B1G Play Resumes at Secchia With Illinois Series

Illinois (9-27, 1-8 B1G) at Michigan State (13-21, 0-9 B1G)
Dates/Location	Friday-Sunday, April 3-5 East Lansing, Mich. \| Secchia Stadium \| GameDay G uide
Promotions	Youth & Family Weekend \| Bunny At the Ballpark (Sunday)
Tickets	Spartan Ticket Office
Radio	Spartan Media Network; Jack Vohlwinkle (pxp) and Jacquie Joseph (analysis) Click Here for Broadcasts
B1G+ Webstreams	Friday Doubleheader (3 pm) \| Sunday (1 pm)
Live Statistics	Click Here
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Illinois
Social Media	Facebook X Instagram

Around the Horn
What you need to know about Spartan softball

• Michigan State continues a five-game homestand with a Big Ten series against Illinois. Due to an inclement weather forecast for Saturday, the teams will play a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 3 pm. Game three remains on Sunday at 1 pm.

• The Illini come into the weekend with a 9-27 overall record (1-8 in Big Ten play). Illinois lost a midweek game to Illinois State (8-4) after dropping two of three on the road at Minnesota last weekend.

• The Spartans drew the three highest-ranked Big Ten teams in the conference to start the league season, opening at No. 5 UCLA, hosting No. 9 Nebraska, and traveling to Ohio State last weekend, which was ranked No. 25 in the preseason poll.

• MSU has drawn 123 walks this season, (3.61 per game), which is eighth in the Big Ten. MSU averaged just over three walks per game last year (136 walks in 45 games) and is on pace to surpass that total. The Spartans walked 10 times in their midweek game against Detroit Mercy on Wednesday.

• The Spartans have turned 17 double plays on the season, which ranks second in the Big Ten and 29th nationally (0.50/gm). It is also the eighth-most DPs in a season in program history.

• Leadoff hitter Zoie Bernard has played all 34 games in the outfield and has led MSU in most offensive categories throughout the season. She owns or shares the team leads in batting average (.333), slugging (.570), on-base percentage (.424), hits (38), runs scored (22), doubles (11), triples (5), and stolen bases (6). She ranks second in the B1G and fifth nationally in triples, and fifth in the league in doubles. She walked a season-high three times on Wednesday vs. Detroit after recording a team-high three base hits in the Ohio State series.

• Sydney Doloszycki leads the squad with 19 RBI, is second on the team in batting average (.291), and third in base hits. Of Spartan starters, Doloszycki has struck out just 11 times in 86 at-bats –the team low.

• Natalia Kenyatta has started each of the last four games, the last three at second base. In that span, she's had a pair of two-hit games: in the opener at Ohio State, and on Tuesday vs. Detroit Mercy. She has started 13 games this season overall and is batting .250, with career highs in hits (8), walks (6), stolen bases (2) and runs (6). Defensively, she has seven putouts and 21 assists without an error.

• Senior Britain Beshears was 1-for-2 with two runs scored in Wednesday's game vs. UDM. On the year, she has 17 base hits, six of which have gone for extra bases (four doubles, two homers). She is tied for fourth on the team in RBI (15) and is second in on-base percentage (.390).

• Carsyn Cassady leads the pitching staff with 21 appearances and 50 K's. Cassady's last two starts started with last Saturday at OSU, where she threw a complete game, surrendering just two runs while establishing new career bests in both strikeouts (8) and pitches (131). On Wednesday vs. Detroit, she threw 5.0 innings and struck out seven, scattering three hits.