treated (me) well." In Major League Baseball, the teams that make the playoffs receive part of the money brought in from ticket receipts.
The Lansing Lugnuts officially ended their six-year relationship with the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday, announcing a new affiliation with the Toronto Blue Jays. With the new two-year agreement, the Lugnuts will be the Blue Jays' Class A minor league affiliate in the Midwest League effective for the 2005 season. Rumors about the switch have been circulating for about a week but Lugnuts officials declined to confirm them until Tuesday.
As many record-breaking home runs that Lansing Lugnuts first baseman Brian Dopirak has hit this season, it's his first home run that will always stand out in his memory. That first home run at 12 years old was what made Brian Dopirak decide that a Major League Baseball career would be in his plans. "When we had to do little career things in school, I always put down baseball player," Dopirak said.
Lansing Lunguts catcher Jake Fox almost winces when he talks about the first time that he caught one of Clay Rapada's pitches in practice. Fox has caught many pitchers in his two years with the Chicago Cubs organization, but he said the first one from Rapada will forever remain ingrained in his memory. "It was just a little slider, but when I went down to block it, the ball moved and hit me in the chest," Fox said. "He's got that trajectory that moves the ball all over the place and makes him so tough to catch, but it's also what makes him so good." Rapada, a 6-foot-5, 185-pound relief pitcher, has become well-known around the league for his tough pitches.
Lansing - Wearing his usual white Lugnuts cap and a faded gray baseball T-shirt Dexter Olsen takes his seat in Oldsmobile Park more than 30 minutes before game time, just as he has done for almost every game since 1996. Olsen, a retired autoworker, has only missed about 10 home games of his beloved Lugnuts in the ballpark named after one of the divisions of General Motors Corp.
It's 1:30 p.m. on a sunny Monday afternoon, more than five hours before game time, and Lansing left fielder Kevin Collins is already down in the batting cage, working on his swing. The Lugnuts slugger was recently named the starter and designated hitter for today's Midwest League All-Star Game, a long way from last season when his number of strikeouts almost doubled his number of hits. "Last year was a long year for me," Collins said.
MSU juniors, right fielder Travis Gulick and catcher Erik Morris were selected in the 2004 Major League Baseball draft, Tuesday. The draft spans over two days and 50 rounds. For Gulick, the two days of sitting in front of his computer listening to the 2004 MLB draft online seemed endless until his name was finally called Tuesday afternoon. Gulick was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 23rd round of the Major League Baseball Draft, the 686th pick overall. "It's been a long process," Gulick said.
The MSU baseball team exceeded most peoples expectations this season, but was unable to meet its own goals of winning a Big Ten title. The Spartans fell short in both the regular season and the Big Ten Tournament.