Tuesday, April 22
East Lansing, Mich.
6:02 PM
Michigan State University
23-16
1
vs
10
Purdue Fort Wayne
7-31
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Purdue Fort Wayne
0
0
2
3
1
4
0
0
0
10
13
0
Michigan State
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
5
4
Photo by: Jeremy Fleming
Spartans Downed By Mastodons Tuesday
4/22/2025 10:42:00 PM | Baseball
MSU’s six-game win streak, season-long nine-game homestand comes to close with loss.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball's six-game win streak and season long nine-game homestand came to a close on the same night, as the Spartans were beaten by Purdue Fort Wayne Tuesday night at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium.Â
The Mastodons scored two runs in the third and three more in the third to open a 5-0 lead. The Spartans got on the board with a run in the home half of the third, but that was the last of MSU's scoring, while Purdue Fort Wayne added a run in the fifth and four more in the sixth for the 10-1 final score.
Purdue Fort Wayne had 13 hits and did not commit an error, while MSU had five hits and committed four miscues.Â
"Well, we didn't do anything right tonight, we're very frustrated," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "We talked before the game about playing harder than them, we talked about some of the things we needed to do to play harder than them, and we didn't do it."
MSU had its six-game winning streak halted, that was tied for the longest of the season, as well as its season-long nine-game homestand come to an end with Tuesday's defeat.
"I am kind of at a loss. I don't quite understand how that can happen," Boss continued. "I think sometimes we take for granted the opportunities that we have, and playing at Michigan State is a heck of an opportunity for these guys. I think we took it for granted tonight. I think we owe a lot of people an apology. I think there were close to a thousand people here tonight, and I think we owe every one of them an apology. The people that work behind the scenes for our program; the groundskeepers, the strength & conditioning coaches, the athletic trainers, all the folks like that, I think we all owe them all an apology for the way that we played tonight. It's not acceptable. The effort is unacceptable. The fact that we think we can just walk on the field and win is unacceptable, and the way that we played, showed it. It's very frustrating. We can only talk about it for so long. At some point, somebody is going to have to do it."
MSU went through seven pitchers, highlighted by redshirt-junior Ryan Szczepaniak's season-high four strikeouts, which were his most since chalking up five Ks two years ago to the date, after firing five strikeouts at Michigan on April 22, 2023. Szczepaniak missed the entire 2024 season with an injury, and has been a spot starter and reliever for the Spartans this season as he continues to return to form.
"I thought Ryan Szczepaniak was really the only guy tonight that went out and attacked the game, played the game hard, and played it the right way. Good for him because he has struggled a bit this year, but there's a guy who keeps working hard and took advantage of an opportunity," Boss said.Â
Freshman starter Aidan Donovan went 3.0 IP, scattering four hits and two runs, striking two and walking two. Out of the bullpen, graduate George Viebrock III (1 H, 3 R), sophomore Logan Pikur (0 H, 1 R, 1 BB), graduate Tyler Horvath (1.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 1 BB), senior Dominic Pianto (0 H, 1 BB), Szczepaniak (2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K) and junior Tommy Szczepanski (1 H, 1 K).
At the plate, senior infielder Sam Busch, senior designated hitter Will Shannon and freshman infielder Dayton Murphy were all 1-for-3, while graduate catcher Caleb Berry was 1-for-4 with a run scored, while junior infielder Randy Seymour was 1-for-4 with an RBI.Â
Berry led off the fourth with an infield single to third, and Busch followed with a walk. Two batters later, Seymour laced a seeing-eye single through the left side to plate Berry and get the Spartans on the board for their lone run of the night.
Murphy laid down a beauty of a bunt in the fifth with one out, and advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a balk, but was left stranded. Busch knocked a 1-out double to right in the sixth, while senior outfielder Nick Williams and JT Sokolove both drew walks in the seventh, and both moved up a base on another balk, but nothing else doing, as MSU left seven on base, compared to 12 Mastodons left on the basepaths.
Michigan State is now 23-16 overall, while Purdue Fort Wayne is 7-31, snapping an 11-game losing skid. The Spartans still leads the all-time series, 6-2, including 4-2 in East Lansing.
With its nine-game homestand complete, Michigan State hits the road for its shortest road trip outside of the Lansing area, heading to Ann Arbor to play at in-state rival Michigan, Friday-Sunday, March 25-27. Friday's series opener is at 6:02 p.m., followed by 2:02 p.m. on Saturday and the series finale on Sunday at 1:02 p.m.
The Spartans' schedule is subject to further change, fans can stay tuned to MSUSpartans.com and @MSUBaseball on Twitter for schedule updates, along with follow action with "Watch Live," "Listen Live" and "Live Stats" links where available.
MSU then has the week of April 28 off of games due to finals on campus, returning to action Friday-Sunday, May 2-4 vs. Oregon in a three-game Big Ten weekend series.
Michigan State baseball tickets are available online at msuspartans.evenue.net, by contacting the Spartan Ticket Office at 517-355-1610 or by email at tickets@msu.edu for questions or more information.
Â
The Mastodons scored two runs in the third and three more in the third to open a 5-0 lead. The Spartans got on the board with a run in the home half of the third, but that was the last of MSU's scoring, while Purdue Fort Wayne added a run in the fifth and four more in the sixth for the 10-1 final score.
Purdue Fort Wayne had 13 hits and did not commit an error, while MSU had five hits and committed four miscues.Â
"Well, we didn't do anything right tonight, we're very frustrated," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "We talked before the game about playing harder than them, we talked about some of the things we needed to do to play harder than them, and we didn't do it."
MSU had its six-game winning streak halted, that was tied for the longest of the season, as well as its season-long nine-game homestand come to an end with Tuesday's defeat.
"I am kind of at a loss. I don't quite understand how that can happen," Boss continued. "I think sometimes we take for granted the opportunities that we have, and playing at Michigan State is a heck of an opportunity for these guys. I think we took it for granted tonight. I think we owe a lot of people an apology. I think there were close to a thousand people here tonight, and I think we owe every one of them an apology. The people that work behind the scenes for our program; the groundskeepers, the strength & conditioning coaches, the athletic trainers, all the folks like that, I think we all owe them all an apology for the way that we played tonight. It's not acceptable. The effort is unacceptable. The fact that we think we can just walk on the field and win is unacceptable, and the way that we played, showed it. It's very frustrating. We can only talk about it for so long. At some point, somebody is going to have to do it."
MSU went through seven pitchers, highlighted by redshirt-junior Ryan Szczepaniak's season-high four strikeouts, which were his most since chalking up five Ks two years ago to the date, after firing five strikeouts at Michigan on April 22, 2023. Szczepaniak missed the entire 2024 season with an injury, and has been a spot starter and reliever for the Spartans this season as he continues to return to form.
"I thought Ryan Szczepaniak was really the only guy tonight that went out and attacked the game, played the game hard, and played it the right way. Good for him because he has struggled a bit this year, but there's a guy who keeps working hard and took advantage of an opportunity," Boss said.Â
Freshman starter Aidan Donovan went 3.0 IP, scattering four hits and two runs, striking two and walking two. Out of the bullpen, graduate George Viebrock III (1 H, 3 R), sophomore Logan Pikur (0 H, 1 R, 1 BB), graduate Tyler Horvath (1.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 1 BB), senior Dominic Pianto (0 H, 1 BB), Szczepaniak (2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K) and junior Tommy Szczepanski (1 H, 1 K).
At the plate, senior infielder Sam Busch, senior designated hitter Will Shannon and freshman infielder Dayton Murphy were all 1-for-3, while graduate catcher Caleb Berry was 1-for-4 with a run scored, while junior infielder Randy Seymour was 1-for-4 with an RBI.Â
Berry led off the fourth with an infield single to third, and Busch followed with a walk. Two batters later, Seymour laced a seeing-eye single through the left side to plate Berry and get the Spartans on the board for their lone run of the night.
Murphy laid down a beauty of a bunt in the fifth with one out, and advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a balk, but was left stranded. Busch knocked a 1-out double to right in the sixth, while senior outfielder Nick Williams and JT Sokolove both drew walks in the seventh, and both moved up a base on another balk, but nothing else doing, as MSU left seven on base, compared to 12 Mastodons left on the basepaths.
Michigan State is now 23-16 overall, while Purdue Fort Wayne is 7-31, snapping an 11-game losing skid. The Spartans still leads the all-time series, 6-2, including 4-2 in East Lansing.
With its nine-game homestand complete, Michigan State hits the road for its shortest road trip outside of the Lansing area, heading to Ann Arbor to play at in-state rival Michigan, Friday-Sunday, March 25-27. Friday's series opener is at 6:02 p.m., followed by 2:02 p.m. on Saturday and the series finale on Sunday at 1:02 p.m.
The Spartans' schedule is subject to further change, fans can stay tuned to MSUSpartans.com and @MSUBaseball on Twitter for schedule updates, along with follow action with "Watch Live," "Listen Live" and "Live Stats" links where available.
MSU then has the week of April 28 off of games due to finals on campus, returning to action Friday-Sunday, May 2-4 vs. Oregon in a three-game Big Ten weekend series.
Michigan State baseball tickets are available online at msuspartans.evenue.net, by contacting the Spartan Ticket Office at 517-355-1610 or by email at tickets@msu.edu for questions or more information.
Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Cole Newell (1-3)
L: Donovan, Aidan (1-3)
Batting:
2B: Owen Willard 1
HR: Kevin Hall 1
RBI: Brooks Sailors 1 ; Jackson Micheels 1 ; Sage Adams 1 ; Kevin Hall 3 ; Grant Sawa 1
SH: Camden Karczewski 1 ; Ryan Jenkins 1
SF: Jackson Micheels 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Brooks Sailors 2 ; Justin Osterhouse 2 ; Camden Karczewski 1 ; Jackson Micheels 1 ; Sage Adams 2 ; Kevin Hall 1 ; Owen Willard 1
SB: Ryan Jenkins 1
HBP: Justin Osterhouse 2 ; Sage Adams 1 ; Owen Willard 1
Batting:
2B: Busch, Sam 1
RBI: Seymour, Randy 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Berry, Caleb 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
C
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballOF/INF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballPursuit to Greatness | Spartans All-Access
Monday, May 19
Jake Boss | Baseball Press Conference | April 17, 2025
Thursday, April 17
Jake Boss | Baseball Press Conference | Mar. 25 2025
Tuesday, March 25
Jake Boss | Baseball Press Conference | Mar. 11 2025
Tuesday, March 11