Spartan southpaw becomes first MSU baseball player to earn B1G weekly award in consecutive weeks.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball's junior pitcher Joseph Dzierwa was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week for the second-straight week, announced Monday evening by the conference office.
Dzierwa becomes the first Michigan State baseball player to earn a B1G weekly award of any kind in consecutive weeks in program history.
Twice before a Spartan pitcher has earned the Pitcher of the Week award in a span of three weeks, as Cam Vieaux earned the accolades on March 31 and April 14, 2014, and Andrew Waszak collected the awards on April 15 and 29, but not in successive weeks.
Along with his second-consecutive Big Ten Pitcher of the Week Award, this is Dzierwa's sixth overall conference recognition, including his third weekly award, as he was also Big Ten Freshman of the Week once (April 10, 2023). Dzierwa was a 2024 All-Big Ten Second Team selection, as well as a two-time B1G Preseason Player to Watch List member (2024 and 2025).
Making his second start of the season last Friday vs. Washington State in the opening game of the Kleberg Bank College Classic in Corpus Christi, Texas, Dzierwa chalked up a career-high 12 strikeouts in 7.0 IP, with one hit and one walk, and those both came in the first frame, and he was nearly perfect after that until the sixth.
After striking out the first seven batters faced last week vs. Western Michigan, Dzierwa appeared to be starting Friday afternoon's contest the same way, ringing up Ks on the first two WSU batters. However, he then yielded a two-out walk followed by a single, but then chalked up his third punchout of the inning to slam the door on any thoughts of a rally the Cougars might have had.
Dzierwa then retired the next 14 Cougar batters faced with a total of 10 Ks through five innings, before hitting a batter in the sixth inning. In the seventh, he induced a popup and then fired back-to-back strikeouts looking to end his day with the 12 punchouts in 7.0 IP, with only one hit, one walk and one hit-by-pitch, in only 83 pitches.
It marked the third-straight outing of his career setting or tying career-best, dating back to last year, after he fired 11 Ks vs. Nebraska in the 2024 season-finale, then 11 Ks last Friday in Cary, N.C. vs. Western Michigan, before Friday's dozen punchouts.
Friday's 12 strikeouts by the Spartan southpaw were the most by an MSU pitcher since Sam Benschoter rang up 17 Ks in 9.1 IP of relief on April 21, 2021 vs. Nebraska.
The 12 Ks were also the most in the Big Ten to date, and he now has two of the top five single-game pitching performances in the league in the midst of the second weekend of the season.
Dzierwa is the sixth Spartan pitcher to earn the B1G Pitcher of the Week honors twice in a season, as along with Vieaux and Waszak, Kurt Wunderlich did so in 2011 (Feb. 28 and May 23), Bryan Gale in 2004 (March 29 and May 17) and Tim Crabtree in 1992 (April 7 and May 5).
Additionally, Dzierwa was also named the Big Ten Loud! Performance of the Day by D1Baseball for Friday's performances around the league.
He helped MSU to a 6-1 start to the season, it's best record since 2016, and the Spartans are ranked in this week's NCBWA Top-25 Poll, coming in at No. 23.
Michigan State will be in action playing eight games in 10 days at its home-away-from-home, Fluor Field, in Greenville, South Carolina, home of the Greenville Drive, the high-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, for MSU's Spring Break trip Feb. 28-March 9.
MSU hosts Harvard in a three-game series, Friday-Sunday, Feb. 28-March 2, then play Western Carolina on Wednesday, March 5 in a single midweek contest.
The Spartans then host the First Pitch Invitational on Friday-Sunday, March 7-9, tangling with Cornell and UAB on March 7, then Winthrop on March 8 and UAB again on March 9.
The weekend schedule is subject to further change, fans can stay tuned to MSUSpartans.com and @MSUBaseball on Twitter for schedule updates, along with follow this weekend's action with "Watch Live" and "Live Stats."
Release courtesy of MSU Athletics.
