Collegiate baseball is failing to suit up black athletes as players and coaches at many levels argue the cost of the sport and lack of recruiting are keeping diversity off the diamond.
Lansing - The Spartans had plenty of opportunities to score runs Wednesday night, but squandered a majority of their opportunities. The end result was a disheartening 4-3 loss to Central Michigan at Oldsmobile Park. MSU (12-25 overall, 4-10 Big Ten) left eight runners on base, a considerably high amount considering they only recorded eight hits and were walked just one time.
After struggling to muster runs the past three games, the Spartans' bats were smoking Tuesday afternoon.MSU tallied 16 hits en route to a 14-6 beating of Siena Heights.The Spartans (12-24 overall, 4-10 Big Ten) jumped out to a quick early lead - a 9-0 advantage after two innings - MSU manager Ted Mahan emptied his bench at the start of the third inning.
Quick, what is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a team with an 11-24 record? Bad?
Lansing - The Spartan offense was in full throttle Friday afternoon, but they didn't need much of it.Behind a stellar pitching performance from junior right-hander Bryan Gale, the Spartans whipped the Wolverines 12-3 in front of 835 fans at Oldsmobile Park."It was a must win home game," said Gale, who improved to 5-4 on the year and 3-0 in his career against Michigan.
Spartans manager Ted Mahan's blood was once oozing maize and blue. Mahan spent the majority of his early life in Ann Arbor, both playing baseball and getting an education at Michigan. His baseball career began as a player for the Wolverines in 1974 - the first of four years he would earn a varsity letter.
It wasn't a day the Spartans will want to remember for the way they played, but Tuesday's end result was acceptable.In a sloppy slugfest, it was MSU sophomore second baseman Travis Gulick that stole the show, helping his team to a 13-12 victory over Wayne State.
Former high school standout Jeremy Dow is slated to make his collegiate baseball debut today when MSU (9-20) hosts Wayne State. The right-hander will take the mound at 3 p.m.
"On the Road Again."That is the tune the MSU baseball team is singing after a short week of home games.
Offense was hard to come by at a frigid Kobs Field on Sunday afternoon as the MSU baseball team split a low-scoring doubleheader with Northwestern.The Spartans (7-18 overall, 1-5 Big Ten) won the opener 3-2, picking up their first league victory of the season.
The MSU baseball team said playing at home for the first time this season could be the medicine for its losing ways.And as it turns out, Kobs Field provided a perfect remedy Wednesday afternoon as the Spartans used a late offensive surge to defeat Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne 10-4."It was a good win," MSU manager Ted Mahan.
Last month was not one to remember for the MSU baseball team.The Spartans (5-17 overall, 0-4 Big Ten) lost the first 10 games of March and 16 of 18 overall.Although MSU lost a lot of firepower in the offseason, the team's 17 losses are disappointing considering last season's 38-19 record.MSU manager Ted Mahan said playing every game on the road so far has something to do with the poor start."I don't know many teams in the country that play 22 consecutive road games against good teams," Mahan said.
Following a season in which five single-season offensive records were destroyed, the MSU baseball team will have to find new ways to win if it hopes to build on the success it had in 2002. The Spartans established new highs in hits (685), doubles (126), runs (500), RBI (456) and home runs (95) in 2002.
A pair of MSU baseball players have garnered preseason honors. Senior catcher Brady Burrill along with sophomore pitcher Tim Day became the Spartans first preseason All-Americans since Mark Mulder in 1998. Burrill was named a third-team All-American by Louisville Slugger, as selected by Collegiate Baseball newspaper, while Day earned third-team honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Although Burrill appeared in just 28 of the Spartans' 57 games last season, he still led the team with a .414 batting average.
The San Francisco Giants and the Anaheim Angels aren’t the only teams playing baseball this deep into October.The MSU baseball team took the field Wednesday afternoon for the last time this year in the final game of the three game Green/Gray World Series.In the contest, the Gray team came out victorious with some last inning heroics.
Weather in the mid-40s and continuous wind gusts didn’t keep the MSU baseball team off the diamond Sunday afternoon.The Spartans were divided into two teams, creating the Green/Gray World Series.
As the clock continues to tick toward another Major League Baseball player’s strike, MSU athletes and coaches ponder the future of America’s pastime. “I’m not going to lie to you, I’d be very upset if they strike,” senior MSU infielder Charlie Braun said. “It won’t change my feelings on the sport of baseball, but it just shows me the owners and players aren’t very in tune with what baseball is all about.” “I won’t go to games next year if they do strike.” After five bargaining sessions Wednesday and three on Thursday, each side remained apart on the key issues: levels for a luxury tax and revenue sharing.
Lansing - The Lansing Lugnuts continued their domination of the Clinton LumberKings on Sunday with a 4-3 victory at Oldsmobile Park, 505 E.
Not since 1978 has a Spartan baseball player earned first-team All-American honors. Thanks to Bob Malek, that streak has been obliterated.
The Lansing Lugnuts’ pitching staff ranks near the top of the Midwest League, even with the loss of four quality pitchers.Angel Guzman, Mark Carter, Adam Wynegar, and Eric Brown have taken their collective 14-5 record to the Single A Daytona Cubs, but the Lugnuts (3-2 second half, 40-34 overall) still hold a 3.20 ERA this season - third best in the Midwest League.The task of making up for those lost pitchers goes to pitching coach Mike Anderson, in his second year with the Lugnuts.It might seem losing pitchers of that caliber would be an enormous burden on the team, but Anderson said it’s just a part of the minor league system.“That’s what it’s all about,” Anderson said.