EAST LANSING— Following a mid-week tilt at McLane Stadium, Michigan State baseball is set to take their red-hot bats to Happy Valley for a three-game weekend series with Penn State.
MSU is sitting at an impressive 14-6 this season, marking their best 20-game start since a 17-3 open in 2016. Despite the strong start, MSU is just 1-2 in Big Ten play following last weekend’s duel at Iowa.
The Spartans returned to the win column following their 8-5 victory over Oakland on Wednesday evening, which snapped a minor skid endured against the Hawkeyes. In Iowa City, MSU prevailed in just one of three contests, which were played across two days due to inclement weather.
MSU nearly relinquished their 8-3 lead but came away with a 12-8 victory in extra innings despite a rough outing from ace Joseph Dzierwa. The Spartans surrendered 17 combined runs on Saturday and Sunday and were also shut out to lose the series.
On Wednesday against Oakland, a four-hit two-steal afternoon from sophomore infielder Ryan McKay and home runs from senior designated hitter Will Shannon and junior infielder Randy Seymour spurred MSU to its first home win of the season.
McKay is leading MSU in both hits (23) and batting average (.333), as the Clarkston native has broken out in his second season in a Spartan uniform. Redshirt senior and East Lansing native Sam Busch is leading MSU and is tied for sixth in the Big Ten with seven long balls.
As for the Nittany Lions, they are 15-5 and 4-2 in conference play following a series victory at Northwestern. However, Penn State fell to Lafayette 5-3 on Wednesday.
The prolific Penn State offense leads the Big Ten and is 13th in the country with 38 home runs, in large part due to junior outfielder Paxton Kling. Penn State has seven players with four or more home runs, in a lineup anchored by Kling. The LSU transfer, who is hitting .360 this year, homered in two games of the Northwestern series, and his nine home runs are fourth in the conference.
Redshirt sophomore utilityman Jack Porter and junior utilityman Jesse Jaconski have also been instrumental to the success of Penn State. Both sluggers have amassed five big flies on the season in their inaugural seasons in State College.
Jaconski hit 6-12 (.500) against the Wildcats and has recorded a .934 on-base plus slugging (OPS) after transferring from North Carolina. Porter hit 10-14 (.714) against Northwestern, scoring five runs, including three mammoth blasts.
Penn State will likely face Dzierwa on Friday, who leads the conference with 46 strikeouts. Penn State’s slugging trio combined for just three hits on Wednesday, and will again be challenged at the dish by one of the country’s most productive southpaws.
The Spartans lead the all-time series 56-45, but the series in University Park is knotted up at 27. The series opener is Friday at 5:30 p.m., with the series continuing through Sunday.
