Saturday, April 12
East Lansing, Mich.
3:32 PM
Michigan State University
18-15, 5-9
10
vs
0
Northwestern
16-16, 7-7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
R
H
E
Northwestern
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
0
Michigan State
0
0
0
0
0
7
1
2
10
10
0
Photo by: MSU Baseball Social Squad
Spartans Blank Wildcats In 10-0 Eight-Inning Run-Rule Victory For MSU
4/12/2025 8:21:00 PM | Baseball
Dzierwa’s pitching and Picot’s grand slam propel MSU to even series with big win in “Salute To Service” game.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- For the second-straight game, Michigan State baseball scored 10 runs in the game, with the difference being that on Saturday, the Spartans held Northwestern scoreless to post a 10-0 eight-inning run-rule Victory for MSU at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium and even the Big Ten Conference weekend series at a game apiece.
Saturday was MSU's "Salute To Service" game as part of Heroes Weekend. The Spartans wore special military appreciation uniforms and pullovers, and a US Navy veteran threw out the ceremonial first pitch with a Color Guard for the National Anthem, and in-game recognition to all First Responders.
The "Salute To Service" game had special meaning for several Spartans, who have family who have served or currently serving, as was the case for senior infielder Sam Busch, whose older brother is a US Marine currently stationed in North Carolina.
"It's always a special day for me and my family," Busch said about the Military Appreciation Day having extra meaning with his brother. "Last year he was able to come and throw out the first pitch, so that was a really cool experience and having the family here to watch was really cool. I had more family here today as well. My brother wasn't able to come, but it was still really cool today. It's always a special game, and I'm glad we were able to get the win."
Busch's sentiments were echoed by MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr.
"It's always a special day to have the Color Guard out and to pay tribute to our veterans," Boss said. "I know there were a lot of them here today. Sam Busch's brother is in the service and we have a lot of relatives of our players that have served our country. Every time we get an opportunity to honor those special individuals, I think it's a really special day. I think it means a lot to our team as well, because there are a lot of family members that have been in the service, I think it hits home with a lot of guys."
Coach Boss changed some things up for the Spartans in trying to find something to click for the victory, including starting Busch in left field, moving the first baseman to the outfield for his first start there since high school.
"That was interesting," Busch said with a laugh. "We had our team pre-game meal, and I was walking out and Coach Boss pulled me aside and told me I was in left, and I was like 'are you serious? Are you kidding me?' He said he was serious. I mean I'll do anything to help the team win, and it was fun. It was a fun time out there; I made a couple catches."
Busch made his first catch on the first Northwestern batter of the game, proving the baseball adage of "the ball will always find you," sending him back to the warning track and he made a spinning catch, in his outfield glove that the East Lansing native used the benefits of being close to home and calling his mom before the game and having her bring the glove from home.
"I kind of figured that the ball was going to find me early, and sure enough a lefty with a little bit of juice hit one out there with some spin on it," Busch said. "It kind of turned me around, put me in a spin cycle but luckily, I was able to catch it and get on to the next hitter."
"Our guys answered the bell today," Boss said. "We challenged them last night and to their credit they were ready to play. We moved some guys around, put Sam in left for the first time since the fall and of course the first hitter of the game hit a pretty tough fly ball out to him, but he made a nice catch on the warning track. I was a little frustrated with the defense yesterday, and we played error-less defense today, it was really good. Joe was really good on the mound. It took the offense a little while to get rolling, but once we got into the sixth and it was the second or third time through the order we finally got some things going."
After Northwestern won Friday's series opener in a wild, 11-10 11-inning thriller, the Spartans turned to junior starting pitcher Joseph Dzierwa and the Spartan southpaw quieted the Wildcats bats, going 7.0 IP with eight strikeouts, while only allowing three hits.
Meanwhile, Wildcat starter Christian Forniss matched Dzierwa's solid outing on the mound, as he stymied the Spartan bats for the first half of the game. Forniss was perfect through 3.1 IP before yielding a walk to sophomore infielder Ryan McKay in the fourth, and another walk in the fifth to graduate first baseman Will Shannon. MSU did not have a hit off Forniss until the sixth, but when the Spartans got their bats going, they got them hot in a hurry, knocking five hits to score seven runs, with the big blow coming on sophomore outfielder Parker Picot's grand slam.
"I've had a couple of tough games, but coaches trusted in me," Picot said. "I thought that the whole approach, the whole at bat was to go out and do my job. I got a few pitches I liked, and fouled a few off, and just kept fighting. One clicked for me, and it felt good."
Picot's slam helped MSU's offense come to life, scoring 10 runs in just three innings.
"As a team we've really been working on staying committed to approach and staying through the ball. It worked out for us that we got into their pen. The guy's got on base, and we found ways to get runs, and we came out on top," Picot said.
MSU added another run in the seventh, before two more in the eighth, with graduate catcher Caleb Berry belting a two-run double to drive in Picot and freshman infielder Dayton Murphy for the "walk-off" for the run-rule triumph.
The win snapped MSU's season-long five-game losing streak.
"It feels really good," Picot said about snapping the losing skein. "This team is capable of a lot. We started the season really good. It's been a little rough patch recently, but it's all on us. We all believe in ourselves, and we pick each other up. It's something that we have really been harping on recently, is just picking each other up, flushing your last at bat, flushing your last pitch. It was nice to see everyone come out, energy was up, everyone did their job, and it was clean baseball today."
With Saturday's win, Dzierwa improved to 6-1 on the season and the 7.0 shutout innings lowered his ERA to 1.65, which leads the B1G and entered the weekend 25th in the NCAA.
The win was Dzierwa's 18th career win, moving him up to tie for 10th on MSU's career wins list, tying Andrew Waszak (2010-13) and Tim Day (2002-05).
Dzierwa's eight Ks give him 67 punchouts on the season and 218 for his career, holding at No. 5 on the Spartans' career strikeouts list, but closing in on the No. 4 spot held by Ron Perranoski (1956-58) with 223 Ks.
The shutout was the fifth of the season by the MSU pitching staff through 34 games, which are the most by the Green & White since 2016 when they also tallied five shutouts.
Picot spoke for his teammates' confidence when Dzierwa is on the mound.
"The night before, when I go to bed I always say, when Joseph Dzierwa is on the mound it is all but a guaranteed win," Picot said. "If the offense shows up, we know Joe is going to give us seven, or whatever he's got in him. He's going to put up zeros and we're going to put up runs. He kept us in the game all game, and we got his back and stayed through it."
Saturday's win moves MSU to an 18-15 overall and 5-9 B1G record, while Northwestern levels its ledger at 16-16 and 7-7 in B1G action. After Friday's loss snapped the Spartans' four-game win streak in the series, they have now won five of the last six as part of six of the last 10 and lead the all-time series, 104-56-1, including 55-23 in East Lansing.
After the pre-game ceremony and recognition, Saturday's contest was a pitcher's duel for the first five-and-a-half innings between Dzierwa and Forniss.
The Spartans broke through with their first hit of the day with a leadoff single by Murphy. A sac bunt by senior outfielder JT Sokolove moved Murphy to second, and he advanced to third on a single by sophomore infielder Ryan McKay. Berry then drew a hit by pitch to fill the bases full of Spartans and ending the day for Forniss as Northwestern made a pitching change, bringing in Amar Tsengeg.
Busch rudely welcomed Tsengeg to the game by lacing a single through the right side to plate Murphy and McKay. Busch then stole second with senior pinch-hitter Nick Williams at bat, and N.Williams then walked to refill the bases full of MSU base runners.
Seymour drew an HBP RBI by getting hit by pitch, plating Berry and bringing Picot to bat. Picot pelted the pitch and deposited it over the left field wall for his second grand slam of the season and a 7-0 Spartan lead, capping MSU's seven runs on five hits in the frame, after entering the frame with zeroes in both columns on the scoreboard.
In the bottom of the seventh, Berry knocked a one-out double to the left-center gap. Berry tagged up and moved to third on a flyout to deep center field by Busch, and N.Williams plated Berry with an RBI single and an 8-0 advantage.
Picot sparked the Spartan rally in the eighth with a leadoff single through the left side. Two batters later, Murphy knocked a single to push Picot to third. McKay drew a walk to load the bases. After a Northwestern pitching change, Berry socked his "walk-off" double to right center to drive in Picot and Murphy to ignite the run-rule Victory for MSU celebrations.
Murphy posted the first three-hit outing of his young Spartan career, two games after his first multi-hit outing, and was 3-for-4 with two runs scored.
Picot ended 2-for-4 with the four RBI and two runs scored, while Berry was also 2-for-4, with a pair of RBI and two runs scored.
McKay was 1-for-3 with a run scored, while Busch was 1-for-4 with two RBI and touched home once. N.Williams was 1-for-1 with an RBI and scored a run. Junior infielder Randy Seymour added an RBI and run scored.
Dzierwa's standout outing was finished off by senior Dominic Pianto, chalking up a pair of punchouts in his lone inning of work to secure the victory.
The Spartans and Wildcats wrap up with a 1:02 p.m. contest on Sunday, April 13.
MSU then continues its season-long nine-game homestand at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium by hosting Western Michigan on Tuesday, April 15 at 6:02 p.m., before hosting Ohio State in another three-game B1G series, Friday-Sunday, April 18-20. The homestand wraps up on Tuesday, April 22 against Purdue Fort Wayne.
The Spartans' schedule is subject to further change, fans can stay tuned to MSUSpartans.com and @MSUBaseball on Twitter for schedule updates, along with follow this weekend's action with "Watch Live," "Listen Live" and "Live Stats" links where available.
Michigan State baseball tickets are available online at msuspartans.evenue.net, by contacting the Spartan Ticket Office at 517-355-1610 or by email at tickets@msu.edu for questions or more information.
Saturday was MSU's "Salute To Service" game as part of Heroes Weekend. The Spartans wore special military appreciation uniforms and pullovers, and a US Navy veteran threw out the ceremonial first pitch with a Color Guard for the National Anthem, and in-game recognition to all First Responders.
The "Salute To Service" game had special meaning for several Spartans, who have family who have served or currently serving, as was the case for senior infielder Sam Busch, whose older brother is a US Marine currently stationed in North Carolina.
"It's always a special day for me and my family," Busch said about the Military Appreciation Day having extra meaning with his brother. "Last year he was able to come and throw out the first pitch, so that was a really cool experience and having the family here to watch was really cool. I had more family here today as well. My brother wasn't able to come, but it was still really cool today. It's always a special game, and I'm glad we were able to get the win."
Busch's sentiments were echoed by MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr.
"It's always a special day to have the Color Guard out and to pay tribute to our veterans," Boss said. "I know there were a lot of them here today. Sam Busch's brother is in the service and we have a lot of relatives of our players that have served our country. Every time we get an opportunity to honor those special individuals, I think it's a really special day. I think it means a lot to our team as well, because there are a lot of family members that have been in the service, I think it hits home with a lot of guys."
Extremely honored to have US Air Force veteran David Blossey throw out today's ceremonial first pitch on "Salute to Service Day here at the ballpark!!
— Michigan State Baseball (@MSUBaseball) April 12, 2025
Proud to honor all first responders, past & present, for their courage, bravery & service!!
🎖️🇺🇸#GoGreen | #SaluteToService pic.twitter.com/jox2UZNTly
Coach Boss changed some things up for the Spartans in trying to find something to click for the victory, including starting Busch in left field, moving the first baseman to the outfield for his first start there since high school.
"That was interesting," Busch said with a laugh. "We had our team pre-game meal, and I was walking out and Coach Boss pulled me aside and told me I was in left, and I was like 'are you serious? Are you kidding me?' He said he was serious. I mean I'll do anything to help the team win, and it was fun. It was a fun time out there; I made a couple catches."
Busch made his first catch on the first Northwestern batter of the game, proving the baseball adage of "the ball will always find you," sending him back to the warning track and he made a spinning catch, in his outfield glove that the East Lansing native used the benefits of being close to home and calling his mom before the game and having her bring the glove from home.
"I kind of figured that the ball was going to find me early, and sure enough a lefty with a little bit of juice hit one out there with some spin on it," Busch said. "It kind of turned me around, put me in a spin cycle but luckily, I was able to catch it and get on to the next hitter."
"Our guys answered the bell today," Boss said. "We challenged them last night and to their credit they were ready to play. We moved some guys around, put Sam in left for the first time since the fall and of course the first hitter of the game hit a pretty tough fly ball out to him, but he made a nice catch on the warning track. I was a little frustrated with the defense yesterday, and we played error-less defense today, it was really good. Joe was really good on the mound. It took the offense a little while to get rolling, but once we got into the sixth and it was the second or third time through the order we finally got some things going."
After Northwestern won Friday's series opener in a wild, 11-10 11-inning thriller, the Spartans turned to junior starting pitcher Joseph Dzierwa and the Spartan southpaw quieted the Wildcats bats, going 7.0 IP with eight strikeouts, while only allowing three hits.
Meanwhile, Wildcat starter Christian Forniss matched Dzierwa's solid outing on the mound, as he stymied the Spartan bats for the first half of the game. Forniss was perfect through 3.1 IP before yielding a walk to sophomore infielder Ryan McKay in the fourth, and another walk in the fifth to graduate first baseman Will Shannon. MSU did not have a hit off Forniss until the sixth, but when the Spartans got their bats going, they got them hot in a hurry, knocking five hits to score seven runs, with the big blow coming on sophomore outfielder Parker Picot's grand slam.
"I've had a couple of tough games, but coaches trusted in me," Picot said. "I thought that the whole approach, the whole at bat was to go out and do my job. I got a few pitches I liked, and fouled a few off, and just kept fighting. One clicked for me, and it felt good."
Parker Picot pelts his 2nd grand slam of the season to put the Spartans ahead, 7-0 in the bottom of the 6th!!#GoGreen | @ParkerPicot pic.twitter.com/K5wS2E8B0d
— Michigan State Baseball (@MSUBaseball) April 12, 2025
Picot's slam helped MSU's offense come to life, scoring 10 runs in just three innings.
"As a team we've really been working on staying committed to approach and staying through the ball. It worked out for us that we got into their pen. The guy's got on base, and we found ways to get runs, and we came out on top," Picot said.
MSU added another run in the seventh, before two more in the eighth, with graduate catcher Caleb Berry belting a two-run double to drive in Picot and freshman infielder Dayton Murphy for the "walk-off" for the run-rule triumph.
The win snapped MSU's season-long five-game losing streak.
"It feels really good," Picot said about snapping the losing skein. "This team is capable of a lot. We started the season really good. It's been a little rough patch recently, but it's all on us. We all believe in ourselves, and we pick each other up. It's something that we have really been harping on recently, is just picking each other up, flushing your last at bat, flushing your last pitch. It was nice to see everyone come out, energy was up, everyone did their job, and it was clean baseball today."
With Saturday's win, Dzierwa improved to 6-1 on the season and the 7.0 shutout innings lowered his ERA to 1.65, which leads the B1G and entered the weekend 25th in the NCAA.
The win was Dzierwa's 18th career win, moving him up to tie for 10th on MSU's career wins list, tying Andrew Waszak (2010-13) and Tim Day (2002-05).
Dzierwa's eight Ks give him 67 punchouts on the season and 218 for his career, holding at No. 5 on the Spartans' career strikeouts list, but closing in on the No. 4 spot held by Ron Perranoski (1956-58) with 223 Ks.
The shutout was the fifth of the season by the MSU pitching staff through 34 games, which are the most by the Green & White since 2016 when they also tallied five shutouts.
Picot spoke for his teammates' confidence when Dzierwa is on the mound.
"The night before, when I go to bed I always say, when Joseph Dzierwa is on the mound it is all but a guaranteed win," Picot said. "If the offense shows up, we know Joe is going to give us seven, or whatever he's got in him. He's going to put up zeros and we're going to put up runs. He kept us in the game all game, and we got his back and stayed through it."
Saturday's win moves MSU to an 18-15 overall and 5-9 B1G record, while Northwestern levels its ledger at 16-16 and 7-7 in B1G action. After Friday's loss snapped the Spartans' four-game win streak in the series, they have now won five of the last six as part of six of the last 10 and lead the all-time series, 104-56-1, including 55-23 in East Lansing.
After the pre-game ceremony and recognition, Saturday's contest was a pitcher's duel for the first five-and-a-half innings between Dzierwa and Forniss.
The Spartans broke through with their first hit of the day with a leadoff single by Murphy. A sac bunt by senior outfielder JT Sokolove moved Murphy to second, and he advanced to third on a single by sophomore infielder Ryan McKay. Berry then drew a hit by pitch to fill the bases full of Spartans and ending the day for Forniss as Northwestern made a pitching change, bringing in Amar Tsengeg.
Busch rudely welcomed Tsengeg to the game by lacing a single through the right side to plate Murphy and McKay. Busch then stole second with senior pinch-hitter Nick Williams at bat, and N.Williams then walked to refill the bases full of MSU base runners.
Sam Busch comes up with the bases loaded and laces a 2-run single to put the Spartans ahead 2-0!!#GoGreen | @Samwbusch pic.twitter.com/uUN4EDQlsM
— Michigan State Baseball (@MSUBaseball) April 12, 2025
Seymour drew an HBP RBI by getting hit by pitch, plating Berry and bringing Picot to bat. Picot pelted the pitch and deposited it over the left field wall for his second grand slam of the season and a 7-0 Spartan lead, capping MSU's seven runs on five hits in the frame, after entering the frame with zeroes in both columns on the scoreboard.
In the bottom of the seventh, Berry knocked a one-out double to the left-center gap. Berry tagged up and moved to third on a flyout to deep center field by Busch, and N.Williams plated Berry with an RBI single and an 8-0 advantage.
Picot sparked the Spartan rally in the eighth with a leadoff single through the left side. Two batters later, Murphy knocked a single to push Picot to third. McKay drew a walk to load the bases. After a Northwestern pitching change, Berry socked his "walk-off" double to right center to drive in Picot and Murphy to ignite the run-rule Victory for MSU celebrations.
Murphy posted the first three-hit outing of his young Spartan career, two games after his first multi-hit outing, and was 3-for-4 with two runs scored.
Picot ended 2-for-4 with the four RBI and two runs scored, while Berry was also 2-for-4, with a pair of RBI and two runs scored.
McKay was 1-for-3 with a run scored, while Busch was 1-for-4 with two RBI and touched home once. N.Williams was 1-for-1 with an RBI and scored a run. Junior infielder Randy Seymour added an RBI and run scored.
Dzierwa's standout outing was finished off by senior Dominic Pianto, chalking up a pair of punchouts in his lone inning of work to secure the victory.
The Spartans and Wildcats wrap up with a 1:02 p.m. contest on Sunday, April 13.
MSU then continues its season-long nine-game homestand at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium by hosting Western Michigan on Tuesday, April 15 at 6:02 p.m., before hosting Ohio State in another three-game B1G series, Friday-Sunday, April 18-20. The homestand wraps up on Tuesday, April 22 against Purdue Fort Wayne.
The Spartans' schedule is subject to further change, fans can stay tuned to MSUSpartans.com and @MSUBaseball on Twitter for schedule updates, along with follow this weekend's action with "Watch Live," "Listen Live" and "Live Stats" links where available.
Michigan State baseball tickets are available online at msuspartans.evenue.net, by contacting the Spartan Ticket Office at 517-355-1610 or by email at tickets@msu.edu for questions or more information.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Dzierwa, Joseph (6-1)
L: FORNISS, CHRISTIAN (1-1)
Batting:
SH: MARKINSON, BENNETT 1
Batting:
2B: Berry, Caleb 2
HR: Picot, Parker 1
RBI: Berry, Caleb 2 ; Busch, Sam 2 ; Williams, Nick 1 ; Seymour, Randy 1 ; Picot, Parker 4
SH: Sokolove, JT 1 ; Seymour, Randy 1
Base Running:
RUNS: McKay, Ryan 1 ; Berry, Caleb 2 ; Busch, Sam 1 ; Williams, Nick 1 ; Seymour, Randy 1 ; Picot, Parker 2 ; Murphy, Dayton 2
SB: McKay, Ryan 1 ; Busch, Sam 1
HBP: Berry, Caleb 1 ; Seymour, Randy 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
0
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
4
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
C
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
OF/INF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballPursuit to Greatness | Spartans All-Access
Monday, May 19
Jake Boss | Baseball Press Conference | April 17, 2025
Thursday, April 17
Jake Boss | Baseball Press Conference | Mar. 25 2025
Tuesday, March 25
Jake Boss | Baseball Press Conference | Mar. 11 2025
Tuesday, March 11