Spartans Downed By No. 3 Longhorns Friday Night In Series Opener

Friday, February 20

UFCU Disch-Falk Field | Austin, Texas

7:30 PM ET / 6:30 PM CT

Michigan State University

2-2

No. 3 Texas

5-0

Michigan State

Texas

Photo by: Alexandra Carnochan

Spartans Downed By No. 3 Longhorns Friday Night In Series Opener

2/20/2026 11:58:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score TEX 8, MSU 1 Box Score

MSU beaten by Texas in first-ever meeting on the diamond between the Spartans and Longhorns.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Michigan State baseball hung with No. 3 Texas for the early innings, until the Longhorns pulled away in the middle frames on the way to an 8-1 outcome Friday night at UT's UFCU Disch-Falk Field in the opening game of a three-game weekend series.

Friday night was the first-ever match-up on the diamond between the Spartans and Longhorns, and after a scoreless first frame, Texas plated a pair of runs in the second. Michigan State countered with a run of its own in the top of the third to close to 2-1. That would be the closest the Spartans would get, as the Longhorns tallied two runs in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth frames to open an 8-1 lead and that remained the score for the rest of the night.

"We're disappointed in the loss tonight, because I don't think we took care of enough details that were needed to win," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "We struck out 14 times, and we could never get on time for the fastball, and we made a couple of mistakes defensively that cost us, so against a very good team like as, you need to play well, and unfortunately, I don't think we played well tonight. We have an opportunity to come back tomorrow and even the series, and if we play clean baseball and continue to compete at the plate, I believe good things will happen."

MSU posted five hits on the night, including an RBI single by junior infielder Ryan McKay in the third, plating freshman designated hitter Cole Van Ameyde, who made his Spartan debut by getting hit by a pitch in his first collegiate at bat. Van Ameyde took second on a groundout, and then scampered around third and came home on McKay's single up the middle.

Senior infielder Randy Seymour, senior catcher Noah Bright, junior infielder Jasen Oliver and sophomore outfielder Khamaree Thomas added the Spartans' other hits, all singles.

"It was good to get some younger guys in there tonight," Boss said. "Cole Van Ameyde had a couple nice at bats tonight, and Khamaree Thomas hadn't played until today also, and Dayton Murphy got in there as well, so was good to run those guys out there and compete. We'll all be ready to go tomorrow."

On the mound, sophomore starter Aidan Donovan went 4.0 IP, yielding four runs on five hits, with two walks and two strikeouts. Junior reliever Gannon Grundman went 1.1 IP with four runs on five hits.

Freshmen relievers Kyle Rudolph and Bobby Crane both made their Spartan debuts in solid fashion. Rudolph came on in with one out in the bottom of the sixth and yielded an RBI groundout, then later chalked up his first collegiate strikeout to end the inning and the Texas rally. He then fired a three-up, three-down seventh inning, the lone inning that the Spartan defense retired the Longhorns in order with another strikeout, then a flyout and a groundout.

Crane took over in the eighth and worked around a one-out hit, inducing a groundout and flyout to finish the frame.

"I thought on the mound, Bobby and Kyle threw up zeros and did a really nice job in their debuts," Boss said. "I thought Aidan Donovan really pitched well and got himself out of a couple jams that we put him in defensively, but I thought Aidan really competed well, so that was good to see."

MSU is now 2-2 on the young season with Friday's result, while Texas improves to 5-0.

Game two of the series between the Spartans and Longhorns is slated for Saturday at 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT, before the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. CT.

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.