MSU Baseball Downed By UM Friday Night In Series Opener

Friday, April 10

6:02 PM

Michigan State University

11-20, 5-11

(RV) Michigan

19-14, 6-7

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Michigan	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	0	4	9	0
Michigan State	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	2	4	1

Noah Bright action vs Illinois at Fluor Field in Greenville, SC

Photo by: Jeremy Fleming

4/10/2026 11:11:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score UM 4, MSU 2 Box Score

Spartans topped by Wolverines in first home night game of season.

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball was topped by Michigan, 4-2, under Friday night lights at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium, in MSU's first home night game of the season and game one of the Big Ten Conference three-game weekend series.

MSU is now 11-20 on the year and 5-11 in B1G play, while UM moves to 19-14 overall and 6-7 in conference competition.

Friday night's two-run deficit marked the Spartans' fourth game in a row decided by three runs or less with a 10-9 loss and an 8-6 loss at Northwestern last weekend, along with a 7-4 win at Notre Dame on Wednesday night.

Michigan State's offense was stymied to two runs on four hits Friday night, while Michigan scored four runs on nine hits, and both teams left six runners on base.

"One of the biggest takeaways that I take away from tonight is that my assistant coaches are outstanding at what they do. Graham Sikes and Taylor Grzelakowski put together a plan after working all week on a scouting report that would have won us the ball game, but we just didn't follow the plan. It's a recipe to lose a close ballgame," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said.

Additionally, Friday night was also the first meeting in East Lansing between MSU and UM with former Spartan assistant coach Andrew Stone in the other dugout, as Stone in his first season as a Wolverine after four years in East Lansing. Just like in last month's non-conference match-up in Ann Arbor, Stone reunited with several Spartan coaches, players and support staff both before and after the game, including handshakes and hugs with MSU senior first baseman Randy Seymour at first base before the top of the first, until the action resumed and they were rivals again.

The first four frames of Friday's rivalry match-up was a scoreless pitchers' duel, with MSU sophomore starter Aidan Donovan yielding just one hit, by the second batter of the game, and then erased from the basepaths trying to steal second base. Donovan chalked up three strikeouts through the first four innings, retiring the first six Wolverine batters in unconventional yet sequential order, as part of retiring 12 of 13 batters faced through the first four frames.

"Great, he deserved better today," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said about Donovan's standout performance Friday night. "He threw really well. He had a plan. He stuck to the plan and was successful. Our pitching coach (Mark Van Ameyde) put together an outstanding plan for Aidan tonight, and Aidan followed the plan, executed the plan, and threw great, and he deserved much better."

Donovan finished with a career-high six strikeouts in 7.0 IP, scattering two runs on five hits. Friday night was Donovan's fourth outing of the season with five or more Ks, and was the third time this season that he went beyond the sixth stanza.

HAVE A DAY MR DONOVAN 👏

Aidan Donovan chalks up a career-high six strikeouts over seven innings of work, including this inning ending strikeout!#GoGreen | @donovanaidan22 pic.twitter.com/o2n7FWP0aQ
— Michigan State Baseball (@MSUBaseball) April 11, 2026

UM starter Kurt Barr matched Donovan, holding the Spartans to one hit through the first four frames, going the distance for the complete game and finished with four hits allowed and struck out 10 Spartan batters.

Michigan broke the scoreless tie with a run in the top of the fifth, only to have MSU match it with a run in the home half of the fifth on a solo moon shot home run to left field by senior designated hitter Noah Bright.

NOAH BRIGHT MOON SHOT 🔥

Noah Bright launches his 3rd home run of the season on the first pitch of the at bat! #GoGreen pic.twitter.com/5s6ARIu3Zj
— Michigan State Baseball (@MSUBaseball) April 10, 2026

MSU took a 2-1 lead in the sixth on an RBI from senior outfielder Nick Williams. The Spartans' lead was as short-lived as their deficit, both of a half an inning and being wiped out in similar fashion, as the Wolverines tied it up in the top of the seventh on a solo home run to left field. UM plated a pair of runs in the top of the eighth and MSU was unable to counter.

MSU's four hits came from four different Spartans, with Bright going 1-for-2 with the home run, also drawing a pair of walks. Williams was 1-for-4 with the RBI, while senior infielder Randy Seymour and sophomore outfielder Isaac Sturgess each had a base hit, with Sturgess adding a run scored to go with a walk.

On the mound, Donovan was followed by redshirt-freshman reliever Brady Chambers, who was dealt the loss after yielding two runs on one hit, while senior Tommy Szczepanski tallied two strikeouts and allowed three hits to the Wolverines.

"Give them credit, they have a plan too, and they executed their end of it. They got barrel to the ball, they moved the ball, put the ball in motion a little bit," Boss said. "We tried to, we almost made a great play in right center field. That's the game sometimes. I think sometimes they're going to execute, sometimes you make a diving play and just come up a little bit short. Offensively, we were just too much non-competitive at the plate. With four hits tonight and two runs, you're not going to beat anybody."

After a pitchers' duel for the opening four innings, Michigan got on the board first with a run in the top of the fifth on an RBI single, before Donovan ended the Wolverine rally with a fielder's choice, stranding a pair of UM runners on base and keeping the score, 1-0.

In the home half of the fifth, Bright swung at the first pitch and launched the ball deep into the trees beyond the wall left field line, sending the ball on a 394-foot adventure that left the bat at 105 mph, and tied the game up at 1-all.

The Spartans took their first lead of the night in their next at bat, as Sturgess led off with a bloop single to right center. After moving to second on a groundout, Sturgess came around to score on a double by Williams through the left side, ricocheting off the Wolverines' shortstop and into left center, bringing Sturgess home and putting the Spartans ahead, 2-1.

The Wolverines tied it in the top of the seventh as Evan Haeger hit a home run to nearly the same area as Bright's a couple innings earlier, to knot the game back up.

In the top of the eighth, UM's Drew Culbertson lofted a fly ball into the right-center gap, and just beyond the glove of diving MSU center fielder Khamaree Thomas, for a leadoff double. Culbertson was later driven in on the first of back-to-back RBI singles by the Wolverines to open the 4-2 lead.

The Spartans went down in order in both the eighth and the ninth frames to end the game.

MSU and UM meet on Saturday at 3:32 p.m., before Sunday's series finale slated for 1:02 p.m. start time.

The Spartans host Oakland on Tuesday, April 14 at 6:02 p.m. at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium. The next day, MSU is the host for a match-up with Western Michigan on Wednesday, April 15 at LMCU Ballpark in Comstock Park, Michigan, home of the West Michigan Whitecaps, the High-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers.

Michigan State then heads to the Pacific Northwest to play at Washington on Friday-Sunday, April 17-19, in the Spartans' first-ever trip to Seattle. MSU and UW have played four times before, but all on neutral fields, never before on campus. The Spartans and Huskies first met in 1992 in El Paso, Texas, then played in Surprise, Arizona in 2014 and in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2018.

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, and also single game 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, or fans can visit the MSU Ticket Office in person, located in 1855 Place.