Spartans Clipped By Wildcats In Walk-Off Loss Saturday

Saturday, April 4

Rocky and Bernice Miller Park | Evanston, Ill.

2 PM ET / 1 PM CT

Michigan State University

10-18, 5-9

Northwestern

11-15-1, 4-7

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Michigan State	0	3	1	1	2	0	0	2	0	9	15	1
Northwestern	0	0	4	0	2	0	0	3	1	10	15	0

Randy Seymour action swings at Northwestern

Photo by: Erin Grady/MSU Athletic Communications

4/4/2026 7:57:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score NU 10, MSU 9 Box Score

MSU topped by NU in high-scoring back-and-forth battle

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Michigan State baseball was nipped by the Northwestern Wildcats, 10-9, on a walk-off in the bottom of the ninth Saturday afternoon at NU's Rocky and Berenice Miller Park, leveling the Big Ten Conference weekend series at a game apiece.

MSU and NU will meet in a rubber match on Sunday, April 5 in a 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT start time.

The Spartans took a 3-0 lead in the second, and either had the lead or were tied until the ninth, adding a run in the top of the third for a 4-0 advantage, only to see the Wildcats tie it up with a four-run bottom of the third. MSU regained the lead with a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth to go ahead, 7-4. NU plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth to close to 7-6.

After a frenzied four-straight scoring innings, both teams went scoreless in the sixth and seventh stanzas, until the Spartans tallied two in the top of the eighth for a 9-6 lead. However, the Wildcats again tied it up with three runs in the eighth, sending the game to the ninth tied at 9-9. MSU got two runners on in the ninth, but was unable to push across the go-ahead run, setting up NU's walk-off in the bottom of the ninth, for the Wildcats' first and only lead of the game. It was Northwestern's third walk-off win this season.

"It was a tough loss today," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "But when you don't take care of the little things and you don't execute the things that we've worked on, it's tough to win in any environment, and we had too many mental mistakes, and made too many outs on the bases, especially with the win blowing out, and we just didn't play well enough to win.

MSU slides to 10-18 overall and 5-9 in the B1G, while NU improves to 11-15-1 overall and 4-7 B1G records. With Saturday's result, the Spartans have still won seven of the last nine meetings with the Wildcats, and MSU still holds an all-time series lead of 106-57-1, including 45-26-1 in games played in Evanston.

The Spartans knocked 15 hits on the day, but left 14 runners on base. The Wildcats also had 15 hits, while leaving eight runners stranded.

MSU senior infielder Randy Seymour, who is one of MSU's seven players from the state of Illinois and had a large contingent of friends and family in attendance this weekend, smacked a solo home run to lead off the second inning to get the Spartans' scoring started. It was Seymour's team-leading 11th home run of the season, and three of those 11 have come when leading off an inning, with all three previous occurrences coming on the road. It was also the second time that Seymour has led off the second inning with a homer, also doing so on March 15 at Rutgers in the second inning, along with in the eighth inning at Louisville on Feb. 13.

Seymour finished Saturday 3-for-5 with two runs scored and the RBI, adding a double and a single, finishing a triple shy of the cycle. Sophomore outfielder Khamaree Thomas, another Spartan from Illinois, was also 3-for-5 with an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

Sophomore infielder CJ Deckinga, also an Illinois native, added a 2-run HR in the eighth, along with an RBI single in the third for three RBI on a 2-for-2 outing with a season-high three walks. Junior outfielder Trent Rice and sophomore outfielder Isaac Sturgess joined in the multi-hit group, as Rice was 2-for-6 with a run scored, while Sturgess was 2-for-5 with a run score and a run batted in.

Junior infielder Ryan McKay was 1-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI, adding two walks. Sophomore infielder Dayton Murphy, also an Illinois native, was 1-for-4 with an RBI and sophomore catcher Adam Broski was 1-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored, drawing two walks and one hit-by-pitch. Senior outfielder Nick Williams scored a run after reaching on a fielder's choice. Williams is a native of Wisconsin, and playing the closest to home he'll be this season.

On the mound, senior starter Carter Monke went 4.0 IP, scattering four runs on six hits, with three Ks and one walk. Monke is an Illinois native and a first-year Spartan after transferring from Illinois State.

Senior reliever Nolan Higgins tossed 3.0 IP, also spraying four runs on six hits, with four strikeouts and one walk, and senior reliever Tommy Szczepanski went 1.2 IP with two runs on three hits, one walk and four punchouts.

After Seymour's leadoff homer in the second got the Spartans' scoring going, McKay and Deckinga followed with back-to-back walks.

Williams reached on a fielder's choice that Deckinga was out at second on the play. Broski followed with an infield single to score McKay, then Rice followed suite with an infield single of his own. Thomas then came to bat and flew out to center, but was deep enough for a sac fly to score Williams and put MSU ahead, 3-0.

Seymour smacked a one-out single in the third to spark the Spartan rally, McKay followed with a walk and Decking delivered an RBI single to right to drive in Seymour and give the Spartans a 4-0 advantage.

MSU's four-run lead was short-lived, as Northwestern plated four runs on five hits, with the big blow coming on a three-run home run by Jackson Freeman, and later an RBI single by Noah Ruiz.

Thomas led off the fourth with a single, but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double. Sturgess and Seymour later laced back-to-back singles, and McKay joined in with a single of his own to drive in Sturgess for the RBI, putting MSU on top, 5-4.

Broski started off the fifth by getting hit by a pitch, then Rice reached on a bunt single, then Thomas laced a single to left to fill the bases full of Spartans. Murphy then got plunked by a pitch to draw an RBI HBP, preceding Sturgess with a sac fly and a 7-4 lead for the visiting Spartans.

The Wildcats scored two runs in the home half of the fifth, stringing together three hits, taking advantage of one MSU error to score two runs, but Higgins got out of a bases-loaded jam with a flyout to minimize the damage and keep the Spartans ahead at 7-6.

After a scoreless sixth and seventh stanzas, Seymour started off the eighth with a walk, and two batters later, Deckinga decked a homer to left field to extend the Spartan lead to a 9-6 advantage.

The three-run lead was once again short-lived, as Northwestern hit two home runs in the bottom of the eighth, first a two-run home by Owen McElfatrick and later a solo home run by Ryan Kucherak to tie it up at 9-all heading to the ninth.

Thomas knocked a one-out single in the top of the ninth, and two batters later, Sturgess followed with a single of his own, but a flyout ended the Spartan threat and the inning without a run.

McElfatrick knocked an RBI single for the walk-off win for the Wildcats.

MSU and Northwestern conclude the three-game weekend series on Sunday with a 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT first pitch.

Michigan State returns home Sunday, then heads to play at Notre Dame on Wednesday, April 8 at 5:30 p.m., before returning home to host Michigan in a three-game B1G series, Friday-Sunday, April 10-12 at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium.

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.