As we enjoy what feel like the first hints of Spring and a rare February week of pleasant weather here in the Midwest, there is perhaps no better time to turn our attention to America’s national pastime and the 2026 Spartan Baseball squad. Michigan State will enter their 18th year of the Jake Boss era, in which the 54-year old manager has compiled a 468-408 record, 8 Big Ten Tournament appearances, and one NCAA Tournament appearance, all the way back in 2012.
MSU baseball has not finished above .500
in B1G play since the 2016 season, and despite qualifying for the last seed in the Big Ten Tournament a season ago, the Spartans had a quiet exit, losing their first two games in tournament play to Nebraska and Oregon. Those two losses brought the 2025 team’s final record to 28-27 (13-17).
The 2026 schedule for Boss’s team will certainly be a challenge, with no shortage of opportunities for Michigan State baseball to get back to winning baseball in the Big Ten. The goal? A return to Charles Schwab Field in Omaha Nebraska and chance to outdo their B1G Tournament performance from a year ago. Let’s take a look at their schedule, then break down some of the storylines that will play out this Spring on Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium.
(Home games will be in bold font)
Fri. Feb. 13 at #8 Louisville (W 4-3)
Sat. Feb. 14 at #8 Louisville W(13-4)
Sun. Feb. 15 at #8 Louisville (L 1-9)
Fri. Feb. 20 at #3 Texas
Sat. Feb. 21 at #3 Texas
Sun. Feb. 22 at #3 Texas
Fri. Feb. 27 Illinois (Neutral Site- Greenville, S.C.)
Sat. Feb. 28 Albany (Neutral Site- Greenville, S.C.)
Sun. Mar. 1 James Madison (Neutral Site- Greenville, S.C.)
Tues. Mar. 3 Winthrop (Neutral Site- Greenville, S.C.)
Wed. Mar. 4 Clemson (Neutral Site- Greenville, S.C.)
Fri. Mar. 6 at Nebraska
Sat. Mar. 7 at Nebraska
Sun. Mar. 8 at Nebraska
Wed. Mar. 11 at Eastern Michigan
Fri. Mar. 13 at Rutgers
Sat. Mar. 14 at Rutgers
Sun. Mar. 15 at Rutgers
Wed. Mar. 18 at Michigan
Fri. Mar. 20 vs Iowa
Sat. Mar. 21 vs Iowa
Sun. Mar. 22 vs Iowa
Tues. Mar. 24 at Central Michigan
Fri. Mar. 27 vs Purdue
Sat. Mar. 28 vs Purdue
Sun. Mar. 29 vs Purdue
Tues. Mar. 31 vs Central Michigan
Wed. Apr. 1 vs Lansing Lugnuts (Jackson Field, Lansing MI)
Fri. Apr. 3 at Northwestern Sat.
Apr. 4 at Northwestern
Sun. Apr. 5 at Northwestern
Wed. Apr. 8 at Notre Dame
Fri. Apr. 10 vs Michigan
Sat. Apr. 11 vs Michigan
Sun. Apr. 12 vs Michigan *
Tues. Apr. 14 vs Oakland
Wed. Apr. 15 vs Western Michigan (Neutral Site- LMCU Ballpark, Comstock Park, MI)
Fri. Apr. 17 at Washington
Sat. Apr. 18 at Washington
Sun. Apr. 19 at Washington
Wed. Apr. 22 vs Notre Dame
Fri. Apr. 24 vs Maryland
Sat. Apr. 25 vs Maryland
Sun. Apr. 26 vs Maryland
Fri.May 1 vs UCLA
Sat. May 2 vs UCLA
Sun. May 3 vs UCLA
Tues. May 5 vs Bowling Green
Wed. May 6 vs Western Michigan
Fri. May 8 at Ohio State
Sat. May 9 at Ohio State
Sun. May 10 at Ohio State
Tues. May 12 vs Eastern Michigan
Thur. May 14 vs Illinois State
Fri. May 15 vs Illinois State
Sat. May 16 vs Illinois State
Tough Start = Hot Start?
The Spartans got off to a near perfect start to the 2026 season this past weekend, winning a weekend series against the Louisville Cardinals on the road. The eighth ranked Cards were heavy favorites in this matchup, and considered a dangeous threat in the ACC entering this season, coming off of an NCAA College World Series appearance and loss to Coastal Carolina in the 2025 national semifinals. This high pedigree did not phase Michigan State, however, as the Spartans were able to overcome a 3-run first inning from Louisville on the backs of senior infielder Randy Seymour- whose eighth inning home run on Friday night broke a 3-3 tie. The go-ahead blast marked his third RBI of the night, and was enough for MSU to hang on to win their first matchup of the season. State’s bats heated up even more on Saturday afternoon, as Seymour knocked in three more runs over the course of the 14-3 rout. Stealing the spotlight however, was junior outfielder Parker Picot, whose was responsible for driving in eight runs, thanks to a sacrifice fly, grand slam, and three-run homer in his outstanding performance.
While MSU would cool off and drop the Sunday series finale, going 2-1 against a reigning College World Series semifinalist in 2026’s opening weekend was more than enough to turn the heads of the national media and put the rest of the Big Ten on notice. A win in this series also is good for the highest-ranked series W in the entire Jake Boss era.
The road doesn’t get any easier for MSU, as this weekend brings with it another road trip, this time to Austin, Texas. The third ranked Longhorns are a revered squad, and already off to a 4-0 start in 2026. Entering their second season under Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle, Texas will look to repeat as SEC Champions and make yet another NCAA Tournament appearance. Last year’s impressive season was brought to an end in the regional round for UT, as despite playing host to the regional final, they were vanquished by the UTSA Roadrunners.
Now, Texas boasts one of the scariest pitching rotations in college baseball. Headlined by Luke Harrison, Ruger Riojas and Max Grubbs, all juniors who decided to return to Austin even having received heavy interest from the MLB, and bolstered by the 2025 Baseball America freshman of the year in Dylan Volantis, the Spartan offense will certainly be in for a challenge.
It’s clear that Jake Boss has taken a page out of Tom Izzo’s playbook for 2026 and scheduled some of the toughest non-conference matchups in college baseball this February, and the strategy already seems to have paid off. Now with a record of 2-1, if Michigan State can take at least one game from the Longhorns and get to a .500 record before taking on a more familiar foe in Illinois, MSU will have made more than a name for themselves heading into Big Ten conference play (which, aside from the one-off game vs Illinois, will pick back up on March 6th).
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Road Warriors
Upon taking another look at the schedule above, you will likely notice that Michigan State does not have a home game for the entire first month of the 2026 season. While this is good news for weather purposes, it means MSU will spend a lot of time on the road at various ballparks before returning home to Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium on March 20th for a weekend series with Iowa.
The first five of these away games will take place in Greenville, South Carolina. While dedicated fans of college athletics will point out that Greenville is the home of Furman University, the Paladins disbanded their baseball program in 2020, and the games will be taking place at Fluor Field, home of the minor league Greenville Drive.
While in the Palmetto State, MSU will take on five teams from five different conferences. First up is a familiar foe in Illinois (30-24 in 2025, 14-16 in the B1G in 2025), followed by the University of Albany out of the American East conference (22-32 a year ago), James Madison of the Sun Belt (17-38 in 2025), and Winthrop of the Big South (22-11 last year, lost 0-7 to MSU in 2025). Finally, MSU will square off with now-ranked #19 Clemson of the ACC, the runners-up of the conference who lost in the regional round of the NCAA Tournament in 2025 with an overall record of 45-18.
The bottom line? Greenville will definitely bring its’ challenges, but also some winnable games for Michigan State to gather up and gain momentum before their first three-game series with a conference opponent, in the reigning Big Ten champion, Nebraska, on the road in early March.
The Huskers play their games at Haymarket Park, and are managed by Will Bolt, who will be beginning his sixth season at the helm of Nebraska in 2026. In the last five seasons, Bolt has re-established Cornhusker baseball as a conference and national power, winning three Big Ten titles and qualifying for the last two NCAA Tournaments. Once again, a great opportunity for Jake Boss and company to pick up a win or two against a quality opponent early in the year.
Then it is back to the mitten for a one-off game in Ypsilanti versus Eastern Michigan of the Mid-American Conference, who compiled a 21-31 record a season ago. The weekend of March 134 will see the Spartans board a plane once again, this time for a three-game bout with Rutgers in Piscataway, New Jersey. This mid-march matchup with the Scarlet Knights will be a great litmus test for Spartan baseball, as the Knights had a very similar year to Michigan State last season, finishing 29-28 with a loss in the Big Ten Tournament.
Conference Play- the Highlights
Iowa, Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan, Washington, and Maryland mark MSU’s conference opponents for the months of March and April. Iowa, Michigan, and Purdue all reached 30 wins in 2025, however, none of the trio made the NCAA Tournament. As for a quick look at the three, Iowa experienced an absolute collapse towards the end of 2025, losing ten of their final 13 games and ultimately losing in the B1G Tourney championship. The Hawkeyes will lose a significant amount of pitching- 434 total innings to be exact, with Cade Obermueller and Aaron Savary both being selected in the MLB Draft, and Reece Beuter departed via graduation. With all three of their weekend starters (who combined with the rest of the staff for an impressive 4.16 ERA) no longer in Iowa City, and a new pitching coach Wes Obermueller (yes, the father of Cade) taking the reins, Iowa will go as far as these new arms can take them.
As for that school down the road, they are off to an impressive 3-1 start, splitting a series with #12 Oregon State and emerging victorious over #24 Arizona. In terms of pitching, u-m returns Tate Carey, the Big Ten Preseason Pitcher of the Year. He went 9–0 with a 3.63 ERA as a freshman. Their offense (similar to that of their basketball team) will be bolstered by transfer portal acquisitions, totaling 11 new players for head coach Tracy Smith, and headlined by outfielder Brenden Stressler from St. Louis University.
The third of that group is Purdue, who was projected all the way down at 16th in the Big Ten preseason according to D1baseball.com. Why the fall-off? Purdue baseball will be led by 23 new additions, ten of which coming from the JUCO level. As is the world of college athletics in 2026, the Boilermakers will feature a plethora of new faces, eager to outperform predictions as the season rolls along. Currently 2-2 after playing Portland and Rice, getting Purdue at home towards the end of March should be a great chance for MSU to pick up some hard-to-come-by Big Ten wins.
Washington will be another tough test for MSU, especially playing out on the West Coast with the Saturday edition of this matchup starting at 10:05pm Eastern Standard Time. After going 17-13 in conference last year and surprising several experts, UW is off to a rough 0-4 start after dropping games to #21 Wake Forest, #17 NC State, Houston and Boston College. However, in their second year under coach Eddie Smith, there is certainly reason to be optimistic that the Huskies will turn it around by the time they host MSU in mid-April.
As the calendar turns to May, MSU will get an incredibly talented UCLA squad, thankfully, at home in East Lansing. Currently ranked number one in the country with 93% home grown talent, the Bruins are lead by reigning Big Ten Player of the Year in shortstop Roch Cholowsky and preseason All-American first baseman Mulivai Levu. UCLA is approaching a grueling non-conference slate that includes #7 TCU, #13 Tennessee, #4 Mississippi State, and #24 Texas A&M. The Southern California team, stocked with MLB talent from top to bottom, will be battle-tested and likely rearing up for a postseason run when they come to town in May.
And wrapping up conference play for the Spartans will be a road trip south to Columbus, to square off with the Buckeyes. OSU is in their first season under new head man Justin Haire, and is another one of the teams that is an absolute question mark early on. With 22 newcomers outnumbering 15 returners, Ohio State is off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2019 after sweeping a weekend series against St. Louis. Will the Buckeyes be the surprise team of the Big Ten this season and make this late-season series the decider of State’s postseason fate? Only time will tell.
Key Spartans
And finally, some more on our very own MSU squad. On the mound, State has lost headlining starting pitcher from 2025, Joseph Dzierwa, to the Baltimore Orioles farm system, and will replace him with a variety of less experienced talent. The now-veteran of the group is senior Nolan Higgins, who made fifteen starts a season ago and posted a 3-6 record and 7.04 ERA. Higgins is joined by another righty in Carter Monke, a graduate transfer to Illinois, who provides instant depth to the Spartan rotation, and sophomores Aidan Donovan and Logan Pikur. Donovan, who got his first extended experience against Louisville on Friday, February 13th, is a 6-foot-4 righty with a powerful arm, and Pikur will be making the transition from the bullpen, where he made 20 appearances in relief a season ago.
Now let’s talk offense. Randy Seymour, already mentioned as being the hero of Friday night’s season opening victory versus Louisville, has transitioned from playing shortstop in the first few years of his collegiate career to first base in 2026. The switch was mainly cited as a move to allow Seymour to focus more on offensive production in the off-season, and the senior is already off to a hot start.
Another player we have already mentioned, Parker Picot, will be a standout outfielder for MSU throughout 2026. On top of his obvious skills on a baseball diamond that helped him collect eight RBIs on Saturday alone, Picot was a two-time finalist for Mr. Football in the state of Michigan, as he helped Rochester Adams High School in metro Detroit reach their regional final in his senior year. The former dual threat athlete will need to retain his hot bat throughout the season for MSU to stay competitive in some of their more challenging games.
Perhaps the most important position player to highlight for Michigan State is Ryan McKay. The second baseman, who is currently ranked number 72 on Baseball Media’s Top 100 College Prospect List , is a savvy switch hitter who lead State with a .319 batting average in 2025. McKay is a talented defender, decorated hitter, and will be one of the key standout players for this new-look Michigan State team in 2026.
Wrap-Up
2026 is definitely a prove-it year for Head Coach Jake Boss. His contract was extended through 2029 just before the season began, and the Spartans, especially now with a series win over Louisville, have a somewhat realistic path ahead of them to end a 14-year postseason drought. MSU will need to answer pitching questions and remain consistent on offense, but last weekend’s opening series showed more than flashes of a team that can certainly make a run. Usually considered a two or three bid league, MSU might be just what the Big Ten needs. Headlined by UCLA, Oregon, and USC; the Spartans provide an intriguing sleeper pick to make some noise in the B1G. Opportunity knocks to make progress towards the goal of an NCAA Tournament birth just this weekend, with three shots to take down a renowned Texas team on the road in Austin.
Depth, experience, and a sneaky good roster for Jake Boss have shown in one weekend of the season so far. Who knows if it will be enough to take Michigan State from a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team to a serious contender, but if the wins over Louisville are any sign at all, we could have a very exciting Spartan baseball team on our hands in 2026. Go Green, and beat Texas!
