As Michigan State baseball prepares to begin play in the 2025 Big Ten Conference Tournament against Nebraska, the team is already celebrating significant victories.
Junior pitcher Joseph Dzierwa has been named the 2025 Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, leading MSU’s All-Big Ten Honors. Sophomore infielder Ryan McKay picked up a Second Team All-Big Ten Honoree Award and senior Sam Busch celebrates his MSU Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
From Haskins, Ohio, Dzierwa has had a standout season, holding an 8-3 record with a 2.31 ERA. He has racked up 98 strikeouts in 85.2 innings, each resulting in a donation to six-year-old Luca Wright, who suffers from B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, as Dzierwa vowed to donate to Charitable Gift America’s “Caught Looking for Luca” fund with each K.
Dzierwa has started 14 games with a 0.96 WHIP and thrown for one complete game shutout and four shutouts combined. He lands second in the conference for the fewest hits allowed per nine innings at 6.41.
Dzierwa is just the second player in MSU history to earn the conference’s top pitching honor, joining Kurt Wunderlich in 2011. This postseason award makes him the sixth MSU player to earn a major player award from the Big Ten, joining Player of the Year Award winners Bob Malek (2002) and Jeff Holm (2011). He also sits with Big Ten Freshman of the Year winners Ryan Sontag (2005) and Ryan Jones (2010), as well as three MSU Coach of the Year awards.
Dzierwa’s recognition highlights the dominant season he has had and his growing collection of Big Ten Honors for Michigan State. Dzierwa was also selected to the First Team All-Big Ten in a unanimous decision, marking him as the only Big Ten player to receive this distinction.
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Dzierwa’s Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Award adds to his growing accolades and Big Ten history-making. He became the first Spartan to be named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week four times in a single season and the first Big Ten pitcher to do it since 2009, joining Ohio State’s Alex Wimmers.
Not only was Dzierwa a four-time winner, he was the first Spartan to receive these honors in back-to-back weeks twice, once in the first two weeks of the season - February 17 and February 24 - and then again on May 5 and May 12.
The junior standout achievements go beyond the MSU program and Big Ten Conference, as he is a semifinalist for both the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy. The two postseason Big Ten Honors now total Dzierwa at four career Big Ten honors, including his Second Team All-Big Ten accolade as a sophomore in 2024 and his Big Ten All-Freshman Team recognition in 2023.
In addition to Dzierwa’s accomplishments, sophomore Ryan McKay from Clarkston, Michigan has earned his own recognition this season, earning the Second Team All-Big Ten honor.
McKay leads the Spartans in various statistics with a .322 batting average and ranks 24th in the Big Ten. He also leads MSU in doubles and walks, tied for third in the conference with 19 doubles and 21st in the league in walks.
Senior Sam Busch, a local from East Lansing, Michigan, added to his Spartan legacy with the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award that became his third career Big Ten Honor, but first on the field, in addition to Academic All-Big Ten awards in 2023 and 2024.
Busch leads the green and white in home runs this season tallying up 15, tying him for 13th in the Big Ten. His total marks the most home runs by an MSU player since 2002 and ties him up for fifth in the Spartans single-season home runs list. Busch has totaled 29 career home runs, ranking fourth on the Spartans career home run list as well.
With star pitcher Dzierwa and accolade winners McKay and Busch, the Spartans will now turn their focus to the Big Ten Conference Baseball Tournament as a 12th seed. They will take on eighth-seeded Nebraska on Tuesday, May 20 at 7 p.m.; the Spartans did not face the Huskers in the 2025 regular season.
The Spartans will then play the number one seed and Big Ten Regular-season co-champions Oregon Ducks on Thursday, May 22 at 7 p.m., continuing pool play in the Big Ten Tournament being played at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska.
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