MSU Baseball Upsets No. 8 Louisville, 4-3, Friday in 2026 Season-Opener

Friday, February 13

Jim Patterson Stadium | Louisville, Ky.

2 PM

Michigan State University

1-0

Louisville

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Michigan State

Louisville

Photo by: Erin Grady/MSU Athletic Communications

MSU Baseball Upsets No. 8 Louisville, 4-3, Friday in 2026 Season-Opener

2/13/2026 7:11:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Spartans post second Top-10 win in as many seasons, first win at Louisville since 1993.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Michigan State baseball used timely hitting, including two home runs, and solid pitching throughout the day to upset No. 8 Louisville, 4-3, Friday afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium in the 2026 season-opener.

The Victory for MSU was the Spartans' second Top-10 win in as many seasons, after upsetting No. 6 Oregon, 2-0, last year in East Lansing on May 2, 2025. It's MSU's highest-ranked upset win away from home since beating No. 1 Oregon State, 8-7, on Feb. 22, 2014 in Surprise, Ariz.

"Today was a really good day and I'm just really proud of our guys coming out of the gates here, with the weather that we've had up north, it's been tough to get outside, but I'm just proud of our guys for the way that they handled themselves today," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "I thought was made a couple mistakes that were a product of probably being outside on the field for the very first time since October, but at the same time, I thought we competed our tails off. I thought we got an outstanding pitching effort today, not only out of Aidan Donovan, but out of our entire bullpen as well. I'm just very, very proud of our guys for a really good win against a very good team."

Louisville entered Friday's Opening Day ranked in the Top 18 of all five major Top 25 polls. The Cardinals are No. 8 in the D1Baseball Poll, as well as No. 10 in the NCBWA Poll, No. 11 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll, No. 16 in the Perfect Game Poll and No. 18 in the Baseball America Poll.

UofL is coming of a palindromic 42-24 record in 2025, and a trip to the College World Series in Omaha.

The Spartans didn't bat an eye at the challenge ahead of them, taking the lead in the middle innings, only to have the Cardinals quickly tie it up in one frame, but quickly responded to retake the lead and hold off a late UofL rally.

"I think there were times where they had some momentum, and we made some big pitches when we needed to, and those were huge parts and huge situations in the ball game," Boss said. "I thought our guys showed a lot of character, it is a fairly experienced group now, with some juniors and seniors, kind of all over the field now. So, we kind of lean on some of those experiences, and guys made plays when we needed to and guys made pitches when we needed to, and we got a great effort out of everybody today."

Friday's win was also MSU's first win at Louisville since 1993, and only the second all-time, as the Spartans now trail the all-time series, 3-2, as Friday was also the first meeting between MSU and UofL since 2012.

Michigan State has won its season-opener in each of the last three years as part of seven of the last eight seasons. Overall, MSU is now 15-3 in the 18 season-openers under Coach Boss, only losing in 2013 vs. Furman, 2018 at Fresno State and 2022 at UNLV.

Senior infielder Randy Seymour tallied three RBI Friday afternoon, including a solo HR in the eighth that proved to be the winning run, while redshirt-sophomore catcher Adam Broski belted a homer in the seventh for not only the first home run of his career, but also his first extra-base hit.

"I'm very happy for Adam, he's been through a lot the last couple of years with some injuries, and some things of that nature, but he's a talented kid, and he got to ambush a fastball and got the barrel out on that one, and that's what he's capable of at the plate," Boss said. "I thought he caught a really good ball game as well. So, all-around, just very happy for him today."

Meanwhile, on the mound, Spartan sophomore starter Aidan Donovan went 5.0 IP in holding a potent UofL lineup to just three hits and one run, while ringing up three Ks and allowing one walk. Senior reliever Nolan Higgins came on and rang up four strikeouts in 2.0 IP, yielding three hits and two runs. Junior reliever Gannon Grundman got one punchout and allowed one hit in 0.2 IP, before turning the ball over to Tommy Szczepanski. The senior closer rang up three strikeouts, including an inning and rally-ending punchout in the eighth, allowing only one hit in 1.1 IP, inducing a flyout to senior left fielder Nick Williams for the final out to ignite the Victory for MSU celebration.

We're always proud to be Spartans and it's great to sing the fight song together and celebrate a W!!#OnTheBanksOfTheRedCedar pic.twitter.com/akfjIIYBty
— Michigan State Baseball (@MSUBaseball) February 13, 2026

Seymour finished 2-for-4 with the three RBI and run scored. Broski was 2-for-3 with the RBI and two runs scored, while Williams was 1-for-3 with a run scored. While the Spartans were limited to only five hits on the day, they had several hits taken away from the Louisville defense, including freshman infielder CJ Deckinga was denied his first collegiate hit by a catch at the wall by Louisville left fielder Griffin Crain. Junior infielder Ryan McKay was also robbed of two hits by Cardinal defenders.

"Randy had a couple big at bats with the two-RBI single and then obviously the home run, for three of the four RBI. The veteran leadership that Randy has shown has been terrific," Boss said. "I think if you look at the guys that are our captains, Randy being one of them, he came through in a big spot for us today, and all four of them had a solid day. I thought Ryan McKay did very well, had some good at bats and played good defense. Noah Bright was the same way and I thought had some good at bats. Nolan Higgins was really good today, and got out of a big jam. So our captains did a heck of a job leading the ballclub today."

The home team Cardinals got on the board first with a run in the home half of the second on back-to-back doubles for the early 1-0 advantage.

That score stood until the fifth frame, when the visiting Spartans rallied. Broski led off the frame with a single. After a Louisville pitching change, Williams was hit by a pitch and two batters later, Seymour smacked a seeing-eye single to left to drive in both Broski and Williams and give the Spartans a 2-1 lead.

Broski added to the Michigan State lead with his milestone extra-base hit and home run to start off the top of the seventh.

MSU's advantage was short-lived however, as UofL got on the board before the fans had a chance to settle in from the seventh-inning stretch with a leadoff home run by Ben Slanker, and later in the frame an RBI single from Lucas Moore drove in Bayram Hot from second to tie it up at 3-3 with seven innings in the books.

The score stayed tied for as long as the Spartans' two-run lead lasted, as Seymour started off the eighth with his home run to deep left field for the go-ahead run.

Grundman worked around a leadoff single in the bottom of the eighth with a flyout and strikeout, before the Spartans went to the bullpen and brought on Szczepanski, who struck Hot out on three pitches to close the door on a Cardinal rally.

MSU went down in unconventional order in the top of the ninth, as junior infielder Jasen Oliver led off with a walk, but the inning ended with a double play as sophomore outfielder Isaac Sturgess was robbed of a hit as UofL first baseman Tague Davis made a diving snare of the line drive and tagged first to double-up Oliver and end the frame.

Szczepanski yielded a leadoff hit, and the Cardinals pinch-runner Kyle Campbell stole second, but then Szczepanski again slammed the door on any UofL rally with back-to-back Ks, the first one swinging and the second looking, before inducing the rally, inning and game-ending flyout.

The Spartans and Cardinals return to the diamond of Louisville's Jim Patterson Stadium for Saturday's game two of the series slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch. Sunday's series finale is also scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch.

All three games of the series air on ACC Network Extra and are also streamed on Watch ESPN.

MSU then heads to Austin, Texas for a three-game series at No. 3 Texas on Friday-Sunday, Feb. 20-22.

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.

The Michigan State baseball season ticket package, which includes 24 home games at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium 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, or fans can visit the MSU Ticket Office in person, located in 1855 Place.