The MSU softball team saw more opportunities for its first conference win washed away this weekend as they dropped two games on the road to Nebraska.
David Garner would not let the MSU baseball team go down without a fight. After dropping the first two of the weekend series to No. 13 Purdue, the sophomore pitcher from Niles, Mich. rose to the occasion by striking out seven in a complete game shutout on Sunday to give the Spartans a 5-0 victory against the Boilermakers.
The score might have been 14-2 in favor of the White team, but the real winner of the MSU football team’s Spring Game was the defense. With a young offense and an even more inexperienced quarterback substituting in, there was no question that the team with the stronger defense would be victorious, and with such a low scoring game, defense was dominant on both teams. “We stepped up; we (rose) to the challenge,” said junior linebacker Denicos Allen, who played for the White team.
Despite a strong personal effort, junior defensive end William Gholston now knows what it’s like to lose at Spartan Stadium. Gholston’s Green team fell to the White squad, 14-2 during MSU’s annual Spring Football Game.
Junior defensive end William Gholston has never lost a game at Spartan Stadium. In two years, the Spartans were undefeated at home, but at least half of the MSU football team will know the losing feeling when the team plays its third and final scrimmage of the spring practice season Saturday at 1 p.m. at Spartan Stadium.
When Max Bullough earned his starting position at middle linebacker in 2011, he immediately became a leader on the MSU football team, especially within the Spartan defense. But with several key leaders graduating following last season, the junior linebacker embraces his leadership role in a new way for 2012.
As the MSU seniors approach their final week on the banks of the Red Cedar, they reflect on how they’ve been shaped by the last four years on campus.
The last time Tony Bucciferro took the mound against Purdue, he secured the second win of a three-game sweep that eventually propelled the MSU baseball team to its first Big Ten title in more than three decades.
Despite losing 18 of its last 19 contests and fighting its way through a recent hitting slump, the MSU softball team maintains a loose attitude, according to sophomore pitcher Cassee Layne. The Spartans (11-34 overall, 0-15 Big Ten) travel to Lincoln, Neb., this weekend for their first series with fourth-place Nebraska (29-18, 10-5) as a member of the Big Ten.
When the men’s and women’s golf teams travel to French Lick Resort in French Lick, Ind., this weekend for the Big Ten Championships, they’ll both have winning as a common goal.
With regular season action winding to a close, both the MSU men’s and women’s tennis teams will open up postseason play this week in their respective Big Ten Tournaments. The MSU men’s tennis team (17-10 overall, 6-5 Big Ten) earned the No. 7 seed and will face No. 10-seeded Purdue in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at Northwestern’s Vandy Christie Tennis Center in Evanston, Ill. Meanwhile, the women’s tennis team (8-14, 0-11) enters the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 12 seed and also will face Purdue at 10 a.m. Thursday at Ohio State’s Varsity Tennis Courts in Columbus, Ohio.
Despite Saturday being the MSU football team’s final scrimmage of the spring before training camp in August, Andrew Maxwell will have to sit this one out. The knee sprain Maxwell suffered during a team scrimmage almost two weeks ago has kept him limited in practice, and although there was a chance he could return for the Spring Game on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Spartan Stadium, head coach Mark Dantonio said Maxwell is officially not playing.
The MSU athletics department announced Tuesday the Spartan football team will play two prime-time games during the 2012 season. MSU’s Aug. 31 season opener against Boise State will be played at 8 p.m. and broadcast on ESPN, while the Spartans’ Sept. 15 game against Notre Dame also has been scheduled for 8 p.m. to be broadcast on ABC.
Mick VanVossen was beaming from ear to ear. And why wouldn’t he be? Minutes earlier, the freshman pitcher for the MSU baseball team emerged from a huddle of his teammates and coaches offering sincere felicitations over his first career collegiate victory.
The MSU softball team gets a much needed break from Big Ten play today when it travels to South Bend, Ind., for a 6 p.m. matchup with Notre Dame.
Looking to repeat as Big Ten champions this season, MSU baseball head coach Jake Boss Jr. knew he would be relying on a relatively youthful roster to do so. With four incoming freshman turning down opportunities to play professionally, many of the young Spartans have been expected to contribute since day one, and they have done just that all year. As the regular season enters its final month now, those freshmen and other young players will be called on and asked to do more and more.
MSU wrestling junior heavyweight Steve Andrus’ bid to compete in the 2012 London Olympics ended Saturday night when he dropped the championship match in the 120 kilogram Greco-Roman wrestling Olympic trials to Dremiel Byers of the U.S. Army.
On a blustery Sunday afternoon at McLane Baseball Stadium at Old College Field, the third time truly was a charm for the MSU baseball team. In a close game with Minnesota, the Spartans loaded the bases with no outs in both the seventh and eighth innings, only to come out of each situation with no runs to show for their efforts. When the game went into extra innings tied at four, freshman right fielder Jimmy Pickens tripled to left-center field, and two straight singles later, the bases were loaded with no outs again.
The elusive first Big Ten win of the season escaped the MSU softball team once again Sunday as Iowa completed the weekend series sweep of the Spartans with a 4-1 victory at Secchia Stadium at Old College Field. In game one on Saturday, MSU (11-33 overall, 0-15 Big Ten) was shut out 6-0 and managed only four hits against a seven-strikeout performance by Iowa (20-22, 10-5) pitcher Kayla Massey.Only three Spartans got hits in the second game, a 7-1 decision, continuing a poor hitting streak for MSU.
Coming into the series with Minnesota, the MSU baseball team turned the momentum of hot bats into a four-game winning streak.