Michigan State Baseball Announces 2023 Schedule

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State baseball announced its 2023 schedule Thursday. Head coach Jake Boss Jr. and the Spartans will play a 56-game ledger, opening on Friday, Feb. 17.

"I think it's very challenging schedule. We're going to a couple places again that we've never been so we're excited to see some new places, and excited to get back to some familiar places where we really enjoy competing," Boss said.

The Spartans are slated for 22 home games at McLane Stadium at Kobs Field, with the home-opener on Friday, March 24 against Purdue in the Big Ten Conference opening series. MSU's home ledger is highlighted with three other B1G series at home, also hosting Ohio State (April 7-9), Northwestern (April 28-30) and Indiana (May 18-20), as well as a non-conference home series against Western Illinois (April 14-16).

Michigan State opens the 2023 season in Phoenix, Arizona, taking on Grand Canyon in an extended weekend series, Feb. 17-20, in the first-ever meeting between MSU and GCU.

"Grand Canyon is an outstanding ballclub with lots of talented returning guys that will certainly be a challenge for us," Boss said.

The Spartans then head to the aptly named Spartanburg, South Carolina to play USC Upstate on Feb. 24, then playing Gardner Webb on Feb. 25 and Presbyterian on Feb. 26. MSU last played USC Upstate in the COVID-shortened season of 2020, and also played in 2015, but both previous meetings were in Greenville, S.C. at Fluor Field, and will be playing in Spartanburg for the first time in the series history. Michigan State will be meeting Gardner-Webb for the first time ever, while playing Presbyterian for the fifth time overall and the first since 2017.

"We'll stay in Spartanburg, South Carolina, which the Greenville and Spartanburg area is one of our favorites, but we'll be branching out to play at USC Upstate, at Gardner Webb, and at Presbyterian, so it will be fun to see three different facilities, and kind of combined that with being in the Greenville area, which again is always a fun trip for us. We have a great deal of Spartans in that area that always come and support us, and it's great to see all the Green & White wherever we play," Boss said.

MSU will open March in Charleston, South Carolina, playing at College of Charleston on March 3, then at Charleston Southern on March 4, back at College of Charleston on March 5 before wrapping up the extended weekend at Shipyard Park taking on Air Force in a neutral match-up.

"Spring Break starts in Charleston, South Carolina, with a couple new places at the College of Charleston and Charleston Southern, and then we'll finish up the weekend at Shipyard Park against Air Force. Shipyard Park is a place we've played before and it's a beautiful facility there," Boss said.

The Spartans wrap up Spring Break action at Fluor Field in Greenville, South Carolina, taking on Wofford on March 8, before hosting Western Carolina and Kansas in the annual First Pitch Invitational. MSU will meet Western Carolina on March 10, before a split doubleheader with Kansas and Western Carolina on March 11, before wrapping up the weekend against Kansas on March 12. Michigan State will be meeting Wofford for the first time since 2002, while the Spartans played both Western Carolina and Kansas last season in the First Pitch Invitational at Fluor Field in Greenville. That was the second meeting of last season with Kansas, as the Spartans and Jayhawks tangled a week earlier at the Minnesota Cambria College Classic in Minneapolis.

"We're back in Greenville and playing at Fluor Field, kind of our home-away-from home early in the season, and the Greenville Drive folks take great care of us and do everything first-class," Boss said. "Wofford should be very good ballclub this season, and Western Carolina and Kansas are always very talented teams that are going to certainly be a challenge for us."

MSU then travels to Terre Haute, Indiana to tangle with Indiana State in a three-game series March 17-19. The Spartans will be making their first-ever trip to Terre Haute, in the return from ISU playing in East Lansing in 2019 in the first-ever series meeting between the two, as the only other previous meeting was in 1999 in Lake Charles, Louisiana. It was also MSU's first game under the lights at McLane Stadium at Kobs Field on April 5, 2019.

"We come home and start playing in the North, opening with the Indiana State trip, which is a return trip; we were supposed to go there in 2020, and were minutes away from getting on the bus when we were told the season was canceled because of COVID," Boss said. "So we're finally able to return that trip to Indiana State when they were here in 2019 for the first night game in school history."

MSU plays its first game in the state of Michigan on the road, playing at Kalamazoo against Western Michigan on March 22, before Michigan State's Big Ten Conference opener and home opener at McLane Stadium at Kobs Field hosting Purdue on March 24-26. Michigan State then hosts Western Michigan in the second half of the home-and-home on March 29.

The Spartans also have midweek match-ups against Bowling Green (April 5), at Notre Dame (April 11), vs. Oakland (April 12), vs. Purdue Fort Wayne (April 19), vs. Notre Dame (April 25), vs. Eastern Michigan (May 10) and vs. Central Michigan (May 16).

"Most of our midweek games are against familiar opponents from the Mid-American Conference in Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan and Bowling Green," Boss said. "We also take on regional foes Oakland and Notre Dame twice. Purdue Fort Wayne is on the schedule again, with their head coach Doug Schreiber, who was in the Big Ten for a long time at Purdue. So it's a very good, very competitive non-conference slate for us."

The non-Big Ten schedule also includes the annual exhibition against the Lansing Lugnuts, High-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics, at Jackson® Field™ on April 4.

"As it is every season, the Crosstown Showdown is one of the top highlights of the year, and it's a fabulous experience for everyone involved," Boss said. "It's a memorable and terrific opportunity for our guys, and one they will remember forever."

The Purdue series is the first of four B1G home series, hosting Ohio State (April 7-9), Northwestern (April 28-30) and Indiana (May 18-20). MSU has road league series at Rutgers (March 31-April 2), Michigan (April 21-23), Illinois (May 5-7) and Iowa (May 12-14).

"We start playing at home with our Big Ten opener against Purdue," Boss said. "The conference slate is going to be tough and it's a tough opener against Purdue, who is going to be very good. Rutgers is coming off a tremendous year, a year that they should have been in the NCAA Tournament and it's, quite honestly a travesty that they weren't. Ohio State's got a new head coach, but they're always very competitive, then we've got the rivalry series at Michigan, who also has a new coach, so that will be new and exciting for us. Northwestern with a new head coach is going to be very talented, as well as Illinois, Iowa and Indiana, who are all going to be very, very good. So it will be a challenging Big Ten schedule, but I know our guys are excited about facing that challenge head on."

During the open week in the Big Ten portion of their schedule, the Spartans will host Western Illinois in a weekend series, April 14-16. It will be the first match-up between the Spartans and Leathernecks since 2006.

"Hosting Western Illinois in our Big Ten bye weekend fit into both of our schedules so that worked out well for both of us in mid-April; I don't know that there is ever a great time to have a bye week but from a scheduling standpoint. We're excited to have Western Illinois come to East Lansing and we haven't played those guys during my time here, so it will be another new opponent for us, which would be a good and exciting challenge for us as well."

The 2023 B1G Tournament is at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska (May 24-28).

The NCAA Regional dates are June 2-4, while the NCAA Super Regionals are June 9-11, with the College World Series slated for June 16-25 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha.

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