Spartans Welcome Oakland For Midweek Tilt

Spartans (11-21, 1-5 B1G) vs. Oakland (8-18, 1-7 Horizon League)

Date/Time	Wednesday, April 3, 2019; 6 pm
Location	East Lansing, Mich.; S ecchia Stadium
Gameday Links	Live Stats Watch: B TN2Go ($) Listen: SpartanSportsNetwork.com
Big Ten Softball	Schedule/Results Standings Statistics
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Oakland
MSU Softball Social Media	Facebook \| Twitter \| Instagram

THE WEEK AHEAD
• Michigan State has a busy week of home games, starting with Wednesday's midweek tilt against intra-state rival Oakland at 6 pm.

• This will serve as the first night game at Secchia Stadium in program history.

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

• Wednesday's game vs. Oakland, 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.

• Spartan Sports Network continues its coverage of Spartan softball in 2019. 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 MATCHUP
• Wednesday will be the 30th all-time meeting between Michigan State and Oakland, and the first since 2011. MSU owns a commanding lead in the series (23-6), including a 12-4 mark at Secchia Stadium. The last meetings came on April 27, 2011, and the teams split a doubleheader - MSU earning a run-rule win in six innings (8-0) before Oakland rallied to win the nightcap, 5-3.

• The Golden Grizzlies, under the tutelage of second-year head coach Lauren Karn, are 8-18 on the season, dropping seven of the last eight. This past weekend, Northern Kentucky took a pair of one-run games from Oakland before the finale of their Horizon League schedule was canceled due to weather conditions.

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 was swept at RV/RV Indiana last weekend. The Spartans held a 6-0 lead in the Friday game before the Hoosiers staged a fifth-inning rally and won the game 13-8. Indiana took both ends of a Saturday doubleheader, (6-3, 15-2), to secure the sweep.

• Indiana's pitchers limited the Spartans to just 13 base hits in the series, as MSU hit just .186 as a team. MSU did, however, score 13 runs on those 13 hits, drawing 16 walks over the three games.

• 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 32 games - Kaitlyn Eveland and Katie Quinlan have each played and started 31. Riley Paxson is now done for the season due to a leg injury as well, and Joanna Bartz is rehabbing from an injury that has basically limited her role to pinch hitting.

• The Spartans have drawn a total of 117 walks this season, good for the third most in the Big Ten behind Northwestern and Minnesota (124).

• MSU's team batting average dropped to .266 after a rough weekend in Bloomington. MSU ranks in the top half of the league in on-base percentage (.366, seventh), triples (7, fifth), and sac flies (13, second).

• MSU is 31-of-38 on stolen base attempts, and went the first 10 games of the season without a runner being caught stealing. MSU's 31 stolen bases is five shy of its 2018 total.

• MSU's 73 walks allowed by its pitching staff this season is the sixth-fewest in the Conference. MSU's nine hit batters is also the third-lowest in the league; Penn State pitchers have hit just six, and Indiana's eight.

• 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.

• The Spartan pitching staff had a rough weekend in Bloomington, as the Hoosiers posted three big innings that changed the complexion of both the first and third games. MSU's staff ERA sits at 4.73 for the year, with 101 strikeouts in 202 innings.

• McKenna Gregory threw six innings last weekend in Bloomington, including earning her first career start in the first game on Sunday. It was her first start in her 35th career game, and 23rd of the season.

• Gregory also picked up her first career complete game against the Hoosiers, tossing six innings and striking out four, walking one in a tough 6-3 setback.

• Twenty-two of Gregory's 23 appearances this season have come in relief. She leads the league in relief appearances - Alikah Mouzon of Illinois ranks second with 13. Her 23 appearances overall is tied for fifth in the Big Ten with teammate Alli Walker.

• Walker started two of three games last weekend at Indiana, and shared the team lead in innings pitched (6.0). On the season, she ranks in a tie for fifth n the Big Ten in appearances (21) and ranks fourth in starts (18). She leads the pitching staff with 77 innings and 44 strikeouts, tossing two complete games and recording two shutouts.

• Jordan Watson saw one outing in Bloomington, throwing 2.2 relief innings in the Friday matchup. On the year, she has thrown 43.1 innings, striking out 14 in 16 appearances, including seven starts. She owns a 4.36 ERA.

• Leah Shipp also made one relief appearance vs. Indiana, surrendering just two base hits in 1.1 innings. Hindered by a lingering injury this season, she has made just 10 appearances (27 innings), starting six ballgames.

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 fourth with a .343 career batting average, behind school recordholder Patti Raduenz (.372, 1993-96) and 2018 graduate Lea Foerster (.368, 2015-18); Echols ranks 10th (.323). The duo ranks seventh (Echols, 115) and eighth (Eveland, 113) on MSU's all-time RBI list .

• Ebonee Echols is MSU's and the Big Ten record holder with 25 career triples. She also shares the Big Ten single-season record of 11, set in 2017. She has amassed 183 base hits in her career, good for 16th on MSU's all-time list, ranks third with 126 career runs scored, seventh in extra-base hits (64) and eighth in stolen bases (39).

• Ebonee Echols leads the Spartans with a .349 batting average on the season, and also leads the team in RBI (21), triples (2; ninth,B1G) and in sac flies (3; T-first, B1G). She is also 4-of-4 in stolen bases.

• Eveland now ranks fourth all-time at MSU in walks (83) and moved into seventh place with her 21st career homer against Penn State. She is five hits shy of joining MSU's all-time top 25, as she has 153.

• With 21 free passes this season, Eveland leads the team and ranks fourth in the Big Ten. She led the team at Indiana with a .500 average, walking four times and adding a pair of RBI. On the year, she is hitting .318 with 27 base hits, four homers, 17 RBI and is a perfect 6-for-6 on stolen bases.

• Melanie Baccay is a two-year starter in the middle infield and has started 14 of the last 16 games at 1B . She is currently hitting a .276, contributing two doubles, a triple, and a homer. Baccay also boasts a .970 fielding percentage in a team-best 134 chances.

• Baccay's offensive production has been impressive of late. Over the last 10 games, she leads the squad in batting average (.435), posting eight RBI with a pair of walks.

• Charla Echols is second on the team with a .345 batting average, shares the Big Ten lead in runners caught stealing (10) and is ranked 13th in the Big Ten in doubles (9). She leads the Spartans in on-base percentage (.452) and is third in slugging percentage (.517).

• Sophomore shortstop Caitie Ladd owns a .247 batting average but has continued to hit for power, posting seven doubles, two triples, and a team-best six home runs on the year, and shares the team lead with 21 RBI. Ladd is tied for ninth in the B1G in triples and is tied for first (with Ebonee Echols) with three sac flies.

• Ladd had a career effort on Friday at Indiana, smacking a pair of home runs (one grand slam, one two-run shot) to tie the school record of two homers in a game. Her six RBI was her career best, and tied for first among active players with Ebonee Echols, who had six in her sophomore season vs. North Dakota. On the weekend, she had seven RBI and was walked three times for a season total of 13, good for third on the team.

• Senior Lexi White is batting .258 on the year with two double, a home run, and four RBI. She has started 25 of her 30 games at DP.

• Center fielder Katie Quinlan shares the team lead in base hits (30), and is batting .326 with four doubles and 10 walks. She has also swiped a team-best 12 stolen bases, which ranks sixth in the Big Ten.

• Mackenzie Meech ranks third on the team in RBI (19), and is batting .253, with four doubles and three homers. She has seen time both at 1B and in right field, including 14 of the last 15 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 fifth on the team and three times the number she drew last year as a freshman (4). She is batting .219 with eight runs scored, 14 hits, and six RBI. This spring she has had her first career doubles, triple, and home run.

• 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