May 11, 2012

Games 54-56: Michigan State (11-39, 0-20) vs. Indiana (27-25, 11-10)
Dates	Friday, May 11 - Saturday, May 12
Location	East Lansing, Mich. | Secchia Stadium (2,500)
Tickets	$5 | $3 (youth/seniors)
Statistics	Michigan State | Indiana
Notes	Michigan State | Indiana
Social Media	@MSU_Softball | Facebook

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State softball team will wrap up the 2012 regular season when they host Indiana. The final series of the year will begin on Friday (May 11) at 5 p.m. ET and will conclude with a twinbill on Saturday (May 12) at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday's matchup will mark Senior Day at Secchia Stadium and will be aired live on the Big Ten Network.

Series History...
The Spartans and the Hoosiers will meet for the 104th time on Friday. Michigan State trails the all-time record 57-46 after being swept by Indiana in the season series last year.

Last Time Out...
MSU hosted five games in as many days last week, but the home stretch was cut short due to inclement weather in the Greater Lansing area. All three games of the conference series with Northwestern were played, but the Spartans were unable to get a win over the Wildcats.

The Michigan State offense was led by junior Kylene Hopkins. The center-fielder notched three hits on the weekend, including one RBI. Senior Lori Padilla also contributed to the offense, posting one hit, one RBI and one walk.

The entire Spartan pitching staff saw action against Northwestern, but sophomore Cassee Layne and freshman Carly Nielsen were the starters for MSU. Layne was in the circle for a combined 6.2 innings and earned the loss in the first game of the series. Nielsen pitched for a total of six innings and was given the loss for the next two matchups.

Spartan Scouting Report...
Junior Kylene Hopkins and senior Lori Padilla have been atop the Spartan batting order for the entire 2012 season. Hopkins owns a team-best .399 batting average, 57 hits, 14 doubles, 21 RBIs, .524 slugging percentage, 21 walks and .479 on base percentage. Padilla leads the team in runs with 28 scored and boasts a .316 batting average and 48 hits.

Freshman Carly Nielsen has appeared in 38 games for MSU, tabbing a 6.02 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 121.0 innings. Sophomore Cassee Layne owns a team-high 74 Ks and a 6.75 ERA in 121.1 innings and 23 starts in the circle.

Michigan State is currently 11-39 on the season and 0-20 in the Big Ten.

Scouting the Hoosiers...
Indiana enters the weekend 27-25 overall and 11-10 in conference play. Amanda Wagner tops the Hoosier offense in batting average (.348), hits (46), RBI (34), home runs (9), slugging percentage (.614), walks (34) and on base percentage (.509). The pitching responsibilities for IU have been split between Lora Olson and Meaghan Murphy. Olson owns a 4.59 ERA and 14-14 record in 160.0 innings of work while Murphy is 13-11 with an ERA of 4.67 in 172.1 innings.

Big Ten Rankings...
Michigan State ranks in the top half of the Big Ten in five different categories. With four games saved, the Spartans are tied for second in the conference. The Green and White is also sixth in steal attempts (54), sacrifice bunts (34) and triples (6) and are tied for sixth in fielding double plays (15).

There are also individual Spartans who see themselves atop the Big Ten rankings. On the offense, junior Kylene Hopkins owns the second-best batting average in the league with a .399 average at the plate. Hopkins is also sixth for on base percentage with .479 and is tied for 10th in hits with 52. Senior Ali Grant is tied for third in sacrifice flies (3) and junior Jenny Ramsaier is tied for sixth in sacrifice bunts (8).

In the circle, freshman Carly Nielsen leads the Big Ten in saves (3) and is tied with junior Shelby Wise for first in games in relief (18). The newcomer is second in games finished with 13 and is tied for fifth in appearances (38). With 14 games finished, senior Rebecca Rogers is No. 1 in the conference. Rogers is also tied for third in games in relief (17) while sophomore Cassee Layne is tied for 11th in that category (12). Layne is also 10th in batters struck out looking (32) and 11th in appearances (35).

Defensively, freshman McKinzie Freimuth is tied for sixth in fielding double plays with 11. The first basemen also ranks 10th in putouts (308) and fielding chances (326).

Next Up...
This coming weekend will mark the end of the 2012 campaign for the Spartans. Michigan State will begin play next spring with eight returning starters.