The MSU softball team is going into its home series against Iowa with a positive mindset to hopefully end their Big Ten losing streak. The Spartans (11-30 overall, 0-12 Big Ten) face off against the Hawkeyes (17-22, 7-5) with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday at Secchia Stadium at Old College Field.
Although the MSU football team might have lost junior quarterback Andrew Maxwell for the remaining spring practices, the Spartans are beginning to see some injured players get back on the field.
Led by a four-hit, three-RBI day by freshman first baseman Ryan Krill, the Spartans defeated Central Michigan 11-1 on Wednesday at Theunissen Stadium in Mount Pleasant, Mich.
The MSU women’s tennis team (8-12 overall, 0-9 Big Ten) will travel to Ohio State on Friday to wrap up its regular season road matches. Friday’s match against the Buckeyes will begin at 2 p.m. in Columbus, Ohio.
For the MSU baseball team, the hits didn’t just come early and often Wednesday afternoon at McLane Baseball Stadium at Old College Field. They also came at the right times, as the Spartans (23-12 overall, 5-4 Big Ten) registered 16 hits, including a trio of two-out RBI doubles, on the way to a 13-3 win over Western Michigan (16-18).
After taking care of business against Western Michigan on Tuesday, the MSU baseball team has little chance to rest before getting back to work for the rest of its week. Continuing a seasonlong pursuit of capturing midweek games against in-state opponents, the Spartans (23-12 overall, 5-4 Big Ten) hit the road for a 3:05 p.m. matchup with Central Michigan on Wednesday at Theunissen Stadium in Mount Pleasant, Mich.
MSU junior heavyweight wrestler Steve Andrus received an invitation to compete in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in the 120-kilogram/264.5-pound weight class in the Greco-Roman division as one of two wildcard selections, USA Wrestling recently announced.
Before Tuesday’s spring football practice, head coach Mark Dantonio addressed the media and revealed that during Saturday’s scrimmage, junior quarterback Andrew Maxwell sprained his knee and may or may not return for the remaining spring practices. Dantonio said the sprain will not require surgery, but that redshirt freshman Connor Cook will take most of the reps with the first team offense and likely play for both sides in the scheduled April 28 spring game.
Some of the best memories of Raymar Morgan’s life came during his time at MSU. After playing basketball overseas for the past two years, he came back to the campus where he spent four years on the MSU men’s basketball team and speak to Jewish students about his time in Israel. Morgan spoke to students at the RCAH Theatre in Snyder and Phillips halls on Monday night. The Israel on Campus Coalition and MSU Hillel organized the event.
You don’t know John Jakubik. You might not notice the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Jakubik if you sat next to him on the bus, saw him at a party or even worked with him on a group project. But he’s getting noticed somewhere else. As a walk-on sophomore wide receiver, Jakubik quickly has made a name for himself within the MSU football coaching staff.
In recalling the way his season ended a year ago, Justin Scanlon doesn’t want to overlook the importance of midweek games. The then-junior shortstop of the MSU baseball team was part of a group that was on the outside looking in as co-Big Ten champion Illinois nabbed the only Big Ten slot in the NCAA Tournament.
Three up, three down. The MSU softball team remains the lone Big Ten team without a conference win as it was swept by No. 20 Michigan in a three-game weekend series in which the Spartans (11-30 overall, 0-12 Big Ten) were unable to score a single run.
Looking to keep pace in the Big Ten race, the MSU baseball team took both games of a doubleheader Sunday against Indiana 6-0 and 20-10, in Bloomington, Ind. Although head coach Jake Boss Jr. was pleased with the Spartans for registering a big day at the plate with 26 combined runs and 38 hits, he was most excited his team won two of three games in its first series spent entirely away from East Lansing.
MSU women’s basketball associate head coach Shane Clipfell was named Western Michigan’s head coach, the Broncos’ athletics department announced Friday.
More than 200 members of the greek community laughed and smiled as volleyballs flew through the air during Sigma Pi’s annual volleyball tournament Saturday afternoon to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project, a charity that provides aid to servicemen, servicewomen and their families. The event raised about $1000 from entrance fees, donations and sunglasses the fraternity was selling.
For the first four innings, the MSU softball team was step-for-step with No. 20 Michigan at Secchia Stadium at Old College Field. But then came the fifth. Freshman pitcher Carly Nielsen threw four innings of shutout softball before letting up a one-out, two-RBI single to U-M’s Haylie Wagner that sparked an eight-run fifth inning that ended the Spartans’ day early, falling at home 8-0.
Seven practices in, the MSU football team prepared for its first scrimmage of the spring football season, and there has been some movement at several different positions. Head coach Mark Dantonio spoke briefly about his decision to move junior Denzel Drone from defensive end to tight end and indicated the switch could be permanent.
After dropping two out of three against Michigan last weekend and a lopsided loss at the hands of Eastern Michigan on Wednesday, the MSU baseball team will look to right the ship in Big Ten play on Friday with the first of three games against Indiana in Bloomington, Ind. With Wednesday’s 13-5 walloping by the Eagles in the past, the Spartans (20-11 overall, 3-3 Big Ten) are challenged to raise the level of fervency in their play against the Hoosiers (15-18, 5-4).
On a four-game losing streak, the MSU softball team will be competing against rival Big Ten team Michigan this weekend.
MSU basketball player Derrick Nix pled guilty to a charge of impaired driving Thursday morning in East Lansing’s 54-B District Court, a court spokeswoman confirmed. Nix, a junior center on the basketball team, pled guilty to the reduced charge of impaired driving, lowered from a charge of operating under the influence of drugs.