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Big Ten Honors MSU Pitcher Joseph Dzierwa League'sn Freshman of the Week Award

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Michigan State baseball player Joseph Dzierwa collected the Big Ten Freshman of the Week Award, the league office announced.

A native of Haskins, Ohio, Dzierwa picked up the first B1G weekly honor of his MSU career. The Spartan southpaw went 6.0 solid innings, yielding just three hits while allowing just one run, with four walks and four strikeouts to earn the win in Michigan State's 7-1 triumph over Ohio State Friday night at Jackson Field. With Friday's win, Dzierwa improved to 4-1 on the season, and helped lead the Spartans to head coach Jake Boss Jr. winning his 400th Victory for MSU.

Dzierwa was boosted by a pair of three-up, three-down frames, working a non-conventional 1-2-3 opening inning, yielding a one-out single, before inducing a 5-4-3, two-outs, one-play to end the opening frame. Dzierwa then book-ended the fourth inning with strikeouts, sandwiched around a flyout to Dresselhouse in center, who made a nice running shoe-top catch.

With the four wins, Dzierwa leads the MSU pitching staff in victories, as well as tied for fifth in the B1G in wins with four. He also is seventh in the league in innings pitched (42.2), and is just outside the top 10 in the conference in strikeouts, leading the Spartan staff with 35.

Michigan State improved to 6-3 in B1G play with the series weekend win over OSU, MSU's best conference mark since 2016 when the Spartans were 7-2 through nine league games. The Spartans have won seven of their last nine and 13 of their last 16 and are now 18-10 on the season.

Dzierwa and the Spartans are slated to play another five-game week, opening at Notre Dame on Tuesday, April 11 in a 6 p.m. start time, before hosting Oakland on Wednesday, April 12 in a 6:05 p.m. first pitch. MSU then hosts Western Illinois in a three-game non-conference weekend, Friday-Sunday, April 14-16. The Spartans and Leathernecks series opens Friday evening at 6:05 p.m., followed by Saturday's 3:35 p.m. start time, before wrapping up on Sunday at 1:05 p.m.

MSU's schedule is subject to change, stay tuned to MSUSpartans.com and @MSUBaseball on Twitter for schedule updates.