Photo Courtesy the-ozone.net
In his first season as Head Coach at Michigan State, Lansing native Jake Boss Jr. returned home in a big way. With a program that saw the last two seasons end with chances to reach the Big Ten tournament in the final weekend fall short, in 2009 Boss and his Spartans didn't let another chance slip away. On the strength of a 13-11 conference mark, Michigan State has qualified for their eighth Big Ten Tournament and first since 2004.
In Big Ten Tournament play Michigan State is 7-14 overall with a high finish of runners-up twice, first in 1988 and again in 1992. If Michigan State is going to capture their first Big Ten Tournament, it would come with the odds against them. Michigan State went just 2-10 this season against the other five qualifying teams. The Spartans did not play Minnesota, but were swept by Illinois and Ohio State, and lost series to Indiana and Purdue in the final two weeks of the season. But give Sparty its due. A quality of good teams is beating the teams you're supposed to, in going 11-1 against the bottom 4 Big Ten teams, Michigan State did what was needed to reach Huntington Park.
Lets go inside the numbers to see how Michigan State fought their way to Columbus.
Hitting:
This certainly isn't the driving force behind MSU's success. The Spartans enter the Big Ten Tournament, hitting a collective .284, only Northwestern's clip of .264 was worse in the Big Ten. To say the Spartans are not an explosive bunch is a bit of an understatement. Michigan State finished in the bottom two in nearly every offensively category. They finished last in the conference in doubles with 75, home runs with 26, and slugging percentage at .360. Sparty finished next to last in hits (494), RBI (267), runs (303), triples, (7), and total bases at 661.
Even with the collective struggles, Michigan State does have a few potent bats that can cause opposing pitchers fits. Leading the way is one of three captains Eric Roof. Roof started all 52 games for Michigan State, some in the infield, some at catcher some at DH, showing how important his bat is. In 192 at-bats, Roof lead Michigan State with a .339 batting average. His 65 hits, 13 doubles, 2 triples, and 37 RBI, .505 slugging percentage, and .435 on-base percentage were all team highs.
The only other Michigan State regular that hit over .300 was outfielder Eli Boike. Batting .309, Boike's 7 home runs paced the Spartans as did his 36 base on balls. Boike's .423 on-base percentage bolds well for Michigan State as Boike can be a force when he gets on base, stealing 12 bases in 16 attempts. Jeff Holm, (.298) Johnny Lee, (.294) and Chris Roberts (.293) round out Michigan State's top 5 hiters.
Pitching:
With the Spartans bat's not being as prominent as the other Big Ten Tournament teams, Michigan State will have to get it done from the pitching mound. Which suits them well as they finished third in team pitching to close out the regular season with a 4.97 team ERA. Only Minnesota's 4.50 tops the Spartans in the tournament field. Spartan pitches limited opposing hitters to a .289 batting average against, second-best. Spartan pitchers are not overpowing the 289 strikeouts ranked only 8th as did the 227 free passes they issued. The Green and White saw 84 doubles hit against them, 9 triples and 41 home runs.
The Spartan pitching staff is lead by Senior righty Nolan Moody, the teams Friday night starter who acheive one remarkable feat, tossing a no-hitter against Northwestern earlier in the year in a 2-0 victory. Moody on the season compiled a 6-4 record along with a 4.04 and 52 strikeouts in 89 innings. Moody's pitching set the tone for one of the Big Ten's best weekend rotations.
Following Moody in the rotation is the last of the three captains A.J. Achter. Achter went 3-5 on the year with an impressive 3.48, stirking out 53 batters in his 77 innings pitched. Though he did issue a team high 53 walks, opponents hit just .241 off Achter limiting damage done.
As the weekend goes on, the Spartan's ERA continues to drop. Rounding out the rotation is Sunday starter Freshman Tony Bucciferro. Bucciferro went 5-2 during the regular season, boasted a more than solid 3.15 ERA struck out 59 batters in 68.1 innings, walking just 10 all season. Bucciferro should be in the running for Big Ten freshman of the year.
A trio of Spartans have collected saves this season, but Peter Wolff leads the way with 4. Wolff has a 6.87 ERA in 17 appearances.
Outlook:
In a year that surprised many of the experts, myself included, Michigan State found a way to qualify for the Big Ten tournament, riding their solid starting pitching and quality coaching of Boss. For Michigan State to make a run, their pitching staff needs to continue to perform at the level they have all season, and they need to execute small ball to perfection with some of the offenses they will face. Michigan States 70 successful stolen bases finished just behind Big Ten leaders Illinois' 78 and the team will need to be aggressive on the bases maximizing each and every scoring chance.
Michigan State will kick off the 2009 Big Ten Tournament, facing Illinois is game one. First pitch is at 12:05 at Huntington Park. Expected to take the mound for Michigan State is Nolan Moody, Illinois is schedule to counter with Phil Haig.
No comments:
Post a Comment