First B1G Road Series On Tap at Indiana

Spartans (11-18, 1-2 B1G) at RV/RV Indiana (25-10, 0-3 B1G)

Dates	March 29-31, 2019
Location	Bloomington, Ind.; Andy Mohr Field
Gameday Links
Game One: Friday, 6 pm	Live Stats Watch: B TN2Go ($) Listen: SpartanSportsNetwork.com
Game Two: Saturday, 2 pm	Live Stats Watch: BTN2Go ($) Listen: SpartanSportsNetwork.com
Game Three: Sunday, 2 pm	Live Stats Watch: BTN2Go ($) TV: Big Ten Network Listen: SpartanSportsNetwork.com
Big Ten Softball	Schedule/Results Standings Statistics
Game Notes	Michigan State \| I ndiana
MSU Softball Social Media	Facebook \| Twitter \| Instagram

THE WEEKEND IN A NUTSHELL
• Michigan State heads to Bloomington for its first Big Ten road series of the season at RV/RV Indiana.
• The Hoosiers are the hosts for the 2019 Big Ten Softball Championship, which will be held at Andy Mohr Field May 9-11.

LOGISTICS
• Links for live statistics can be found on MSUSpartans.com on the Spartan schedule page.

• All of MSU's Big Ten games will have a webstream via BTN2Go. Links for all games can be found on the softball schedule page of MSUSpartans.com, or on the BTN2GO live events page at www.btn2go.com/schedule.

• Sunday's series finale will air live on Big Ten Network. Dean Linke (pxp) and Jennie Ritter (analysis) will be on the call.

• Spartan Sports Network continues its coverage of Spartan softball in 2019, beginning its coverage of MSU when Big Ten play began last week. The broadcast of the remainder of MSU's games - both home and away - will be available exclusively at SpartanSportsNetwork.com and on the network's 24/7 app for mobile devices (available on iTunes and Google Play). Matt Tjapkes is back for his fifth season calling all the Spartan softball action.

THE MATCHUPS
• MSU and Indiana meet for the 37th consecutive season, with the last break in the annual series coming in 1982. The Hoosiers lead the all-time series by a 56-68 mark. The teams have taken turn sweeping one another over the last two seasons - MSU won all three in 2017 (6-5, 8-0, 8-7) in Bloomington, while Indiana swept the series last year in East Lansing (2-3, 2-3, 1-5). Over the last 10 games, each team has won five games.

• Shonda Stanton is in her second season as the head coach at Indiana, and has led her charges to a 25-10 overall record. The Hoosiers are receiving votes in the most recent national polls.

• The Hoosiers opened up Big Ten play last weekend at Ohio State, and were swept by the Buckeyes (6-7, 3-5, 0-2). Indiana played Louisville in a midweek contest, and fell 5-2 to the Cardinals.

TEAM NOTES
• The Spartans entered the 2019 campaign with five returning starters after losing six seniors to graduation at the conclusion of 2018. MSU carries 20 on its roster, including five returning starters: seniors 3B Kaitlyn Eveland and LF Ebonee Echols, junior Melanie Baccay, and sophomores RF Katie Quinlan and SS Caitie Ladd.

• Michigan State opened Big Ten play last weekend against Penn State, and dropped the series 2-1 to the Nittany Lions. A Caitie Ladd homer on the first pitch she saw in the bottom of the seventh gave the Spartans an 8-7 walkoff win in the series opener, but the visitors rallied with a six-run seventh inning on Saturday for a 7-4 victory before earning a 3-1 win in the finale.

• MSU hit .271 in the Penn State series with four doubles, a triple, and a homer. The pitching staff posted a 5.33 ERA in 21 innings, surrendering 30 hits to the Nittany Lions compared to 23 base hits for the Spartans in the series.
• MSU's schedule has been challenging, with eight games throughout the non-conference schedule vs. power-five opponents. The Spartan schedule strength has an overall rank of 45th nationally, which includes three games vs. non-conference top-25 opponents (No. 5 Alabama (L, 2-1) and two vs No. 19 Auburn, (L, 5-0, L, 3-2), all on the road. Five of MSU's eight Big Ten conference series come against Top-25 or receiving votes opponents, with 14 of the next 19 Spartan games against that level of opposition.

• MSU has had several players miss games - or long stretches - with injury. No player has appeared in all 29 games - Kaitlyn Eveland and Katie Quinlan have played and started 28.

• The Spartans have drawn a total of 101 walks this season, good for the fourth-most in the Big Ten behind Northwestern (108), Minnesota and Purdue (106).

• MSU's team batting sits at .274, good for ninth in the Conference. MSU also ranks in the top half of the league in on-base percentage (.368, seventh), triples (7, fourth), and sac flies (12, second).

• MSU is 29-for-35 on stolen base attempts, and went the first 10 games of the season without a runner being caught stealing. MSU's 29 stolen bases ranks ninth in the Big Ten. Indiana has 90, more than twice that of second-place Rutgers (43).

• MSU's 61 walks allowed by its pitching staff this season is the sixth-fewest in the Conference. MSU's seven hit batters is also the second-lowest in the league; Penn State pitchers have hit just six.

• Michigan State head coach Jacquie Joseph is in her 26th season at the helm of the Spartan softball program, and is the longest-tenured coach in program history, along with being the second-longest-tenured head coach in MSU's athletics department. She earned her 700th victory as the Spartan mentor on March 8 vs. Mercer., and she owns 841 wins overall.

• Joseph is the third-longest tenured head coach in the Big Ten Conference, behind Carol Hutchins (Michigan, 35th season) and Rhonda Revelle (Nebraska, 27th.)

• Joseph's staff consists of pitching coach Ben Sorden, hitting coach Corrie Hill, and volunteer Bruce Lenington. Sorden begins his second season with the Spartan pitchers, while Hill and Lenington joined the staff in the fall of 2018.

PLAYER NOTES - PITCHERS
• MSU's returning pitchers threw just 66.1 of 336 innings a year ago. The staff makeup is intriguing, however, as it features junior Jordan Watson, sophomore McKenna Gregory, redshirt freshman Leah Shipp, and JUCO transfer sophomore Alli Walker.

• Walker started two of three games last weekend against Penn State, going 6.1 innings. She lowered her season ERA to 3.44, and she owns a 6-5 overall record in a staff-best 70.1 innings. She is tied for fourth in the B1G in appearances (21), is just outside the top 15 in the league in innings pitched, and is tied for fourth with 16 starts.

• Jordan Watson saw the most time in the circle vs. Penn State, making two relief appearances and going 9.0 innings between the two. On the weekend, she surrendered just three earned runs, struck out three, and surrendered just two extra-base hits. Her 4.2 and 4.1 innings pitched in the two games vs. Penn State are her second and third-longest outings of the 2019 season.

• On the season, Watson has lowered her ERA to 4.30, and owns a 1-4 record, striking out 13 in 40.2 innings pitched (15 games).

• McKenna Gregory had a relatively light weekend compared to previous outings - she threw just four innings over two games vs. Penn State, striking out four.

• All 21 of Gregory's appearances this season have come in relief. She leads the league in relief appearances - Alikah Mouzon of Illinois ranks second with 13. Her 21 appearances overall is tied for fourth with teammate Alli Walker.

• Leah Shipp earned the start against Penn State on Saturday (March 23), her first start since Feb. 24 vs. North Dakota. On the year, she has pitched 25.2 innings in nine appearances, striking out 10 .

PLAYER NOTES - FIELD PLAYERS
• While five starters return to the 2019 lineup, the Spartans are still a youthful bunch with just two seniors among those five: LF Ebonee Echols and 3B Kaitlyn Eveland.

• Both Eveland and Ebonee Echols are among MSU's top-10 all-time in several career categories. Eveland ranks in a tie for fourth with a .340 career batting average, behind school recordholder Patti Raduenz (.372, 1993-96) and 2018 graduate Lea Foerster (.368, 2015-18); Echols ranks 10th (.324). The duo ranks seventh (Echols, 115) and ninth (Eveland, 112) on the all-time RBI list in the Spartan annals.

• Ebonee Echols is MSU's and the Big Ten recordholder with 25 career triples. She also shares the Big Ten single-season record of 11, set in 2017. She has amassed 181 base hits in her career, good for 16th on MSU's all-time list, ranks fourth with 125 career runs scored, seventh in extra-base hits (64) and eighth in stolen bases (39).

• Ebonee Echols owns a .360 batting average on the season, and is also first on the team in RBI (21) and ranks 15th in the Big Ten in slugging percentage (.600). She also ranks second in the Big Ten in triples (2) and first in sac flies (3). She is also 4-of-4 in stolen bases.

• Over the last 10 games, Ebonee Echols is batting a team-best .429 with 12 base hits and seven walks.

• Eveland now ranks seventh all-time at MSU in walks (79) and moved into seventh place with her 21st career homer last weekend. She is eight hits shy of joining MSU's all-time top 25.

. With 17 free passes this season, Eveland ranks fifth in the Big Ten. She is hitting .304 with 24 base hits, four homers, 15 RBI and is a perfect 6-for-6 on stolen bases.

• Center fielder Katie Quinlan led the Spartans with five base hits in the Penn State series (one double, one walk) and was a perfect 2-for-2 on stolen bases. Over the last 10 games, she is batting .400 and is tied for the team lead in base hits (12), smacking a pair of doubles and stealing five bases.

• On the year, Quinlan is second on the team with a .357 batting average with a team-best 12 stolen bases, which ranks sixth in the Big Ten. She has a team-best 30 base hits and is one of six Spartans with double-digit walks.

• Melanie Baccay is a two-year starter in the middle infield and has started 11 of the last 13 games at 1B after nine starts at 2B early in the season. She is currently hitting a career-best .300, contributing two doubles, a triple, and a homer. Baccay also boasts a .976 fielding percentage in a team-best 123 chances.

• Baccay's offensive production has been impressive of late. Over the last 10 games, she shares the team lead in batting average (.429), posting nine RBI with a pair of walks. Against Penn State, she was 3-of-6 with three RBI in two games, missing one with an illness. She owns the team's longest active hitting streak, at five games.

• Charla Echols is third on the team with a .350 batting average, and is ranked among league leaders in on-base percentage (.453, 14th), doubles (8, 13th) and runners caught stealing (7, fifth). She had a pair of base hits in the Penn State series.

• Mackenzie Meech ranks second on the team in RBI (19), which is just outside the top 15 in the Big Ten rankings. On the season, she is batting .276, with four doubles and three homers. She has seen time both at 1B and in right field, and has started all 24 games in which she has apeared, including 11 of the last 12 in right.

• Sophomore Laney Joyner continues to improve her offensive approach and has improved on all of her freshman year numbers. On the year, she has walked 12 times - good for fourth on the team and three times the number she drew last year as a freshman (4). She is batting .220 with eight runs scored, 13 hits, and five RBI. This spring she has had her first career doubles, triple, and home run.

• Sophomore shortstop Caitie Ladd has had a slow start to the season but is still a dangerous offensive presence. She owns a .241 batting average but has continued to hit for power, posting seven doubles, two triples, and four home runs on the year, and is fourth on the team in RBI (14). Ladd is tied for fifth in the B1G in triples and is tied for fourth with two sac flies.

• Senior Lexi White is batting .263 on the year with a double, a home run, and four RBI. She has started 20 of her 27 games at DP.

• Senior Kelly Zackrison has been cleared to return to action after suffering an injury at Miami. A versatile utility player, Zackrison has appeared in 12 games this season, starting three.

• Sophomore Riley Paxson has had a slow return from an off-season injury. She appeareed in three games (starting two) at Miami in her home state, picking up a base hit. She is batting .156 on the season in 19 games (12 starts).

• Sophomore Joanna Bartz is battling an injury that has led to most of her playing time now coming as a pinch hitter. She delivered a pinch-hit RBI double in the Penn State series.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Melanie Baccay

Joanna Bartz

Charla Echols

Ebonee Echols

Kaitlyn Eveland

Lea Foerster

McKenna Gregory

Laney Joyner

Caitie Ladd

Riley Paxson

Katie Quinlan

Leah Shipp

Alli Walker

Jordan Watson

Lexi White

Kelly Zackrison