Spartans Beat Fighting Irish, 7-4, Wednesday

Isaac Sturgess and Nick Williams lead the dugout celebration after a HR

Photo by: Erin Grady/MSU Athletic Communications

4/8/2026 10:04:00 PM | Baseball

HRs from Sturgess and Williams spark Victory For MSU.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Michigan State baseball jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the fourth inning and didn't look back on the way to a 7-4 Victory for MSU at Notre Dame on Wednesday evening at UND's Jake Kline Field at Frank Eck Stadium.

With the win, the Spartans improved to 11-19 overall while the Fighting Irish are now 15-13 overall, suffering their seventh loss in a row.

This was the first match-up of the season between Michigan State and Notre Dame in the first of a home-and-home, with the Spartans hosting the Irish at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium on Wednesday, April 22.

MSU had nine hits Wednesday night with five of them going for extra bases, led by a home run and double by both sophomore outfielder Isaac Sturgess and senior outfielder Nick Williams. Freshman infielder CJ Deckinga notched the fifth extra-base hit with a double.

"That was a really good win tonight against a very good opponent and at their place, so I'm really proud of our guys," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "I thought we had some timely hits, for sure, but still left some opportunities out there, so there's still room to grow, without a doubt. I thought we defended very well tonight and we pitched it well, and got ourselves out of a couple of jams. At the plate, we were able to get the barrel of the bat to the ball a handful of times with two home runs and three big doubles for RBI that kind of sealed the game for us."

Wednesday's game had the added amazing storyline involving three Van Ameyde's, with two for the Spartans and one for the Fighting Irish. MSU assistant coach/pitching coach Mark Van Ameyde and his son, Cole Van Ameyde, a freshman infielder/outfielder for MSU, started in left field on Wednesday and squared off against Coach Van Ameyde's oldest son and Cole's older brother, Chase Van Ameyde, who is a sophomore right-handed relief pitcher/infielder for Notre Dame, and started on the mound Wednesday night.

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Cole and Chase Van Ameyde did not get to face each other, as Chase only pitched the first inning, and Cole was ninth in the batting order and didn't get an at bat until the third inning. Chase was dealt the loss after yielding one run by the Spartans in the top of the first inning and MSU held the lead the rest of the way. Cole was hit by a pitch in the fourth inning and later came around to score, and also made four put-outs in left field, including two catches at the wall.

"I've known those boys since they were infants really, and I can only imagine what Coach Van Ameyde was going through, I'm guessing he for sure had some butterflies in his stomach, but also a tremendous amount of pride. When you got out and compete, it's just kind of one of those things, it's like playing against your friends that are other coaches, and once the game starts, you've got to go out and compete, but before and after, you exchange pleasantries and all of that. I'm sure Coach Van Ameyde was nervous and rightfully so, but I thought it was a pretty cool moment for their family, and I'm glad I was there to be able to watch it with a front row seat for it all."

Wednesday's Victory for MSU snapped a two-game losing streak to UND, and Michigan State has now won four of the last seven meetings and five of the last nine match-ups with Notre Dame. The Spartans extend their lead in the all-time series to 84-61, including 39-34 in South Bend.

The win by the visiting Spartans is eighth win by the visiting team in the last 12 meetings between MSU and UND.

With Wednesday's seven runs by the Spartans, the winning team has scored six or more runs in six of the last seven match-ups.

Five of MSU's seven runs were driven in by the combination of Sturgess and Williams. Sturgess was 3-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored, coming on his home run in the first frame, that proved to the be the "game-winning RBI" since it gave the Spartans the lead they didn't relinquish. The solo homer in the first was the third HR of the year for Sturgess.

It was also the second Victory for MSU that he had the GW RBI, and added to his season collection of them, continuing to have half of MSU's game-winning RBI with his sixth GW RBI out of the Spartans' 11 wins.

Williams ended 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs, driving in two of the three RBI on a double in the fourth and hit his HR in the eighth.

Deckinga was 1-for-5 with two RBI, coming on a two-run double in the fourth, driving in Williams and Cole Van Ameyde.

Senior infielder Randy Seymour, senior catcher Noah Bright and freshman designated hitter Isaiah Domey were all 1-for-4, with Bright and Domey scoring runs. Sophomore infielder Dayton Murphy scored a run, drawing a walk and stealing second, and later scoring on the RBI double from Sturgess in the third inning. Cole Van Ameyde collected MSU's lone HBP and scored a run.

On the mound, graduate starter JD Greeley went a perfect 2.0 IP, chalking up four strikeouts in retiring all six batters he faced. Freshman reliever Andrew Everson (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K), junior Logan Pikur (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K), senior Josh Klug (0.0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K), junior Gannon Grundman (1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K), senior Tommy Szczepanski (1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 K) and senior Nolan Higgins (2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K) kept Notre Dame's bats and offense in check.

Gannon earned the win, his first of the season, while Higgins collected his second save of the season.

The Spartans bolted out of the gates and onto the scoreboard, with a run in their first at bat, as Sturgess smacked an opposite-field HR to left center for an early 1-0 lead.

Sturgess factored in MSU's scoring in the top of the third, as Murphy drew a one-out walk and stole second, and Sturgess smacked a double off the top of wall in right-center, missing his second HR in as many at bats by approximately a foot.

Notre Dame mounted a rally in the third with a leadoff HBP to Mason Barth, and later a walk to Drew Berkland, then a single down the right field line by Noah Coy, driving in Barth from second but a quick relay from Sturgess in right, with the cut-off throw to McKay and a quick throw to Murphy at second nabbed Coy trying to stretch the RBI single to a double, for the third out of the inning, with only run scoring and keeping MSU's lead at 2-1 with three complete.

Michigan State extended its lead in the fourth, which had a bright start to the rally, with Bright singling up the middle to leadoff the frame. Domey followed with a single through the left side. After both Bright and Domey moved up a base on a balk, Williams brought them both in to score with his opposite-field double down the right field line. Cole Van Ameyded was then hit by a pitch and two batters later, Sturgess singled to fill the bases full of Spartans. Deckinga cleared half of them with a double down the left field line, plated Williams and Cole Van Ameyde for MSU's four runs on five hits to extend the Spartan advantage to 6-1.

The Irish clawed back with a run in the fifth and two more in the seventh to close to 6-4, before Szczepanski induced a flyout to left that Cole Van Ameyde made an acrobatic catch before crashing into the wall.

Williams pulled momentum back to the visitors' dugout with his home run in the eighth, blasting a home run that traveled 410-feet over the left-center field wall that was 106 mph off the bat, putting MSU ahead, 7-4 in the top of the eighth.

The Irish threatened in the eighth, getting the leadoff hitter on with a single, but then Higgins induced a fielder's choice and then back-to-back strikeouts to end the stanza.

MSU went down in order in the top of the final inning of regulation baseball. Higgins got the first two Irish batters out in the bottom of the ninth on a groundout and foulout. After consecutive singles brought the tying run to the plate, Higgins chalked up a swinging strikeout to end the Irish rally, along with the inning and the game, sparking the Victory for MSU celebrations.

Road wins = singing the fight song on the bus!!
🎶 🚌

Sing it with us: "On the banks of the Red Cedar…" 👏🏼 👏🏼 #VictoryForMSU pic.twitter.com/4I5ps7RZDf
— Michigan State Baseball (@MSUBaseball) April 9, 2026

The Spartans return home to host Michigan in a three-game B1G series, Friday-Sunday, April 10-12, opening with MSU's first home night game of the season with a 6:02 p.m. first pitch Friday evening. MSU and UM then meet on Saturday at 3:32 p.m., before Sunday's series finale slated for 1:02 p.m. start time.

MSU hosts Oakland on Tuesday, April 14 at 6:02 p.m., then 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 due to weather and flooding possibilities, so fans can stay tuned to MSUSpartans.com and @MSUBaseball on Twitter for schedule updates.

Fans can follow game 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.