Gomez wins Big Ten, football lands 2 more verbal commitments

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Wrestling

Sophomore Franklin Gomez won the Big Ten Championship at 133 pounds, defeating No. 1-seeded Jimmy Kennedy 3-1 in the championship match to advance to the NCAA Championships in St. Louis, Mo. on March 20-22.

As the conference’s No. 3 seed, Gomez, who is currently No. 5 nationally at 133 pounds, defeated three nationally ranked wrestlers: No. 3 Kennedy of Illinois, No. 4 Joey Slaton of Iowa and No. 12 Andrae Hernandez of Indiana.

Gomez enters the NCAA Championships with a 28-1 record.

As a team, the Spartans finished 11th with 34 points.

Football

Head football coach Mark Dantonio secured two more verbal commitments for the class of 2009, bringing the total to five.

Larry Caper, a top 10 running back and four-star (out of five) recruit according to recruiting Web site Scout.com, verbally committed to MSU on March 5. The 5-foot-11 Caper, a junior at Battle Creek Central, rushed for 1,473 yards and 14 touchdowns last season.

Dantonio also received a verbal commitment from 6-foot-3 quarterback Andrew Maxwell on March 2.

Maxwell, who is regarded by many as the top quarterback in the state, threw for more than 2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns during his junior season at Midland High School.

Softball

They say there’s no place like home, but the MSU softball team sure seems to feel comfortable in the state of Florida.

After going 0-4 at the Georgia Classic during the first weekend of March, the Spartans went 6-1 this weekend at the USF-Under Armour Invitational in Clearwater, Fla., to move to 10-10 overall.

MSU put on an offensive clinic, outscoring their opponents 44-12.

Junior second baseman Gina Mondo and senior outfielder Nikki Nicosia each hit a grand slam during the tournament.

The Spartans began the week with two wins over St. Joseph’s, winning 7-5 and 4-3, before routing East Tennessee 12-0 on Thursday. Redshirt freshman shortstop Bianca Mejia and senior catcher Caitlin Mahoney hit back-to-back home runs to lead the Spartans.

MSU continued to dominate by beating No. 13 Baylor 6-1, Coastal Carolina 8-0 and Illinois-Chicago 7-1 before falling to Hofstra 2-0 on Sunday.

The Spartans return to Florida next weekend for the Stetson Tournament in DeLand, Fla., where they play Elon at 2:45 p.m. Saturday.

Baseball

The MSU baseball team struggled during its trip down south, going 3-5 this week to fall to 5-7 overall.

Despite their struggles, the Spartans ended the week on a high note by going 2-1 at the Rice Invitational in Houston. Before dropping to Creighton 15-1 on Saturday, MSU defeated Rice 9-3 on Friday and Western Carolina 5-3 on Thursday.

Sophomore right fielder Chris Roberts led the Spartans over the Owls with two hits and three RBIs, including a two-run home run, while senior designated hitter Justin Potes also homered. Potes led MSU to the 5-3 win Thursday by knocking out three hits, while junior catcher Kyle Day added two.

The Spartans head to Greenville, S.C., for a three-game series against Quinnipiac.

The first game is at 7:05 p.m. Friday.

Women’s basketball

Despite losing twice to Minnesota in the reguar season, the MSU women’s basketball team beat them 56-51 Friday to open Big Ten tournament play.

Sophomore center Allyssa DeHaan scored all 12 of her points as part of an MSU second half rally, leading her team to victory.

Freshman guard Brittney Thomas also came up big, scoring 12 points and pulling down seven rebounds. The Spartans run at the Big Ten tournament ended Saturday, losing to Illinois 55-41.

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