Four Spartans Win Postseason Awards, Baris Named B1G Player of the Year​

CHICAGO, ILL. – Four Michigan State Men's Tennis student-athletes received Big Ten postseason awards Thursday, headlined by conference first-teamers sophomore Ozan Baris, the Big Ten Player of the Year and Aristotelis Thanos, the B1G Freshman of the Year.

Graduate student Ronald Hohmann III earned second-team honors while senior Reed Crocker merited the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.

Baris, who was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year last season, becomes the first Spartan to be named Player of the Year since the award's inception in 1987. The Okemos, Mich., native is ranked ninth in singles by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and as high as fourth, the highest rating of any Big Ten player. He owns a 27-6 singles record, 14-3 in dual matches, 6-0 in B1G play. With junior Max Sheldon he helps form a doubles team that is ranked 16th, as high as first in the nation, after winning the ITA Fall Doubles National Championship in November.

"This team, we set out to do historic things at the beginning of the year, we said we were going to do this and that and it's really cool to see a guy like Ozan, who's really taking the leadership role as a sophomore to get this historic achievement," MSU Head Coach Harry Jadun said. "It's great to see his hard work, dedication, long hours on the court and in the gym pay off but this isn't the end goal for him."

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For Thanos, the 23-year-old from Athens, Greece earns his first collegiate honors. Thanos is 12-2 as a Spartan, 5-1 in conference action. He is 7-0 at the No. 3 singles slot and went on a team-high 11-match winning streak from Jan. 19 to April 7. The 2023 Davis Cup Greek National Team selection is the third Spartan to earn B1G Freshman of the Year and makes it consecutive seasons that an MSU player has collected the award.

"Long time coming for Aris, obviously he had to sit out and redshirt last year and he came out hungry this year," said Jadun. "He's a really good competitor and it's really cool to see the coaches recognize that and hopefully he follows the same path that Ozan is on."

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Hohmann, a Second-Team Southeastern Conference player in 2023 at LSU, earns his second conference award as a Spartan. The Oyster Bay, N.Y. native was named Big Ten Player of the Week on Feb. 28 for two ranked-win clinching efforts that led the Spartans to the Blue Gray Classic final. Hohmann is 24-14 on the year, the ITA's No. 50 player, as high as No. 11, and has been ranked in doubles all season.

"We're so blessed to have Ronnie come in from LSU and take a chance on this program," Jadun said. "This honor is very well deserved and I'm excited to see what he does in Big Ten's and NCAA's."

Crocker represents the Spartans as their Big Ten Sportsmanship award winner in 2024. The program veteran from Kalamazoo, Mich. is 3-1 on the season in doubles.

"If there was an award for Big Ten good guys, Reed would be first team all-good guy," Jadun said. "He brings a great atmosphere to college tennis and he's be excellent for us all four years."

Jadun was outvoted for Big Ten Men's Tennis Coach of the Year, which was won by conference regular season winner Ohio State's Ty Tucker.

The 19th-ranked Spartans take to the courts for their postseason opener in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals as the three seed and will face sixth-seeded national No. 68 Indiana in Chicago, tomorrow at 5 p.m. ET with the match being streamed on B1G+.

Release courtesy of MSU Athletics.

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Men's Tennis Sets Sights on Big Ten Tournament Opener Friday​

CHICAGO, Ill. – 19th-ranked Men's Tennis kicks off the postseason Friday in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament as the three seed against sixth seeded and national No. 68 Indiana with first serve at 5 p.m. ET.

Live Results | Full Bracket | TV: B1G+

In a season of program firsts, the Michigan State will seek its first Big Ten Tournament title and second ever conference championship, first since 1967. The Spartans have won each of their last three first round matches but have not made it out of the second round since the tournament switched to the single-elimination format in 1999.

The match will be streamed on B1G+ and the winner will advance to the semifinals on Saturday to play the winner of No. 2 seed Michigan vs. No. 7 Northwestern at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Scouting No. 68 Indiana
Indiana finished the regular season 16-10 overall and 4-5 in the Big Ten. In the ITA collegiate tennis rankings, the Hoosiers are represented by sophomore Sam Landau in singles, slotted at No. 100 nationally. In doubles, seniors Michael Andre and Ilya Tiraspolsky combine to make the 67th-ranked pairing.

Series History vs. Indiana
The Hoosiers hold a 63-25 all-time series lead over the Spartans. Michigan State has however come out on top in the previous three meetings between the two sides, including a 7-0 senior day sweep in East Lansing just 18 days ago on April 7.

The Hoosiers were without Landau, their top-rated player, for that match however, while the Spartans sat their own top singles player, Baris. The two are likely to meet on main court Friday.

Spartans in ITA DI Men's Tennis Rankings Update (April 23, 2024)
Singles

• No. 9 – Ozan Baris
• No. 50 – Ronald Hohmann III
• No. 124 – Graydon Lair

Doubles

• No. 16 – Max Sheldon/Ozan Baris
• No. 72 – Ronald Hohmann III/Ozan Baris
• No. 74 – Sebastien Collard/Ronald Hohmann III

They've got Chemistry
In 23 matches second-year head coach Harry Jadun has lined up 19 different doubles pairings, all of which have recorded at least one win while 12 of the duos have winning records.

10-Win Club Singles Lineup

1. Ozan Baris | So. | 14-3, 6-0 B1G, 7-2 at No. 1
2. Ronald Hohmann III | Gr. | 12-10, 3-6 B1G, 4-3 at No. 2
3. Aristotelis Thanos | R-Fr. | 12-2, 5-1 B1G, 7-0 at No. 3
4. Sebastien Collard | Gr. | 13-8, 3-5 B1G, 3-3 at No. 4
5. Max Sheldon | Jr. | 14-5, 5-3 B1G, 6-1 at No. 5
6. David Saye | So. | 10-6, 5-2 B1G, 2-1 at No. 6

Release courtesy of MSU Athletics.

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Spartan Track & Field will compete at three meets to wrap up the last week regular season competition, including the highly-touted 128th edition of Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pa. on Friday and Saturday, April 26 and 27.

Select women's distance runners and members of the men's and women's throws crew will kick off the week at the GVSU Extra Weekend meet in a one-day competition in Allendale, Mich. Thursday. A handful of MSU jumpers and sprinters will compete at the Len Paddock Invitational on Saturday.

At last year's Penn Relays the Spartans broke three women's relays school records in the distance medley relays, 4x1500m relay and the 4x800m relay. The last time the MSU women raced the DMR, Shae Harbaugh, Abbey Carvey, Kate Stewart-Barnett and Lauren Freeland won the Big Ten Indoors title on Feb. 23.

The three meets will conclude the regular season for the Spartans ahead of the Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships which will take place from May 10-12 in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Season Headlines Review
Jim Green Invite – April 19-20 | Lexington, Ky. & Virginia Challenge – April 19-20 | Charlottesville, Va. & Al Owens Classic – April 20 | Allendale, Mich.
Personal Bests Plentiful for Spartans at Weekend Meets, Pole Vaulters Shine
The distance squad accepted the challenge at the Virginia Challenge as the majority of Spartans collected PRs on the weekend. Several individual breakthroughs were made, including the return of junior Kaitlyn Hynes and the men sweeping wins in each of the four 1500m heats.

The sprints, throws and jumps teams meanwhile put the 'Green' in the Jim Green Invite in Lexington, Ky.. Spartans swept the pole vault victories as sophomore Sophia Mettes continued her continual growth with a 4.27m PR, winning the event by over a foot on Friday, ranking her as NCAA East Region No. 6. Sophomore Adam Blue topped the competition at 5.12m, his first time clearing five meters in his career. Junior Valadian Pallett won the hammer throw by .8 meters behind a PR of 54.82m.

Mt. SAC Relays – April 17-18 | Torrance, Calif.
Baldwin Meets Olympic Standard, Breaks Several Records
Heath Baldwin's decathlon score of 8470 at the Mt. SAC Relays poises him for the 2024 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, ranking as the U.S. No. 1, world No. 3 and NCAA seventh-best of all time.

The Kalamazoo, Mich. native's score over the ten events meets the Olympic standard and makes him the current Team USA Decathlon Olympic trials front-runner for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

Baldwin breaks the Big Ten conference decathlon record and shatters his own MSU school record by 386 points, set at the 2023 Mt. SAC Relays. The graduate student used four personal best marks over the two-day competition (100m dash, long jump, 400m dash and javelin) to reset his school record overall score, with his javelin throw of 71.02m also breaking his school record in the event.

Bryan Clay Invite – April 11-13 |Azusa, Calif. & JMU Invite – April 13 | Harrisonburg, Va.
Track & Field Continues Success with 10 wins at JMU, Women Set PR's at Highly-Touted Bryan Clay
Michigan State Track and Field wrapped up a full weekend of action with 10 victories at the JMU Invite Saturday while three Spartans from the women's distance team recorded solid marks at the highly-touted Bryan Clay Invite.

Representing the green and white at the Bryan Clay Invite in Azusa, Calif. junior Kate Stewart-Barnett in the 3000m Steeplechase Thursday and graduate student Katie Osika in the 5000m Friday both logged significant PR's among talented competition.

Spartan Invite – April 5 | East Lansing, Mich.
Spartans Collect 15 Event Wins on Home Grounds
Graduating seniors contributed to several top performances at their final home meet, the Spartan Invite presented by Auto-Owners Insurance.

Spartans won 15 events on the day including nine of ten consecutive events to end the day, including three straight sweeps of the podium on the track at Ralph Young Field. 21 soon-to-be Spartan Track and Field graduates were recognized during the senior day celebrations.

Raleigh Relays – March 28-30| Raleigh, N.C.
Spartans in all Specialties Solid Throughout Raleigh Relays
At the competitive three-day Raleigh Relays, Spartans across all event specialties put together solid performances, starting with a throws team sweep of the shot put in the first events of day one.

Freshman Jessica Stieb kicked things off, winning the collegiate shot put at 15.99m. Sophomore Colby Morlock won the men's shot put by over two feet behind an 18.53m PR, completing the Spartan sweep of the shot Thursday.

Running unattached and coming off the back of a Big Ten steeplechase title last outdoor season, junior Kate Stewart-Barnett won the 3000m steeplechase at 10:01.08 Friday. National runner-up in the heptathlon during the Indoor season and fellow Olympic hopeful graduate student Heath Baldwin showed his consistent progress with two PRs and third place finishes in the long jump (7.35m) and 110m hurdles (13.81s), also claiming fourth in the pole vault.

Clyde Hart Classic – March 22-23 | Waco, Texas
Men's Sprints Highlight Outdoor Opener
On the first meet day of the outdoor season Friday, it was the senior Kendel Hammock that delivered, posting a 400m hurdles winning time of 53 seconds flat.

On Saturday, junior Noah Sage followed it up with Michigan State's other podium finish of the weekend, a 46.57 400m dash time, which is good for the 13th fastest in NCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field on the young season.

Other notable performances included a pair of top-five finishes on the women's side. On Friday, sophomore Natalie Blake pole vaulted to a fourth-place finish at 4.00m. Freshman and MSU Indoor shotput record holder Jessica Stieb tossed the shot 16 meters, good for fifth.

Release courtesy of MSU Athletics.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – In a hard-fought bout that came down to the final court, the Michigan State women's tennis team season came to an end on Wednesday morning, losing to the No. 12-seeded Rutgers, 4-3 in the first round of the Big Ten Championships.

The first match of the B1G Championships turned to be a thriller from start to finish; beginning with the Spartans opening play taking the doubles point. The Scarlet Knights attacked early taking court No. 2, 6-1.

On the top court, senior Ayshe Can and junior Liisa Vehvilainen are coming off a ranked victory against Iowa last Sunday, but found themselves trailing 3-5 to Yana Gurevich and Mai Nguyen. The Green and White duo would soar back to win four-straight games to secure the come-from-behind victory, 7-5.

The deciding point came down to the final court with the young pairing of sophomore Marley Lambert and freshman Natalie Stasny. It was a back-and-forth matchup against Amira Badawi and Naomi Karki going into a 6-6 tiebreaker match, the Spartans young duo pulled off a nail-biting 8-6 victory, giving their team an early advantage into singles play.

Rutgers would take the first lead of the day, sweeping courts one (6-1, 6-4), four (6-2, 6-2) and six (6-3, 6-3) in straight sets.

Michigan State continued to fight and keeping the match close with victories on the No. 2 and No. 3 courts. Sophomore Matilde Morais opened her match in the second slot blanking Tara Chilton 6-0 and kept the domination going on the second set, 6-2, giving the Spartans another point.

No. 109-ranked freshman Ria Bhakta – who missed the final three matches of the regular season – made her return to the starting lineup and didn't appear to miss a beat. The lone individual ranked player for MSU defeated Amira Badawi, 6-4, 6-1, tying the match 3-3.

The determining point came down on court No. 5 with Stasny going head-to-head with Minchae Kim that came down to a third and final set. Stasny battled back to take the second set, 6-2 but was in an early 1-5 deficit. The young freshman from Woodbridge, Illinois, worked her way back from 40-love to make it 2-5 and almost pulled off another comeback from 30-love to tie it 40-40 but fell in a heartbreaking 2-6 match. Stasny showed a lot of grit in her first B1G Championships appearance and looks to be a key piece for the Spartans moving forward.

Michigan State finished the season with a 10-16 record and 1-10 against Big Ten foes. The Spartans eclipsed the 10-win threshold for the first time since the 2018-19 season.

MATCH RESULTS

No. 12 Rutgers 4 vs. No. 13 Michigan State 3

Doubles

No. 1 -- Ayshe Can/Liisa Vehvilainen (MSU) def. Yana Gurevich/Mai Nguyen (RU) 7-5

No. 2 -- Tara Chilton/Minchae Kim (RU) def. Matilde Morais/Nicole Conard (MSU) 6-1

No. 3 -- Natalie Stasny/Marley Lambert (MSU) def. Amira Badawi/Naomi Karki (RU) 7-6 (8)

Singles

No. 1 -- Yana Gurevich (RU) def. Liisa Vehvilainen (MSU) 6-1, 6-4

No. 2 -- Matilde Morais (MSU) def. Tara Chilton (RU) 6-0, 6-2

No. 3 -- Ria Bhakta (MSU) def. Amira Badawi (RU) 6-4, 6-1

No. 4 -- Mai Nguyen (RU) def. Issey Purser (MSU) 6-2, 6-2

No. 5 -- Minchae Kim (RU) def. Natalie Stasny (MSU) 6-2, 2-6, 6-2

No. 6 -- Jackeline Lopez (RU) def. Ayshe Can (MSU) 6-3, 6-3

Order of Completion: Doubles 2-1- 3; Singles 1-4-2-6-3-5

Recap courtesy of MSU Athletics.

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State softball will celebrate its six-person senior class following Sunday's game as the Spartans prepare to host Rutgers for MSU's final B1G home series of the season on April 26-28 at Secchia Stadium. Game one of the three-game series is set for 3:00 p.m. on Friday, April 26.

All games will be streamed live via B1G+. Fans can listen in on the action via the Spartan Media Network on MSUSpartans.com.

Among those seniors to be honored prior to Sunday's 1:00 p.m. game include AJ Militello, Anna Fox, Liv Grey, Jenae Wash, Alexis Ross and Ashlyn Roberts.

ABOUT RUTGERS
Rutgers is 29-19 overall and 10-7 in B1G play this season. The Scarlet Knights rank No. 90 in the latest NCAA RPI with their best win coming against Nebraska (9-3).

Rutgers ranks #58 nationally in batting average (.299), #85 in ERA (3.06), #137 in fielding (.963), #59 in home runs per game (.90), #44 in OBP (.389), #22 in scoring (6.21) and #61 in SLG (.464).

Morgan Smith plays both ways with a 3.59 ERA in 113.0 innings pitched. Smith is dangerous with the bat, ranking #35 nationally in average (.422), #28 in hits (62), #4 in home runs (19), #65 in OBP (.489), #3 in RBI (64) and #6 in SLG (.925). Smith has walked 25 times with just 10 strikeouts.

Mattison Boyd leads the B1G in starts (24) and complete games (17), while ranking #3 in ERA (2.19), #1 in innings (156.1) and #7 in strikeouts (134). Opponents hit .211 against her.

Kyleigh Sand is #58 nationally in average (.409), #13 in hits (65), #53 in OBP (.495) and #10 in runs per game (1.17). Sand has drawn 29 walks to just eight strikeouts. Katie Wingert has hit 12 home runs this season (4 in B1G play).

SPARTANS TAKE ONE AGAINST ILLINOIS
Michigan State went 1-2 against Illinois over the weekend, taking game two of the series in dramatic fashion, 6-5.

MSU's offense hit .284 over the weekend led by junior Mik Anthony who hit .750 (3-for-4) with a pair of walks to reach base at a .833 clip. Sophomore Britain Beshears hit .500 with two homers and a team-high six RBI.

Sophomore Hannah Hawley hit .429 with three hits, three walks and two hit by pitches. Senior Jenae Wash hit .375 and homered. Sophomore Sydney Doloszycki hit an even .300 and tripled twice.

Junior Madison Taylor led the pitching staff with a 3.71 ERA over 11.1 innings. Opponents hit .261 against her in her two appearances.

PLAYOFF PICTURE
The 2024 B1G Softball Tournament is being hosted at Iowa this season, May 8-11.

12 of the 14 teams in the B1G make the tournament. Michigan State is fighting for a spot in the tournament over the final three weeks of the season with a 3-14 record in conference play.

Team Conference Record
#11 Illinois 5-11
#12 Iowa 4-13
Maryland 4-13
MSU 3-14


Release courtesy of MSU Athletics.

US Dept. of Justice paying Nassar victims 139 million for FBI's failure in properly investigating Nassar.

Emma Shumate (6'1, RS Soph, wing) from Ohio State. She let the staff know the same weekend that VanSlooten committed. Averaged 4 points a game and shot 42% from "3" (38 makes) this past season.

She was a four-star recruit in 2021 and was ranked by ESPN as the No. 23 guard and No. 59 overall prospect in the class

RB transfer Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams has committed to Michigan State
https://twitter.com/On3sports

He rushed for 1,157 yards and 12 TDs in 2023

Michigan State Women's Basketball has picked up a commitment from Ohio State transfer guard Emma Shumate.

More on the redshirt sophomore's choice of the Spartans here:

The wheels keep churning. We seem to be losing more players than we are bringing in to and from the portal.
As of today, who are the impactful losses that will affect us negatively if we don’t get replacements of equal or better quality?

Preferred walk-on. Spent one season with MSU. Didn't see the field. Used his redshirt. He will have four years of college eligibility remaining.

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Hey all, would love to hear your thoughts on the scheme breakdown from the Spring Game. Despite the portal news, lots of good stuff going on schematically for MSU here.

Andy Hartman Message:

"Thank you to everyone who has supported me and guided me through this process, I am open to all opportunities!"

Hartman was on MLive-Flint Journal Dream Team after anchoring the Grand Blanc offensive line

The Detrroit Lions, OT Penei Sewell Agreed to Terms on a Four-Year, $112M extension ($85M guaranteed) making him the new highest-paid offensive lineman in the NFL

Michigan State landed its first commitment of the 2025 recruiting cycle on Monday, as three-star California quarterback and priority target Leo Hannan verbally pledged to the Spartans.

A big reason why Hannan wanted to become a Spartan is because of his strong relationship with Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Brian Lindgren. However, there is another coach/trainer in his life who has played a significant role in his development: Sam Fisher.

Fisher is the owner of Throw To Win, a quarterback training and development company based in the Los Angeles area. He is also Hannan's personal quarterbacks coach and trainer.

Originally from Fresno, California, Fisher moved to L.A. in 2007, and served as the quarterbacks coach at Notre Dame High School from 2016 through 2019.

In just under a decade, Fisher has trained and developed many quarterbacks who went on to play college football at the Division I level. Most notably for Michigan State fans, that includes current Spartan quarterback and projected 2024 starter Aidan Chiles.

Now, Fisher is working with another future Spartan in Hannan, along with several other clients.

"Leo's game has always reminded me of Andrew Luck — body type, IQ and running ability," Fisher noted.

Much more here:

Michigan State prospects react to visit for Spartan Spring Showcase

Michigan State hosted several recruits during the "Spring Showcase" event. Here are their reactions.

michiganstate.rivals.com

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Woke up this morning to a dreaded jury duty summons in my inbox (apparently they send out an initial notice by email now) for early June. Maybe I'll get lucky and told I don't have to report a few days ahead of time like last time I was summoned for Grand Jury and argued my way into Petit instead before being told I wasn't needed...

Anybody have a fun jury duty story of their own?

Michigan State football secured its first verbal commitment in its class of 2025 earlier this week in three-star quarterback Leo Hannan (Anaheim, Calif.).

Breaking down the impact of Hannan's commitment and analyzing what he brings to the Spartans:

The Lions and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown have agreed to a four-year deal worth $120 million, with $77 million guaranteed.

Just a quick update here regarding the latest we’re hearing about Michigan State men’s basketball and the transfer portal.

To start, Michigan State (and other schools) is still waiting on an answer from Omaha transfer forward Frankie Fidler, who officially visited MSU last weekend. From our understanding, the visit went well and the Spartans feel that Fidler is still very much in play. It is still unclear when Fidler will come to a decision, but sources at MSU are hoping to have a more clear idea on that as soon as possible, and the expectation as of now is that it is just a matter of days before he decides (but as always, things can change). Fidler certainly appears to be the priority in terms of transfer portal targets right now. His other finalists are Wisconsin, Nebraska and Creighton.

Additionally, regarding a potential visit to Michigan State for Oakland transfer Trey Townsend, we are hearing that is not yet concrete. Obviously, these things are fluid and it could certainly still happen, but from what we are told, this is not set in stone just yet. Our understanding is that MSU is still in communication with Townsend and there is interest, so certainly, a visit is a possibility.

Of course, Michigan State is looking into other targets as well.

A recent article reported that his approach to the portal is methodical and cautious.He does not want to lose committed players. We need a center. Bolla from Arizona was available until Indiana got him. I have no idea if Izzo tried to recruit him. But why wouldn't he have made an all out effort? Was he concerned that Cooper or Kohler would have hit the transfer portal? In my opinion, Bolla would have been a huge upgrade because I don't see our current centers improving enough to take us to the promised land.
Thought?

Spartans Illustrated has confirmed that long snapper Drew Wilson has also entered the transfer portal.

I included some info about Wilson in the story below.

Class of 2025 four-star offensive lineman and Rivals250 prospect Darius Afalava has locked in an official visit to Michigan State for the weekend of May 31 through June 2.

Afalava took to social media to announce the news on Monday night.

Shortly afterward, Afalava spoke to Spartans Illustrated about what he is looking forward to most during his first trip to East Lansing.

"Really, what I’m looking for is what the whole area looks like, because this will be my first time on the campus and I hope to spend some good time with a bunch of the coaches and grow my relationship with them," Afalava said.

Much more here: