MSU Baseball Denied Weekend Sweep With Loss At No. 8 Louisville Sunday

Sunday, February 15

Jim Patterson Stadium | Louisville, Ky.

1 PM

Michigan State University

2-1

Louisville

1-2

Michigan State

Louisville

Photo by: Erin Grady/MSU Athletic Communications

MSU Baseball Denied Weekend Sweep With Loss At No. 8 Louisville Sunday

2/15/2026 7:35:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score UofL 9, MSU 1 Box Score

Spartans open weekend 2-1 after taking series from Top-10 ranked Cardinals

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Michigan State baseball was denied a season-opening weekend sweep of No. 8 Louisville on Sunday afternoon at UofL's at Jim Patterson Stadium, dropping the series finale by a 9-1 score, but winning the series with the Cardinals.

After the Spartans posted their second Top-10 win in as many seasons with a 4-3 win over the eighth-ranked Cardinals on Friday in the season-opener, MSU blasted Louisville, 13-4 on Saturday afternoon, for the Spartans' highest-ranked series win in Coach Boss' 18 seasons at the helm.

Michigan State is now 2-1 on the young season, while Louisville is 1-2. Sunday's result gives UofL a slim, 4-3, lead in the all-time series, as MSU had tied it up with Friday and Saturday's wins, with the Spartans and Cardinals playing for the first time since 2012.

The Spartans were held to just four hits on Sunday after four runs on five hits Friday and 13 runs on 14 hits Saturday. Meanwhile, the Cardinals tallied 13 hits on Sunday, scoring three runs in the first and two in the second.

"Obviously, we're disappointed in the result today. I think Louisville is a very good ball club and they did a nice job of taking advantage of momentum early and we had a hard time slowing them down, so that was a little disappointing," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "Their guy on the mound did a nice job of throwing a lot of strikes and getting ahead in the count, and we didn't really do enough to control the game or control the pace of the game, so that was disappointing today."

Louisville bounced back and denied MSU the series sweep, as the Spartans were playing a series to open the season for the first time since a four-game, three-day series at UNLV to open the 2022 season. Michigan State won the series for its third-straight series win to begin a season, sweeping a four-game series vs. Morehead State in 2020, then taking three of four from Maryland in 2021, before winning three of four at UNLV in 2022.

"I'm proud of our guys for the effort today. We didn't pack it in today after we got down big early and guys kept playing hard. There's a long way to go and I think we have plenty to work on, and today kind of solidified some of that. It's good to have those kind of days where people can identify things to work on, and take care of them during the week, and get ready for a really good Texas team next weekend."

Senior infielder Randy Seymour was 1-for-4 with a double, for MSU's lone extra-base hit of the day. Sophomore outfielder Isaac Sturgess was 1-for-2 with a walk, while redshirt-sophomore Adam Broski was 1-for-3. Junior outfielder Trent Rice knocked a pinch-hit single in the ninth. Junior infielder Ryan McKay was held without a hit, but did have an RBI groundout in the eighth.

On the mound, junior starter Logan Pikur went 3.0 IP, scattering five runs on six hits with one walk and two Ks, in being dealt the loss. Senior reliever Nolan Higgins made his second appearance of the weekend and tallied two strikeouts in 2.0 IP, with two hits and one run, while junior reliever Gannon Grundman and senior Tommy Szczepanski also made their second outings of the weekend and both went 1.0 IP each, with Grundman yielding two hits and one run, with one K, while Szczepanski yielded two runs on the three hits and striking out two.

Junior reliever Josh Klug, who started his collegiate career at Louisville in his freshman season of 2024, made his season debut and went 1.0 IP with no hits and no runs, with one walk, and also made a nice play covering first, in a solid outing against his former team.

After MSU was held off the scoreboard in the first inning for the first time all weekend, Louisville got on the board with three runs in the home half of the opening frame. The Cardinals added two more runs in the second, one in each of the fifth and sixth stanzas, before plating a pair in the seventh.

The Spartans got on the board in the eighth, when junior infielder Jasen Oliver led off with a walk and Broski followed with a single through the left side of the infield. Two batters later, senior outfielder Nick Williams drew a walk to fill the bases full of Spartans, forcing a Louisville pitching change. McKay was the first batter that new Cardinal pitcher Aaron England faced, and McKay knocked a groundout to first to drive in Oliver with MSU's lone run of the day.

MSU then heads to Austin, Texas for a three-game series at No. 3 Texas on Friday-Sunday, Feb. 20-22 at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. The Longhorns are 3-0 after sweeping UC Davis in the season-opening weekend series.

The Spartans' schedule is subject to 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.