Before the MSU baseball team’s matchup with Iowa on Saturday, head coach Jake Boss Jr. and the Spartans welcomed back the program’s all-time hits leader Brandon Eckerle.

Eckerle — who was drafted in the 32nd round of the 2011 MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers — threw out the first pitch of the game and accepted his Brewer Leadership Award, which is presented to a graduating senior for a distinguished performance in athletics and academics.

“I got to go down in the dugout for a bit before the game and it’s a little different being on this side of the field, coming back and watching some of those guys I played with out there,” Eckerle said. “Again, it brings back a lot of good memories and I’m enjoying myself.”

Despite having some success with the Tigers’ minor league affiliate Lakeland Flying Tigers, Eckerle retired from baseball and has plans to return to MSU in the fall to pursue a law degree. Eckerle said he has interest in a law degree to potentially become a sports agent, citing the classic Tom Cruise movie Jerry Maguire as a source of inspiration behind the decision.

“When I got drafted last year, I was really considering saying ‘Thanks,’ and still go to law school,” Eckerle said. “But I gave it a shot for the summer. I did pretty well but it’s a pretty big commitment. I’ve been playing baseball as long as I can remember and I guess I got burned out a little bit.”

In addition to owning the all-time hits record at MSU (261), Eckerle also finished his career ranked second in runs scored with 158.

Seth “Mayhem” Mitchell won his heavyweight bout against Chazz Witherspoon last night, keeping his hopes of a title bout with reigning champion Wladimir Klitschko alive.

Mitchell, a former Spartan linebacker who elected to pursue boxing after an injury ended his football career prematurely, improved his record to 25-0-1 after the referee stopped the fight two minutes and 38 seconds into the third round. The MSU alumnus needed a big momentum swing in round two after Witherspoon nearly dropped him to the canvas in the first but was able to rally back for a TKO decision — his tenth straight victory by a knockout.

At MSU, Mitchell was a standout on the Spartan defensive unit, ranking second on the team with 103 tackles in 2003, his sophomore season. When his football dreams ended, Mitchell turned his focus towards his studies and graduated from the university in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal science.

Since then, Mitchell has become one of boxing’s quickest rising stars when he first emerged on the professional scene in 2008. He has amassed an undefeated record, and widely is considered to be the United State’s best chance to challenge Klitschko for the heavyweight title.

Mick VanVossen has been waiting for this moment for quite some time.

In his third appearance for the MSU baseball team Tuesday against Notre Dame, the freshman right-hander picked up an 8-2 win, the first of his career. And for the Ada, Mich., native, it was a special moment.

“It’s definitely a privilege playing for the Green and White; I’ve been a lifelong fan,” VanVossen said. “It’s been tough the last two outings, with two no decisions. I haven’t pitched my best, but today really felt good.”

On a cold, snowy day at McLane Baseball Stadium at Old College Field, Van Vossen threw 6.3 innings, giving up six hits and one earned run while surrendering two walks and delivering two strikeouts. In his previous two starts, VanVossen was decent, giving up 12 total hits and four earned runs in 11 innings pitched.

On Tuesday, VanVossen said he didn’t do anything fancy, relying on just two pitches to capture his first win.

“I couldn’t find my slider today in warm-up pitches,” VanVossen said. “It just wasn’t there. The two-seam (fastball) was working well, and the changeup was definitely an out pitch today.”

Head coach Jake Boss Jr. said he’s been excited with the progress VanVossen has made to this point, and Tuesday was no different.

“With every start, with every appearance, he gets better and better,” Boss said. “He was able to get ahead in the count, and when he got behind in the count, he was able to fight his way back.

“His stuff is very good, so he’s going to be a good one here.”

As a freshman, VanVossen finds himself on a staff with some significant older talent, especially senior Tony Bucciferro and junior Andrew Waszak. Without them, VanVossen might be in the Spartans’ weekend rotation, but Boss said learning from the duo is best for his young starter.

“When he’s not pitching, he’s able to sit and watch those guys,” Boss said. “(He sees) how they’re successful and even the little nuances of the game — fielding his position and things like that.”

Boss said he saw some of those little things Tuesday, such as when VanVossen left the mound to successfully field a bunt in the fifth inning.

For VanVossen, the biggest thing he takes from Bucciferro and Waszak is the importance of throwing strikes early in the count and not falling behind. He also said they help him with the speed of the college game and things of that nature.

“Bucciferro and Waszak are both great pitchers,” VanVossen said. “I’m learning a lot from them, and they’ve really helped me along.”

Eventually, Boss expects VanVossen — who was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 49th round of the 2011 Major League First-Year Player Draft — to be the one young pitchers look up to. And although he’s looking forward to when VanVossen reaches that point, Boss is going to continue to enjoy seeing him develop into what he expects to be a very good pitcher.

“It’s going to be fun to watch him.”

While the MSU baseball team finds its way offensively this season, junior outfielder Jordan Keur has been a force at the plate.

After going 4-for-5 with an RBI in a 13-3 win over Bowling Green on Tuesday, Keur leads the Big Ten with a .419 batting average. Keur also has 12 RBIs on the year, and his 36 hits put him in a tie for the team lead with junior second baseman Ryan Jones.

After Tuesday’s game, head coach Jake Boss Jr. said Keur is doing everything right at the dish after finishing last season as a .260 hitter.

“He’s seeing the ball really well, he’s hitting the ball to all fields and putting together a lot of good at-bats,” Boss said. “To his credit, he’s made some adjustments in his swing from last year. He took the summer off because of an injury (thumb), which maybe was the best thing that could have happened to him in the long run. He came back with a really good approach.”

Keur said he’s put a considerable amount of time into his swing, and that’s paying off. But he didn’t want to take any of the credit for MSU’s recent success.

“I’ve had a lot of practice in the cages,” Keur said. “Right now I’m seeing the ball well and taking advantage of it, but I think our whole team is seeing the ball a lot better. We’re rolling right now.”

Along with Keur’s big day, Tuesday provided some insight into the potential explosiveness of the Spartans’ lineup.

Sophomore catcher Joel Fisher returned from injury and chipped in two hits, including a double he crushed to left-center field. Boss and Fisher both were excited about his return, but he won’t be expected to do more than he can handle as he works his way back.

“We were happy to have him back,” Boss said. “We’ll see how sore he is tomorrow. He looked like he favored his knee a little bit back there today, which is understandable. At the same time, it was important for him to catch nine innings today. We’ll see how sore he is tomorrow and try to ease him back into where he’s able to catch on the weekend for us.”

Fisher had an ice pack on his previously injured left knee after the game, but he said that was just a precaution. He doesn’t expect to catch again against Central Michigan at 3:05 p.m. Wednesday at McLane Baseball Stadium at Kobs Field, but he hopes to get a couple more at-bats.

Another Spartan made some strides Tuesday, even though he only had two plate appearances.

Freshman outfielder Jimmy Pickens came in as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning and promptly drilled a two-run homer to right field. It was a big hit for a player Boss said has been “scuffling a little bit.”

“But he’s working extremely hard in the cages and on his own getting extra work in,” Boss said. “We’ll go back and look at that swing on the home run and see some of the fruits of that labor.”

Pickens struck out swinging in the eighth inning, but Boss still was happy with what he saw from the freshman, who is hitting .246 in 21 games — including 18 starts — this season.

“This is a game where it doesn’t happen instantly, and it takes a long time to break some habits,” Boss said. “At the same time, he’s working hard at it, and he’s going to be a great player for us.”

For the first time in her young career, sophomore gymnast Taira Neal was named to the All-Big Ten team, taking second-team honors for her performance this season.

In every meet but one, Neal has placed on the vault for the Spartans, several times tying her personal best score of 9.925 on the event. She also has posted a regional qualifying score of 9.900 on the season on vault, which ties her for 20th in the nation in vault scores.

The mark also puts her ranked fifth in the Central Region and fifth in the Big Ten.

Neal was the only Spartan to be named to either the first or second team roster and will participate in the upcoming Big Ten Championships in Iowa City, Iowa this weekend.

It had been more than a year since a member of the MSU softball team was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week, but utility player Stephanie Sanders snapped the streak, after being recognized for the first time by the conference Monday.

The redshirt freshman was a catalyst for MSU’s offense this weekend, hitting two home runs and driving in seven as the Spartans won three of four games in Bloomington, Ind., during the Hoosier Classic.

Sanders hit .417 during the four-game stretch to become the first Spartan to win a conference award.

Following the loss of 10 seniors to graduation from the fall, MSU women’s soccer head coach Tom Saxton has announced the start of a new era by releasing the program’s spring schedule.

The Spartans open the spring with two games on the road on March 24 at an indoor facility in Ypsilanti, Mich. against Eastern Michigan and on March 31 against Oakland in Pontiac, Mich.

The home schedule kicks off with Michigan at 3 p.m. on April 7th and continues with Grand Valley State the following weekend. MSU will close out its spring schedule on the road on April 21 against Toledo.

The departure of forward Laura Heyboer — who was selected by Sky Blue FC on Jan. 13 in the Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) Draft — along with goalie Jill Flietstra and defender Katelin Chaklos, among others in what Saxton has called the top recruiting class in program history, has left holes to fill across the board for the Spartans.

The team’s second-leading scorer of a season ago senior forward Olivia Stander likely will take a bigger role on offense while junior defender Annie Steinlage and senior defender Desiree Aber are forced to step up without Chaklos.

“We are excited to give our younger players the chance to step up this spring, and we have a lot to get done over these five games in order to lay the foundation for this fall,” Saxton said in a release from the athletics department.

“Our current freshmen will be a huge part of that foundation, and I know they are eager to prove themselves on the field. Lots of players will be filling new roles, and this will help that transition.”

For the fall season, the Spartans are likely to see contributions from a portion of the 10 members of Saxton’s 2012 recruiting class. The class includes midfielders Shelby Foit (Phoenix, Md.), Sarah Kovan (Okemos, Mich.), Kelli Timar (Novi, Mich.) and Jessica White (Trabuco Canyon, Calif.); forwards Erica Goodenough (DeWitt, Mich.) and Allyson Krause (Canton, Mich.); defenders Alexandra Gjonaj (Novi, Mich.), Caitlyn Riley (Williamstown, Mass.) and Shauna Stadelmaier (Midland, Mich.) along with goalkeeper Nicole Pond (Chesterfield, Va.)

After a string of strong performances that saw the MSU gymnastics team post its highest score of the season — a mark of 195.550 on senior night — the Spartans rocketed up the national rankings to No. 28 — up from No. 45 last week.

The rankings are sorted by each team’s regional qualifying score, or RQS, a scoring system based on that team’s top six meet scores with the high score removed from the equation. The Spartans currently boast an RQS of 194.840, which puts MSU firmly in control of its post-season destiny.

NCAA regional bids are doled out to the top 36 teams, and at 28, MSU rests comfortably in that group. Still, the Spartans can’t get complacent, because if they can jump 17 spots in one week, there’s no reason other teams couldn’t climb up the rank and bump MSU down a few spots. With each team separated by tenths of a point, the MSU gymnasts will have to watch their back and continue to perform at a high level.

When the Big Ten wrestling pre-seeds were announced yesterday, the one thing that jumped out was the absence of senior Eric Olanowski at the 125-pound division.

Instead, sophomore Brenan Lyon will wrestle at 125 lbs. for MSU, despite the fact Olanowski was given the starting nod for most of the season. Today, I asked head coach Tom Minkel about why Olanowski was left out.

Minkel said Olanowski will not wrestle due to an internal matter— saying it was unfortunate, but nothing more.

Although the reasoning is unclear, it’s possible that his wrestling career at MSU has ended, with only two more opportunities for competition remaining.

Lyon should be more than capable filling in for Olanowski, as he wrestled in the tournament during his freshman year. Still, one has to wonder what transpired between Olanowski and Minkel, but it seems likely we may never know.

The MSU wrestling team will be well represented in the Big Ten Championships this weekend, as six Spartan wrestlers were selected to participate in their respective weight classes.

The wrestlers are selected through a vote from the conference coaches, and the top eight wrestlers are eligible to participate in the tournament. However, in three weight classes — 149, 174 and the heavyweight divisions — each team will have a competing wrestler.

Senior 157-pounder Anthony Jones Jr. is the highest seeded Spartan in the tournament, ranked fourth in his class. The next highest seed for MSU is senior Curran Jacobs, who was awarded the number six seed in the 174-pound division.

Sophomore Brenan Lyon got the nod in the 125-pound division for MSU as the eighth seed, while junior 149-pounder Dan Osterman was given the No. 9 seed in his class and senior 184-pounder Ian Hinton will wrestle at the No. 8 seed. Rounding out the Spartan wrestlers is junior heavyweight Steve Andrus, who is slotted in at the No. 10 seed.

The Big Ten Championships are scheduled for March 3-4 in West Lafayette, Ind., at Purdue’s Mackey Arena.