Michigan State University Athletics
Baseball Set To Begin Home and Home Series With Michigan
4/18/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 18, 2002
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LEADING OFF: The Spartans and Wolverines enter their weekend series fifth and sixth in the conference, respectively. Last weekend, MSU split its series with second-place Indiana while Michigan split with Illinois.
RED CEDAR SLUGGERS SNAP HOME RUN MARK: Wednesday, the Spartans crushed five home runs in their 22-6 rout of Wayne State, giving them a total of 62, breaking the single-season MSU record for home runs in a season. Previously, the record of 59 was held by the 1994 and 1984 clubs. Last season, MSU hit a total of 39. For the record, freshman Jim Duffy hit a 400-plus foot blast to centerfield. Here are a few more long ball notes: -MSU has erupted for 16 multi-home run games this year, including two five-home run games, a six-home run outing vs. UC Santa Barbara and a seven-home run barrage vs. Grand Valley State. -MSU has failed to hit the long ball in just nine games in 2002.
GREEN MACHINE KEEPS ROLLING: When Big Ten statistics were released Monday (4/15), MSU again topped the team batting category, as it has done all season, with a team average of .350. Also, as of Monday, State ranked fourth nationally in team batting average. Since then, the team average has climbed to .355. As a team, MSU has racked up 392 hits.
LONG BALL LEADER: Senior Chris McCuiston continues to lead the Big Ten in home runs with 12. He is also tied for the lead in RBI with 45 and second in total bases with 91. Nationally, the senior co-captain stands 10th in home runs per game, at .40 and ranks ninth in RBI per game, at 1.50.
BATES AMONG LEADERS: Despite suffering his first defeat of 2002 last weekend in a 1-0 loss to Indiana, senior Nick Bates remains among the conference leaders in pitching. In the Big Ten, he ranks fourth in ERA (2.56), third in strikeouts (63) and first in wins (7). He is also the team leader in complete games with four.
FIELD DAY: As of Monday (4/15), when conference stats were released, MSU led the Big Ten in team fielding percentage with a .971 average. Nationally, the Spartans ranked 11th.
