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Michigan State's Head Coach Jake Boss and Captain Eric Roof reflect on the loss vs. Illinois




Illinois head coach Dan Bartleb and players Willie Argo and Pete Cappetta post game interview

Big Ten Tournament Game 1 Recap Illini 16, MSU 5

This probably won't be my finest work, I apologize in advance. I'm fighting a slight headache, combined with arms that are sunburnt, knowing I have to wake up at 6am for work, and have put off 2 papers that are due. Needless to say I'm all over the place mentally but I'll do my best.


First off the weather in Columbus was spectacular. Maybe two clouds all day, temperature was in the low 80s. Looking back it was probably too perfect as my arms are nearly as red as my scarlett Ohio State gymshorts.

Second, Huntington Park pound for pound is as nice of a baseball stadium there is. Outside of Yankee Stadium, which speaks for itself, Huntington Park is the nicest stadium I've ever been in. They did not miss anything in building it and should be commended. For those who are able to, but did not travel down, hopefully you with sometime this weekend to check out the gem. Perfect location as well.

The picture above honestly does no justice.

Now to the games.

Game 1 Illinois 16 Michigan State 5

This game started out with all of the makings of a pitcher's duel. Phil Haig for Illinois was cruising through the first two innings. The same for State's Nolan Moody.

When God, or the Illini bats, decided a pitchers duel wasn't in the cards for today and decided to put some runs on the board... they didn't stop coming.

Ironically in the one-sided Illinois victory, it was not the guys in the white, orange, and blue that delivered the first blow.

In the third Michigan State's Bo Felt and Brandon Ecklere lead off the inning with singles. Ecklere's was a hard luck as it was a sac bunt attempt that Haig stumbled off of the mound to get after and couldn't get the out at first in time. After a sac bunt successfully by Eli Boike, Haig hit AJ Shindler with a pitch. Facing a bases loaded no out jam, Haig induced an infield fly off of the bat of Chris Roberts to get the second out. Needing just one more out to get out of the inning with no harm, on a 1-0 pitch MSU captain Eric Roof promptly sent the ball over the 365 sign in right-center for a Grand Slam, dashing Haig's hopes of escaping unharmed.

As Illinois looked to be in a big hole, and Sparty on its way to victory. The tides changed. In a big way.

Illinois rightfielder Pete Cappetta was quoted as saying

“We are pretty comfortable playing from behind. We know we have the bats to get back
in it. Plus, it was pretty early, only the third inning. So it definitely wasn’t time to panic.”

Yeah Illinois can play from behind alright.

Though he was impressive through 3 innings with 5 strikouts, State pitcher Nolan Moody couldnt keep the Illini bats down, and unfortunately the defense behind him made it easy for Illinois to mount a comeback.

In the bottom of the 4th, facing the 0-4 hole, Illinois would score 5 runs to take the lead and not look back. The inning started off with catch Aaron Johnson reaching on an infield single to third. DH Willie Argo followed with a double, placing runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. 1B Matt Dittman flew out to leftfield, not able to advance the runners. Up next was Cappetta who doubled down the right field line and plated two. 2B Josh Parr singled to continue the rally for Illinois.

As the line-up turned over and the top of the order was coming to the plate, Illinois leadoff CF Joe Bonadonna sent a ball to 3B AJ Shindley for what appeared to be a routine 5-4-3 GIDP in the making. After receiving the relay at 2nd for 1 out, 2B Chris Roberts throw to first was high pulling Jeff Holm off the bag, unable to turn two. Though it was not an error, just a fielder's choice, the inning by all means should have been over.

With the extra out Illinois followed with 3 singles in a row off the bats of leftfielder Casey McMurray, SS Brandon Wikoff, and 3B Dominic Altobelli, before Moody was able to get Johnson, who leadoff the inning to ground out.

The damage was done though, 5 runs on 7 hits, sealed Michigan State's fate.

We'll get to the official errors later, especially the ones that lead to 7 unearned Illini runs, but here is what Michigan State coach Jake Boss Jr. had to say about his team's defensive performance...

"“I know we had three errors in the score book, but I feel like at least three, maybe four more plays that we could have made that would have really helped us in this ball game. We're disappointed, but the good thing is it's over with and we have a chance to play tomorrow."

Ya think the failed 5-4-3 DP is one of those plays Boss is referring to? I think so.

Unfortunately Michigan State could not respond to the Illinois offensive outburst and they would not score again until a run crossed the plate in the 8th.

Illinois on the otherhand did not stop. 2 runs in the 5th were plated, RBI's by Parr and Bonadonna off of doubles and sac flies respectively, then in the 6th the floodgates opened.

In the 5th A.J. Dunn replaced the hard-luck Moody and came back out for the 6th. The first at-bat was a sign for things to come. Wikoff reached 1st courtesy an error by SS Jonathan Roof who's throw was high and wide. Altobelli popped out. So there should be two outs. Then Johnson stepped to the plate and reached on a fielding error by Roberts. That should have been 3 outs. Key word being should, instead Illini had runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out.

In order to save time and writing just know Illinois would score 7 runs. All unearned. Argo single, RBI. Dittman double, 2-RBI. Parr single, RBI. Cappetta double, RBI. McMurray single, RBI. Wikoff single, RBI. A pitching change was in there, Kurtis Frymier replaced Dunn but it did not matter.

Illinois would finish the scoring with 2 runs in the bottom of the 7th a Parr 2-RBI single would mercifully close the book on scoring.

Boss would say about Moody...

“I thought he probably deserved better to be honest with you. When we started to kick it around a little bit, we obviously didn't help him out a lot. But at that point his pitch count got pretty high and he started to get a little tired and to Illinois’ credit, they took advantage of every opportunity to put a big number up on the board.”

On the counter Illini coach Dan Hartleb had this to say about his teams performance in game 1.

“That’s a good way to start off a tournament. Obviously we’re in the winner’s bracket. We got a very well-pitched game by Phil (Haig). We started off a little rougher and had some missed opportunities, but if you look at our box scores, we’ve come from behind several times this season, so our guys are used to coming from behind."


The closing line for the starting pitchers

Moody 4.1 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
Haig 7.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 4 K


Hartleb also had this to say about Haig..

“We wanted to put Phil in a position to not allow his pitch count to get too high. That would allow us to bring him back on Sunday. Not that you want to look that far ahead, but we had a lead and we could afford to take him out at that point in the game.”


Pulling pitchers and saving them for later in the weekend is a theme that continued in game 2.

All in all, game 1 showed that there is a big gap in the top 4 teams, and the bottom 6. Pitching, hitting, and most especially defense and fielding is what propelled Illinois to victory.

Michigan State will face Purdue tomorrow at 12:05 in game 3, loser's season ends as they are eliminated from the Big Ten Tournament.

Illinois will face #1 seed Ohio State in game 5 at 7:05.

Box Score Courtesy Fighting Illini.com

Illinois Athletics Recap

Michigan State Athletics Recap

Scouting the Field: Michigan State

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.

9-Innings Double Play

Photo Courtesy Michigan State Athletics

For those familiar with the Buckeye Nine, when I get the chance I ask 9 questions to a player, writer, contributor, that they answer in a series called 9-Innings. With Michigan State reaching their first Big Ten Tournament since 2004, and just the 8th appearance in school history, The Buckeye Nine sought to give just a bit more and give some much deserved credit to the Michigan State program.

The Buckeye Nine was able to catch up with two of the Spartans tri-captains, senior pitcher Nolan Moody, and Senior catcher/DH Eric Roof. Moody a senior RHP from East Lansing, is the teams Friday night starter and made national headlines with the no-hitter he through April 4th against Northwestern. Moody received National Player of the Week honors form Louisville Sluggerfor the performance and the solid pitching didn't stop there. With a 6-4 record and 4.04 ERA, while recoring 52 strikeouts, Moody anchors a Spartan pitching staff that ranks third in the Big Ten in team pitching.

Just as Moody leads the Spartan pitchers, Roof is the driving force behind the Spartans at the plate, both offensively and defensively as the teams primary catcher. On the season Roof is leading Michigan State batters with a .339 batting average, the mark jumps to .349 in Big Ten play. Roof has 5 home runs, 2 triples, 13 doubles, and a team high 37 RBI.

Thanks to the two for taking the time to supplement the Buckeye Nine's coverage of the Big Ten Tournament.


1st Innings

B9: First, you're from East Lansing can you tell us what it means to be able to play for Michigan State and be a part of the hometown team?

Moody: Playing for Michigan State is an unbelievable opportunity that I feel very lucky to have gotten to do. I grew up rooting for MSU and its not very often people get to play for the school they cheered for their whole life so its really special to me that I am able to do it.

B9: First, you're playing on a team with your brother, sophomore Jonathan, was it something you grew up dreaming out, what has the last 2 years been like?

Roof: Actually I've played with my brother all my life. I'm from a small town and small high school so we played together for three or four years then. But it has been a sweet experience and has been cool to watch him grow in two years.


Second Inning

B9: Were you expecting to enter the season as the teams ace?

Moody: Yes. Coach Boss asked me in the fall if I would start, I of course really wanted to (as all pitchers do) and he told me he wanted and expected me to be the ace from then on.

B9: You were drafted last year in the 46th round by the Detroit Tigers, what were the reasons you turned down a chance to go pro and return for Michigan State?

Roof: Well I came back to finish off my degree and to use another year to get better all around.


Third Inning

B9: As two of three tri-captains what goals did you have set for yourselves going into the 2009 season?

Moody: Personally I did not set a specific goal other than to pitch as well as I could. As a team we had 4 goals. Win at home, win against in state teams, make the conference tournament and get a ring. (regular season or tourney) So far we are 3 for 3 and hoping to make a run at it this weekend.

Roof: Obviously our main goal was to get to the Big Ten Tourney, win the Big Ten, win all the home games, and win all the in-state series.

9 up 9 down

B9: The new McLane stadium was finished this season. What is it like moving in and playing in the new stadium? Has the atmosphere changed?

Moody: Playing at McLane Stadium was something me and all the seniors felt really fortunate to have been around just long enough to get to do. The atmosphere is very different with a brand new stadium. More people came out to watch, we won there on a consistent basis and more fans got in to following our season and coming to our games. I think it made a big difference and is part of the reason why we played so well at home this year (15-4 at home) and certainly that contributes to our success in making the tournament

Roof: It has been awesome. It's also cool to play in a stadium with a lot of people and finally all those people are rooting for us. I think with the stadium sitting on top of the field really creates a home field advantage for us and it's unlike any other stadium. They are still fixing the outfield fence this summer so it will look even cooler this time next year.

Through 4

B9: Did the previous two seasons where Michigan State had a chance to qualify for the Big Ten Tournament in the final weekend before falling short, provide any offseason motivation?

Moody: It definitely is motivating when you get disappointed like that on the last weekend of the year two times in a row. You have a bad taste in your mouth and want to get rid of it. I think it made us want to get there even more each year.

Roof: I think it definitely did. When you work so hard to accomplish your goals and then fall short it makes you want to work twice as hard. So that the next time you have that opportunity you can capture them.

6th Inning

B9: The season got off to a rough start going 2-14 out of the gates. You guys have responded by finishing 21-15 since, what sparked the change? Is anything different now than at the start?

Moody: I think our season turned around on the Friday game at our place vs. U of M. We erased two 2-run deficits in the 9th and 10th innings to win. I think we realized we were a pretty good team and started gaining confidence in ourselves which really got the bats going and we rounded in to a very good overall team from the pitching hitting and defensive aspects.

Roof: I think everything is clicking for every guy. The more and more at-bats you get or more and more innings you pitch you start getting comfortable and also more confident. One person who has helped me out tremendously in the last month and a half has been Steve Shindler, third basemen AJ Shindler's dad. He has made some adjustments with my swing in the cages and told me some tips that I had never really noticed. He moved my hands back slightly and I think that has helped out my power lately.

7th Inning Stretch

B9: How is the team feeling and preparing for the Big Ten Tournament? Is there any pressure to win and advance to the NCAA's or are you guys relaxed and just having fun?

Moody: Our team is very excited for the Big Ten Tourney. I think everyone will go in loose and ready to play. We aren't supposed to win but I think our team believes we can so the only pressure we have will be the pressure we put on ourselves.

Roof: I think we have practiced extremely hard since the end of the season. Everyone has got the same goal in mind and are making sure we do everything we can to make that possible.

Last At-bat for the home team

B9: What has Head Coach Jake Boss Jr. in his first year as the Michigan State coach meant and brought to the team?

Moody: I can't say enough about how important coach Boss has been in the success of our team. He is a great coach and an even better man. He came in and gave guys confidence and the chance to play when they do the right thing and play hard. As a player its all you can ask for and we have responded really well to his coaching.

Roof: Coach Boss and the rest of the coaching staff has brought a great positive atmosphere to the program and I think you're starting to see it take off. They do a great job of coaching, get on you when they need to, and they are the first ones to tell you what a great job you did when you do something right. So it's nice to have coaches that are there for you and truly care about you and the rest of the team.

Closing it out

B9: In 5 words describe the no-hitter you threw against Northwestern.

Moody: Incredible day I'll never forget.

B9: In 5 words that describe the life of a catcher.

Roof: Extremely tough but (the) best position {sorry had to use 6}


Again thanks to Nolan and Eric for taking the time to sit down and answer the questions. Good Luck to them and the Spartans as they try to capture the first Big Ten Tournament in program history.