Spartans Tangle With Huskers Tuesday In Big Ten Tournament Opener

• Michigan State baseball is making its 16th all-time appearance in the Big Ten Tournament when the 12th-seeded Spartans take on No. 8 seed Nebraska in game 3 of Tuesday's opening day, with first pitch slated for 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT ... the 43rd Big Ten Conference Baseball Tournament, Presented by IFS.ai, will be held Tuesday-Sunday, May 20-25, at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Neb., site of the NCAA Men's College World Series.

• This year's tournament will incorporate pool play with four groups consisting of three teams each. The four pool winners will meet in the single-elimination semifinals on May 24, followed by the championship game on May 25.

• The Spartans will then take on No. 1 seed and regular-season co-champion Oregon on Thursday, May 22, also at 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT.

• Michigan State and Nebraska did not face each other in the regular-season.

• Tuesday's MSU game and all of the 2025 B1G Baseball Tournament will be televised on Big Ten
Network, and games will also be available on the FOX Sports App through the "Watch Live" link, and "Live Stats" will be available on MSUSpartans.com.

• The Spartans' schedule is subject to change, stay tuned to MSUSpartans.com and @MSUBaseball on X/Twitter for schedule updates.

• MSU's games will not be on the Spartan Media Network, so there will be no "Listen Live" link available.

• Michigan State enters the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 12 seed, posting a 28-25 overall record and 13-17 record, qualifying on the last day of the regular-season and coming down to the final game in the conference, as MSU secured the No. 12 seed with a thrilling 11-10 walk-off win over Minnesota coupled with Northwestern's loss at UCLA Saturday evening.

• MSU entered the final weekend of the regular-season tied for 11th with Illinois and Northwestern, but the Spartans lost the first two games of the weekend series with Minnesota, falling 4-3 on Thursday and 11-5 on Friday. Illinois beat Ohio State twice to clinch the No. 11 seed, while Northwestern upset No. 14 UCLA on Friday, setting up Saturday's dramatics.

• Michigan State was coming off winning the series at No. 25 USC on May 9-11. In the inaugural meeting between the Spartans and Trojans on the baseball diamond, MSU won, 2-0, behind Spartan southpaw junior Joseph Dzierwa's gem, going 7.0 innings with eight strikeouts and only two hits without a run. On Saturday, May 10, the Spartans scorched the Trojans, 15-5, in eight innings, as MSU won the series, snapping USC's eight-series win streak, its longest series win streak since 1978. USC denied MSU's sweep with a 10-3 game on Sunday, May 11.

• The Spartans were the first and only previous Big Ten team to win a series at one of the four West Coast new B1G members. MSU is also only one of three of the previous B1G teams to take a series from the West Coast members, joining Ohio State over Oregon and Rutgers over Washington, but the Buckeyes and Scarlet Knights were the home teams in both of those series, and confirmed in the final weekend of the regular-season, with UCLA winning the home series vs. Northwestern, Oregon swept the series at Iowa, and Washington won the home series against USC.

• Nebraska comes to Omaha making the short trek from Lincoln with a 28-27 overall and 15-15 B1G ledger in tow, earning the No. 8 seed. The Huskers have won seven of the their last 10, finishing regular-season action taking two of three at Purdue, rallying for an 11-9 win on Thursday in the opener, coming back from being down 8-0 in the third inning, scoring 11, scoring 11 unanswered runs between the fourth and eighth innings for an 11-8 lead, before Purdue score a run in the eighth for the final 11-9 score. The Boilermakers bounced back to win Friday's game, 5-4 on a walk-off HR with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. The Huskers then blew the Boilermakers out, 14-2 in Saturday's rubber match to win the series and clinch the No. 8 seed.

• Michigan State is playing its 141st season of baseball in 2025 and won its 2,500th all-time Victory for MSU last week vs. Eastern Michigan. Baseball was the first organized varsity sport on campus with the first season of Spartan baseball in 1884, winning its first recorded game on May 19, 1884, 20-9 over Olivet, going 4-2 in the six-game schedule, and baseball has been played every season since, with only no varsity in 1944 due to World War II. MSU now has an all-time record of 2,502-2,219-30 (.530) in 4,751 games played after the weekend series win at No. 25 USC.

• For the first time since the preseason polls, Michigan State was not ranked among others receiving votes in the April 7 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Poll and MSU is again not in this week's (May 12) poll, marking the sixth week in row MSU hasn't been included in receiving votes in the rankings. The Spartans had a run of seven weeks in a row having either been ranked or including in among others receiving votes.

• Oregon and UCLA are the only two B1G teams ranked in all the polls. Iowa, Michigan and USC are among the others receiving votes in the NCBWA Poll, in addition to USC and Iowa as the other league teams among others receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

BACK TO OMAHA
• This is MSU's second berth in the B1G Tournament in the last three seasons, as the Spartans made it to Omaha in 2023 as the No. 8 seed. The 2023 visit was MSU's first berth in the B1G Tournament since 2018.

SPARTAN PLAYERS NOT AT FIRST RODEO IN OMAHA
• In 2023, no Spartan player on the roster had played in the conference tourney prior the first-round game. However, in 2025, MSU comes to Omaha with 11 players that were on the Spartans' roster in 2023:

5          Christian Williams      C/DH   SR        Carmel, IN/Carmel HS
9          Jacob Anderson          INF       R-JR     Oakland Township, MI/Notre Dame Prep HS
11        Tate Farquhar RHP     R-SO    Highland, MI/Lakeland HS
16        Joseph Dzierwa           LHP      JR         Haskins, OH/Otsego HS
24        Sam Busch      INF       SR        East Lansing, MI/East Lansing HS
26        Dominic Pianto           RHP     SR        Hendersonville, TN/Pope John Paul II HS/Furman
29        Noah Matheny           RHP     R-JR     Peoria, IL/Galesburg HS/SIU Edwardsville
30        Jake Dresselhouse      OF        JR         Highland, MI/Orchard Lake St. Mary's HS
35        Randy Seymour          INF/RHP          JR         Frankfort, IL/Lincoln-Way East HS
41        Nolan Higgins RHP     JR         Wixom, MI/Orchard Lake St. Mary's HS
42        Ryan Szczepaniak       RHP     R-SO    Woodhaven, MI/Woodhaven HS

• Of the 11 Spartans on the MSU roster for the 2023 B1G Tournament, two position players, infielder Sam Busch and outfielder Jake Dresselhouse saw action, while pitchers Joseph Dzierwa and Nolan Higgins saw action.

• Dzierwa, Busch and Higgins saw action against Nebraska in the 2023 B1G Tournament meeting. Dzierwa started on the mound vs. the Huskers, going 4.2 innings, striking out six, while scattering six hits and one run. Higgins pitched the final 1.1 IP, with one K and no hits or runs. Busch was starting DH in the game, going 0-2.

• Also on MSU's 2025 roster is graduate pitcher/pinch hitter Ryan Zimmer, who was on Michigan's 2023 B1G Tournament roster, pitching in one game for UM. Zimmer is currently out for the season with an injury, but will be in the Spartans' dugout this week.

MSU B1G TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• MSU is making its 16th overall appearance in the B1G Tournament, including the ninth under head coach Jake Boss Jr., now with a 10-16 ledger in the conference tourney under Coach Boss, winning at least one game in six of the previous eight visits as well as winning two games in four of the previous seven tournaments.

SPARTANS IN OMAHAAAAA, SOMEWHERE IN MIDDLE AMERICA
• MSU is making its fifth trip to an Omaha-hosted B1G Tournament, making the conference postseason tournament in 2014, 2016 and 2018 hosted by Omaha ... MSU is now 5-8 in the B1G Tourney in Omaha.

• In 2014, the No. 6 seed Spartans went 2-2, beating third-seeded Illinois in the opening round, 2-1, before losing to No. 2 Nebraska, 3-2, but bouncing back to beat Illinois again, 11-2, before falling to No. 1 seed Indiana, 7-4, as the Hoosiers advanced to the title game and won the conference crown.

• The 2016 B1G Tournament saw the seventh-seeded Spartans upset No. 2 seed Nebraska, 5-1, and No. 6 seed Maryland, 4-3, before falling to No. 4 seed Ohio State twice, 3-2 in 10 innings, and 7-3, as OSU also advanced to the championship game and won the title.

• In 2018, the No. 8 seed Spartans lost to No. 1 seed Minnesota, 3-2, in the opener, before being eliminated by fifth-seeded Indiana, in a heart-breaking 6-5 loss in 10 innings.

• The 2023 Spartans were the No. 8 seed in the B1G Tournament, losing to No. 1 seed Maryland, 3-2, before bouncing back to beat No. 5 seed Rutgers, 6-4, eliminating the Scarlet Knight, but then losing to No. 4 seed Nebraska, 4-0.

IN THE RANKINGS
• Michigan State was ranked in the Feb. 24 rankings of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Top 25 Poll, but slipped out of the following week's rankings and were among others receiving votes for the next five weeks, until not being listed in the last seven weeks' polls (April 7, 14, 21 & 28; May 5, 12, 19).

Prior to the Feb. 24 ranking, the last time that MSU was ranked was No. 23 in the Baseball America Top 25 Poll and No. 30 in the NCWBA Poll on May 2, 2016. The Spartans made their season debut in the rankings that season at No. 25 in the March 14, 2016 ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.

Once again, Oregon and UCLA are the only two B1G teams ranked in all the polls. Iowa, Michigan and USC are among the others receiving votes in the NCBWA Poll, in addition to USC and Iowa as the other league teams among others receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

Oregon moved up to No. 3 in the Perfect Game Top 25 Poll, while holding at No. 5 in the D1Baseball Poll, while ranking No. 7 in both the NCBWA Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll, in addition to No. 9 in the Baseball America Poll.

UCLA is No. 14 in the D1Baseball.com Poll, No. 15 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 17 in the Perfect Game Poll, No. 18 in the NCBWA Poll and No. 20 in the Baseball America Poll.

USC and Iowa are both among others receiving votes in the NCBWA and the USA Today Coaches Poll, while Michigan joins them among others receiving notes in the NCBWA Poll.

DZIERWA NATIONAL SEMIFINALIST FOR TWO AWARDS
• Michigan State junior pitcher Joseph Dzierwa was named a national semifinalist for both the Golden Spikes and Dick Howser Player of the Year awards.

A strong candidate for Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, Dzierwa is the lone B1G pitcher on either list, and is also only one of four B1G players for the Golden Spikes Award, and one of seven B1G players on the Dick Howser Trophy.

The Spartan southpaw is also the second MSU player in the last three seasons to be named a semifinalist for this prestigious award, again joining first baseman Brock Vradenburg in 2023.

Dzierwa is one of 25 players on the Golden Spikes list, which includes 23 different schools as Florida State and Georgia Tech have two players each. He is one of four players from the Big Ten Conference, but again is the only pitcher from the B1G, joined by UCLA infielder Roch Cholowsky, Oregon outfielder Mason Neville and Indiana outfielder Devin Taylor.

The Spartan hurler Dzierwa is one of 64 players on the semifinalist list. He is also one of seven from the Big Ten, but the only pitcher from the league, as he's joined by UCLA infielder Roch Cholowsky, USC infielder Ethan Hedges, Oregon outfielder Mason Neville, Indiana outfielder Devin Taylor, Michigan infielder Mitch Voit and Oregon infielder Jacob Walsh.

A Haskins, Ohio native, Dzierwa currently has an 8-3 record with a 2.31 ERA, firing 98 strikeouts in 85.2 innings pitched in 14 starts with a 0.96 WHIP. He has thrown one complete game shutout, as part of four combined shutouts, in holding the opposition to .193 against him. The Spartan southpaw is also second in the conference in fewest hits allowed per nine innings (6.41).

Dzierwa continues to establish new program top marks, as he is the first Spartan player in program history to be a four-time Big Ten Pitcher of the Week, doing so in back-to-back weeks twice. No MSU player had picked up back-to-back B1G weekly honors of any kind before Dzierwa did it the first two weeks of the season, earning the award Feb. 17 and 24, and he's now done it again on May 5 and 12.

By earning B1G Pitcher of the Week four times this season, Dzierwa is the first B1G pitcher to earn the award four times in a season since 2009 when Ohio State's Alex Wimmers was a four-time winner.

DZIERWA CONTINUING TO MAKE PROGRAM HISTORY WITH B1G PITCHER OF WEEK AWARDS
• Michigan State junior pitcher Joseph Dzierwa was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week this week for the second-straight week, marking the second time this season that he's gone back-to-back in the B1G POW award. No MSU player had picked up back-to-back B1G weekly honors of any kind before Dzierwa did it the first two weeks of the season, earning the award Feb. 17 and 24, and he's now done it again on May 5 and 12.

By earning B1G Pitcher of the Week four times this season, Dzierwa is the first B1G pitcher to earn the award four times in a season since 2009 when Ohio State's Alex Wimmers was a four-time winner.

BOSS IN 17th SEASON WITH SPARTANS
• Head coach Jake Boss Jr. is in his 17th year at Michigan State and 18th overall as a collegiate head coach ... Boss entered the 2025 season at No. 3 on MSU's longest coaching list behind John H. Kobs (1935-63), the namesake for the former historic Kobs Field, location of McLane Stadium, with 39 seasons, and legendary head coach Denny Litwhiler (1964-82) with 19 seasons.

BOSS 450th VICTORY FOR MSU
• Head coach Jake Boss Jr. won his 450th as Spartan head coach with a 3-2 walk-off Victory for MSU over Cornell on Friday, March 7 in the opening day of play at the First Pitch Invitational at Fluor Field, home of the Greenville Drive.

Coach Boss becomes the third MSU baseball coach to reach the 450 Victories for MSU milestone, joining Spartan coaching greats John Kobs with 576 wins and Danny Litwhiler with 489.

Now with 468 wins in 874 games, Boss is also No. 3 on the Spartan head coach list for wins and No. 2 in games coached, also behind Kobs with 576 wins in 969 games, and Litwhiler with 489 wins, while recently passing Litwhiler in games coaches, as Litwhiler coached 859 games.

141ST SEASON OF MICHIGAN STATE BASEBALL
Michigan State is playing its 141st season of baseball in 2025 ... Baseball was the first organized varsity sport on campus with the first season of Spartan baseball in 1884, going 4-2 in the six-game schedule, and baseball has been played every season since, with only no varsity in 1944 due to World War II.

MSU currently has an all-time record of 2,503-2,221-30 (.530) in 4,754 games played.

35TH WITH 2,500
Michigan State became the 35th Division I team to reach 2,500 all-time wins with the 3-1 Victory for MSU over in-state foe Eastern Michigan on Tuesday, May 6. MSU became the seventh B1G team to reach 2,500 wins, joining Michigan, USC, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio State and UCLA.

MILESTONE VICTORIES
Here's a closer look of MSU's milestone wins:
1st Win                        May 19, 1884
100th Win       May 26, 1905
500th Win       April 25, 1945
1,000th Win    May 13, 1972
1,500th Win    April 27, 1991
2,000th Win    April 6, 2010
2,300th Win    Feb. 17, 2017
2,500th Win    May 6, 2025

SERIES HISTORY EXTENDED NOTES VS. B1G TOURNAMENT OPPONENT
• Michigan State and Minnesota's series dates back to 1925 and the Spartans and Gophers enter this weekend having played 137 times.

MSU vs. NEBRASKA ALL-TIME Series History
Overall: Huskers lead, 20-11
In East Lansing: NEB leads, 9-6 / In Lincoln: NEB leads, 7-2 /
Neutral: NEB leads, 4-3 / In Omaha: MSU leads, 2-1 /
Streak: MSU W1; NEB W10-of-13, 13-of-17
First meeting: MSU 6, NEB 0; June 12, 1937 in East Lansing /
Last meeting: MSU 11, Neb 6; May 18, 2024 in East Lansing
Last meeting in Omaha: NEB 4, MSU 0; May 26, 2023 at BTT (MSU's previous visit)
Series Notes: Tuesday's Big Ten Tournament meeting marks MSU's second-straight BTT meeting with Nebraska, as the Spartans and Huskers squared off in 2023 in MSU's last visit to Omaha, with the fourth-seeded Huskers eliminating the eighth-seeded Spartans ... MSU and Nebraska did not meet during the 2025 regular-season, with the last meeting coming in the 2024 final weekend, with the Huskers knocking off MSU two games to one, and eliminating the Spartans from qualifying for the B1G Tournament with the losses in games one and two, but the Spartans denied the Huskers from a chance at the regular-season title with the loss in the regular-season finale ... Huskers have won last four regular-season series ... NEB has won 10 of last 13 meetings and 13 of last 17 match-ups, including the 2023 B1G Tournament elimination game, 4-0, on May 26, 2023 in Omaha, and taking two of three from MSU in the final weekend of the 2024 regular-season in East Lansing ... All but three of MSU's meetings with Nebraska have come under head coach Jake Boss Jr., with the first meeting coming in 1937, then two in 1982, and the Spartans and Huskers didn't meet against until the 2012 B1G Tournament in Nebraska's first year in the conference.

SPARTANS CONQUER TROJANS IN MONUMENTAL SERIES WIN
• The Spartans were the first and only previous Big Ten team to win a series at one of the four West Coast new B1G members this season, winning the series at No. 25 USC, May 9-11, played at Great Park in Irvine, CA, due to renovations to USC's home park.

• MSU is also only one of three of the previous B1G teams to take a series from the West Coast members, joining Ohio State over Oregon and Rutgers over Washington, but the Buckeyes and Scarlet Knights were the home teams in both of those series, and confirmed in the final weekend of the regular-season, with UCLA winning the home series vs. Northwestern, Oregon swept the series at Iowa, and Washington won the home series against USC.

DZIERWA'S WEEKLY AWARD COLLECTION GROWS AGAIN
The Spartan southpaw once again made the weekly awards list sound like Ben Stein standing in front of class taking attendance during a particular movie scene: "Dzierwa... Dzierwa... Dzierwa... Dzierwa?"

MSU junior pitcher Joseph Dzierwa again collected a bevy of honors for his performance in shutting out No. 25 USC:

• Big Ten Pitcher Of The Week (5/12/25)
• One of D1Baseball.com's Friday standouts (5/9/25)
• D1Baseball's Big Ten Loud! Performance of the Day (5/9/25)
• Baseball America NCAA Ace Report (5/10/25)
• 64Analytics Top 10 DI Pitchers of the Week (5/5-5/11)

DZIERWA CLIMBING SINGLE-SEASON K LIST, CLOSING IN ON 100 K SEASON
The eight Ks by Dzierwa at USC, plus four vs. Minnesota on May 15, give him 98 for the season, moving up to No. 5 on MSU's single-season list, passing his last year's season total of 91 punchouts. He pulled away from a tie with Tony Bucciferro's 94 strikeouts in 2012 and also passed Dakota Mekkes' 96 Ks in 2016 for the No. 5 spot.

The 98 Ks leaves him a pair of punchouts away from becoming just the fifth Spartan pitcher in program history to reach 100 strikeouts, and the first since Nick Bates in 2002.

DZIERWA DZOINS 20 DUB CLUB
• The May 9 win at No. 25 USC was Dzierwa's 20th career win, moving up to sole possession of No. 9 on MSU's career wins list. His 20 wins are the most since Mick VanVossen won 21 games from 2012-15.

Dzierwa pulled away from a tie for No. 9 on MSU's career wins list with former teammate Nick Powers (2021-24) with 19 wins.

STRIKEOUTS GALORE IN DZIERWA'S CAREER
• Dzierwa now has 249 Ks for his career, moving up to No. 3 spot on the Spartans' career strikeout list. He passed Mason Erla (2017-21) with 243 Ks, with his eight Ks at USC. Next up at No. 2 in Tony Bucciferro (2009-12) with 273 strikeouts.

MSU SINGLE-SEASON STRIKEOUTS LIST
1.         Mark Mulder 113      1998
2.         Mel Behney    107      1968
3.         Dick Radatz     106      1959
4.         Nick Bates       100      2002
5.         Dakota Mekkes           96        2016
6.         Joseph Dzierwa          94        2025
            Tony Bucciferro          94        2012
8.         Bryan Gale      93        2004
9.         Joseph Dzierwa          91        2024
10.       Mitchell Tyranski        89        2019
            Ron Perranoski           89        1958
12.       Dick Kenney    88        1967

MSU CAREER STRIKEOUTS LIST
1.         Bryan Gale      277      2001-04
2.         Tony Bucciferro          273      2009-12
3.         Joseph Dzierwa          245      2023-pres.
4.         Mason Erla      243      2017-2021
5.         Ron Perranoski           223      ..1956-58
6.         Cam Vieaux     .....205             .. 2014-16
7.         Brian Murphy ...194 .. 1995-98
8.         Dick Radatz     .....193             .. 1957-59
           David Garner ...192 .. 2011-13
10.       Nick Powers    187      2021-24

MSU CAREER Wins LIST
1.         Stuart Hirschman       28        1990-93
            Bryan Gale      28      2001-04
3.         Tony Bucciferro          26        2009-12
            Kurt Wunderlich         26        2008-11
5.         Larry Ike          23        1970-72
            Brian Wolcott 23        1977-80
7.         Mick VanVossen         21        2012-15
            Ron Perranoski           21        1956-58
9.         Joseph Dzierwa          20        2023-pres.
10.       Nick Powers    19        2021-24
11.       Andrew Waszak          18        2010-13
            Tim Day           18        2002-05

FOUR SCORE FOR DZIERWA
• Dzierwa's garnered his B1G Pitcher of the Week Award this season, collecting the first two honors of the season in back-to-back weeks (Feb. 17 and 24). No MSU player had picked up back-to-back B1G weekly honors of any kind before Dzierwa did it the first two weeks of the season, earning the award Feb. 17 and 24, and he's now done it again on May 5 and 12.

He was also the first Spartan player to earn any kind of B1G weekly honor three times in a season, so now he's just continuing to extend milestones.

DZIERWA DZOINING SPARTAN FOUR+ B1G PITCHER OF WEEK COLLECTORS
• Dzierwa is only the second ever Michigan State pitcher to collect at least four Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors in their career. He joins Bryan Gale with five from 2001-04.

He pulled away from a short-lived tie with three other Spartan pitchers who had three career B1G Pitcher of the Week honors in Kurt Wunderlich with three in 2010 and 11, along with Tony Bucciferro with three in 2011 and 2012, and Andrew Waszak with three in 2012 and 2013.

Overall, this is Dzierwa's fifth career B1G weekly honor, as he was tabbed B1G Freshman of the Week on April 10, 2023.

Spartans Tangle With Huskers Tuesday In Big Ten Tournament Opener

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jacob Anderson

Sam Busch

Jake Dresselhouse

Joseph Dzierwa

Tate Farquhar

Nolan Higgins

Noah Matheny

Dominic Pianto

Nick Powers

Randy Seymour

Ryan Szczepaniak

Christian Williams

Ryan Zimmer