Spartans Kennel Great Danes Saturday

Saturday, February 28

Fluor Field | Greenville, S.C.

6 PM

Michigan State University

3-5

Albany

0-5

Albany

Michigan State

Khamaree Thomas and Josh Klug vs Illinois at Greenville

Photo by: Jeremy Fleming

2/28/2026 11:59:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score MSU 4, UAlbany 1 Box Score

Standout pitching and timely hitting boosts MSU to win over UAlbany.

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Boosted by Carter Monke and Brady Chambers on the mound, along with Randy Seymour, Ryan McKay and Khamaree Thomas at the plate, Michigan State baseball pulled away from a pesky Albany team on the way to a 4-1 Victory for MSU Saturday night in the Spartans' second day of play in the 2026 First Pitch Invitational at Flour Field, in their residency at the home of the Greenville Drive.

MSU scored two runs in the third, before UAlbany cut the gap in half in the fourth, but the Spartans tacked on two runs in the seventh for the final 4-1 score to beat the scrappy Great Danes.

With the win, Michigan State evens its Greenville weekend at 1-1 after Friday's 5-4 loss to Illinois in 10 innings. On the season, the Spartans are now 3-5, while the Great Danes slide to 0-6, having lost to James Madison, 6-3, earlier Saturday afternoon. Illinois started the second day of action in the First Pitch Invitational with a 5-0 win over College of Charleston.

First Pitch Invitational action wraps up on Sunday, with Albany taking on Illinois at 10 a.m., followed by Michigan State meeting James Madison at 2 p.m.

In the first ever meeting between Michigan State and UAlbany, MSU senior starter Monke went 5.0 IP, allowing just one run, while scattering three hits, striking out four and walking one, to earn the first win of his Spartan career. Redshirt-freshman reliever Brady Chambers went the final 4.0 IP, chalking up four Ks while allowing just one hit and no runs to his the first save of his college career.

"It was another solid start out of Carter Monke for his third quality start in a row, and he just goes out and competes," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr said. "I'm really, really happy to see the success that he's been having and happy for him to get the win tonight. He attacks the strike zone, and attacks hitters, and has just been really good. Brady Chambers was lights out tonight for us. I'm really happy for a kid like Brady, who's worked really hard coming off an injury in high school and we weren't able to use him last year because he was hurt, and he just continues to get better and better. Every outing is the first this or the first that, for him, and tonight he got his first save, which he very much deserved tonight because he was outstanding when we needed him to be and I'm happy for him because I think that was something that the team needed, because we struggled a little bit offensively, so the pitching and the defense really picked us up."

At the plate, senior infielder Seymour was 2-for-3 with both hits going for extra bases, with his first triple of the season to go with his team-leading third double of the season, driving in one and scoring twice. Junior infielder McKay was 1-for-2 with an RBI single, and drew two walks along with stealing a pair of bases, while sophomore outfielder Thomas tallied two runs on one hit and a walk, along with swiping two stolen bases. Junior outfielder Parker Picot added a single, while redshirt-sophomore catcher Adam Broski and sophomore outfielder Isaac Sturgess both drew RBI walks.

"Our leaders have to lead us, and Randy's certainly one of those leaders," Boss said. "He's one of our captain, and if everyone else is kind of struggling, we need to go to our leaders to make plays for us, and Randy did that tonight. Ryan McKay had a huge at bat with an RBI tonight, so that's what we're going to need those guys to do, and they were able to do it for us and be the leaders we know they can be and need them to be for us. When you have leaders making plays for us, younger guys like Khamaree Thomas follow and come up with some big at bats and some big plays on the basepaths for us."

Thomas sparked the Spartan rally in the third by drawing a two-out walk, starting a Spartan walk-parade, and Thomas then stole second. Seymour followed with a walk, before Broski came up next and drew an RBI walk to bring in Thomas for the first run of the game. Sturgess was next in the line-up and he also earned an RBI walk, plating Seymour for the second run of the stanza, before the walk parade and the inning came to a halt.

The Great Danes scored their run in the top of the fourth on a one-out double and two batters later, an RBI single, to close to 2-1.

In the seventh, the same Spartans that started and scored in the third did the same in the fourth, as Thomas again came to bat with two outs in the inning, but beat out an infield single, and then again stole second. Seymour smacked a double down the left field line and into the corner to plate Thomas. After UAlbany made a pitching change, McKay lofted a single to left and Seymour scampered home from second for a 4-1 advantage, and Chambers collared any chance of the Great Danes rallying to secure the Victory for MSU.

Michigan State wraps up First Pitch Invite action against James Madison on Sunday, March 1 at 2 p.m.

The Spartans then stay in Greenville and square off with Winthrop on Tuesday, March 3, at 6 p.m. before concluding the Greenville trip by tangling with the Tigers of Clemson on Wednesday, March 4, also at 6 p.m.

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.