Dzierwa Adds To Award Collection With Two More Accolades

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball player Joseph Dzierwa added two more accolades to his extensive award collection, adding Perfect Game Second-Team All-America and American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) First-Team All-Midwest Region awards, as both were announced on Tuesday afternoon.

Dzierwa is MSU's second ABCA First-Team All-Region and All-American selection in the last three years, joining Brock Vradenburg who was an ABCA First-Team All-Region and multi-publication All-American in 2023.

Dzierwa, a Haskins, Ohio native, was named a national semifinalist for three awards, including USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award and NCBWA's Dick Howser Trophy and College Baseball Foundation's National Pitcher of the Year Award, as presented by the College Baseball Foundation.

The Spartan southpaw was also named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and also garnered First Team All-B1G accolades. He was the only player that was a unanimous selection to the First Team.

Dzierwa became the second Spartan to be named B1G Pitcher of the Year, joining Kurt Wunderlich in 2011. He is the sixth Spartan player to earn a major player award from the B1G, joining Player of the Year Award winners Bob Malek in 2002 and Jeff Holm in 2011, along with B1G Freshman of the Year Ryan Sontag in 2005 and Ryan Jones in 2010. MSU Baseball has also won three Coach of the Year Awards with Tom Smith in both 1988 and 1992, and Jake Boss Jr. in 2011.

Dzierwa posted an 8-3 record with a 2.36 ERA, firing 104 strikeouts in 91.2 innings pitched in 15 starts. The 104 strikeouts was second in the B1G and 23rd in the NCAA. He threw one complete game shutout, as part of four combined shutouts, in holding the opposition to .201 against him this season.

The Spartan southpaw was also second in the B1G and 23rd in the NCAA in WHIP (0.98), along with fourth in the league and 44th in the nation in fewest hits allowed per nine innings (6.41).

Dzierwa continued to establish new program top marks, as he was 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, an again on May 5 and 12.

By earning B1G Pitcher of the Week four times this season, Dzierwa was 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.

With the 104 strikeouts for the season, Dzierwa became the fifth Spartan pitcher in program history to reach the 100 K milestone, and the first since Nick Bates in 2002 with 100. Dzierwa passed Bates and finishes at No. 4 on MSU's single-season strikeout list.

It also gives him 255 for his career, holding at No. 3 on MSU's career strikeout list.

Players Mentioned

Joseph Dzierwa

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