Spartans Face Fourth-Seeded Trojans Friday In Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals

Friday, May 22

Charles Schwab Field | Omaha, Neb.

10 AM ET / 9 AM CT

Michigan State University

(4) USC

Nolan Higgins applies Michigan State's sticker to the 2026 Big Ten Baseball Tournament after the Victory for MSU over Iowa on May 20, 2026.

Photo by: Steve Branscombe

Spartans Face Fourth-Seeded Trojans Friday In Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals

5/21/2026 4:41:00 PM | Baseball

MSU BSB Notes - 2026 B1G TOURN vs USC USC Notes vs MSU

12th-seeded MSU meets fourth-seeded and No. 25 ranked USC.

• Michigan State baseball is making its 17th all-time appearance in the Big Ten Tournament when the 12th-seeded Spartans face No. 4 seed USC in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Big Ten Conference Baseball Tournament, Presented by IFS.ai, on Friday morning at 10 a.m. ET / 9 a.m. CT ... the 44th B1G Baseball Tournament runs Tuesday-Sunday, May 19-24, at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska, site of the NCAA Men's College World Series.

• The first three days of the tournament featured double-elimination brackets, pairing eight teams seeded No. 5-12 ... Four games were held on Tuesday, May 19, and Wednesday, May 20, and two games contested on Thursday, May 21, to produce four qualifiers.

• The four advancing teams will face seeds No. 1-4 in single-elimination quarterfinals on Friday, May 22. Semifinals take place Saturday, May 23, followed by the championship game on Sunday, May 24.

• MSU's schedule is subject to change, stay tuned to MSUSpartans.com and @MSUBaseball on X/Twitter for schedule updates.

• Friday's MSU game and all of the 2026 B1G Baseball Tournament will be televised on Big Ten Network, and games will also be available on the FOX Sports App through the "Watch Live" link, and "Live Stats" will be available on MSUSpartans.com.

• MSU's games will not be on the Spartan Media Network, so there will be no "Listen Live" link available.

• Fans can follow the action with "Watch Live," "Live Stats" and "Listen Live" links, available at MSUSpartans.com.

• Michigan State finished regular-season action 23-30 overall and 11-19 in B1G action, making it to the B1G Tournament for the second-straight season and the third time in the last four years (2026, 2025, 2023).

• The Spartans were also the No. 12 seed last season and were the No. 8 seed in 2023 when it was an eight-team tournament ... Overall this is Michigan State's 17th all-time appearance and 10th under head coach Jake Boss Jr. in his 18th season at the helm of the Spartans.

• MSU drew its bye in the Big Ten Conference schedule on the final weekend, and hosted ISU from the Missouri Valley Conference over the weekend, as the Redbirds also had a bye in their league schedule, this weekend in a three-game weekend series, taking the series with wins on Thursday and Saturday.

• With Saturday's Victory for MSU, head coach Jake Boss Jr. passed legendary head coach Danny Litwhiler for number two on the Michigan State Baseball Coaches All-Time Wins List with his 490th win at MSU.

• Michigan State advanced to Friday's quarterfinals after a pair of wins, starting with an 8-4 upset over No. 5 seed Purdue on Tuesday morning in the tournament's opening game ... the Spartans then rallied from a 3-2 deficit in the sixth inning to beat No. 8 seed Iowa, 4-3, on Wednesday evening, as senior reliever Nolan Higgins chalked up his second game-ending strikeout in as many games.

• Despite Friday morning's game starting at 10 a.m. ET / 9 a.m. CT and game time temperature of 47 degrees making it to the coldest Big Ten Tournament game on record played at Charles Schwab Field Omaha, the Spartans started out red hot and bolted out of the gates ... MSU jumped out to a 7-0 lead after two innings with a four-run fourth and three-run second inning ... Meanwhile, Donovan silenced the Boilermakers' bats without a hit for 5.1 IP, and didn't yield a run until the eighth.

• In Wednesday's win, the Spartans grinded out a win over the No. 8 Hawkeyes ... junior infielder Ryan McKay knocking in two RBI, with the second coming in the top of the ninth, while senior outfielder Nick Williams drove in the other run and wasted no time in extending his hitting streak to 15 games, with a leadoff single to start the game.

• Higgins finished off a game that graduate starter Carter Monke went 5.2 IP, with four Ks, scattering four hits and three runs, while keeping the Hawkeyes' high-powered offense in check ... Iowa entered Wednesday leading the B1G and ranking 10th in the NCAA in batting average at .315, along with second in the league and 22nd in the nation in hits with 537, averaging 10.6 hits per game ... However Monke, junior reliever Gannon Grundman, and Higgins combined to stymie the Hawkeye bats with just seven hits ... Grundman went 2.1 IP with three hits, no runs, no walks and two punchouts to earn the win.

• The Spartans have continued their B1G Tournament run, as they were the last team to qualify, doing so on the last day of the regular season, and have now won two games in the same B1G Tournament for the first time since 2016.

• Overall, MSU is making its 17th appearance in the B1G Tournament, including its 10th under head coach Jake Boss Jr., and the Spartans have won at least one game in seven of the 10 visits, as well as two games in five of the previous 10 tournaments.

• The Spartans improved to 24-31, winning three games in a row for the first time this season, as well as winning five of the last six games and eight of their last 11.

• MSU and USC did not face each other this season, and last season's three-game series at Los Angeles was the first time the Spartans and Trojans faced each other on the diamond.

MICHIGAN STATE ATHLETICS ANNOUNCES JAKE BOSS JR. CONTRACT EXTENSION
• Michigan State athletics announced a contract extension for head baseball coach Jake Boss Jr. on Thursday, Feb. 12 on the eve of Opening Day ... With the extension, Boss' contract now runs through 2029.

• Boss is in his 18th year at Michigan State and 19th overall as a collegiate head coach ... Boss entered the 2026 season at No. 3 on MSU's longest coaching list behind John H. Kobs (1935-63), the namesake for Kobs Field, location of McLane Stadium, with 39 seasons, and legendary head coach Denny Litwhiler (1964-82) with 19 seasons.

BOSS PASSES LITWHILER FOR NO. 2 ON MSU TOTAL WINS LIST
• Coach Boss passed Litwhiler for No. 2 on MSU's Head Coaches Wins List, tying him on Thursday, May 14 with win No. 489, then passed him with the win on Saturday, May 16 in the regular-season finale to add to the Spartan Senior Celebrations Day festivities.

Boss is also No. 3 on the Spartan head coach list for wins and games coached, just behind Litwhiler with 489 wins in 859 games and also behind Kobs with 576 wins in 969 games.

BOSS 500 CAREER WINS
• MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. won his 500th career win on March 21 vs. Iowa, with a 15-5 8-inning run-rule Victory for MSU, and the Spartans' win at CMU on March 24 was number 501 for Coach Boss ... he now has 514 career wins in his 19th overall season with 487 wins in 18+ seasons at Michigan State (2009-pres.), and 25 wins in one season at Eastern Michigan (2008).

SEASON 142 OF SPARTAN BASEBALL
• Michigan State is in its 142nd season of baseball in 2026 and won its 2,500th all-time Victory for MSU vs. Eastern Michigan on May 6, 2025 ... Baseball was the first organized varsity sport on campus with the first season of Spartan baseball in 1884, winning its first recorded game on May 19, 1884, 20-9 over Olivet, going 4-2 in the six-game schedule, and baseball has been played every season since, with only no varsity in 1944 due to World War II.

100 YEARS OF SPARTANS
• One hundred years ago, on April 2, 1926, the name "Spartans" was first identified with Michigan State. "Spartans" initially appeared in a Lansing State Journal story about the baseball team, when LSJ editor George Alderton decided the established "Aggies" nickname no longer fit the recently renamed Michigan State College ... Other publications would soon follow in utilizing the nickname, and eventually it was officially adopted by Michigan State ... In the hundred years which have followed, "Spartans" has become more than just a moniker, it's an identity for decades of alumni, representing our uncommon will ... Here's to another century of Spartans!

48 AND FABULOUS
• Michigan State baseball played its 4,800th game in school history on Sunday, May 3, now with an all-time record of 2,529-2,254-30 (.528) in 4,813 games.

BACK TO OMAHA
• This is MSU's second-straight and third berth in the B1G Tournament in the last four seasons, as the Spartans made it to Omaha in 2023 as the No. 8 seed and in 2025 also as the No. 12 seed ... The 2023 visit was MSU's first berth in the B1G Tournament since 2018.

HIGGINS AND SEYMOUR MAKING THIRD TRIPS TO OMAHA WITH SPARTANS
• The Spartan senior duo of pitcher Nolan Higgins and infielder Randy Seymour are also making their third trip to Omaha with the Spartans, coming to Omaha in 2023 and 2025 ... Higgins made one appearance in 2023, pitching 1.1 IP with 1 K, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB vs. Nebraska on May 26, 202 in 4-0 MSU's 4-0 loss to the Huskers loss in an elimination game ... Seymour didn't see any action in the B1G Tournament.

SPARTAN PLAYERS NOT AT FIRST RODEO IN OMAHA
• In 2023, no Spartan player on the roster had played in the conference tourney prior the first-round game ... Last season, MSU came to Omaha with 11 players that were on the Spartans' roster in 2023, while this season, the Spartans have eight players on the roster that played in the 2025 B1G Tournament, in addition to six other Spartans that were on the roster and in the MSU dugout in 2025, but didn't not see any action:

1          Ryan McKay    INF       JR         Clarkston, MI / Orchard Lake St. Mary's HS
3          Dayton Murphy          INF       SO        Crystal Lake, IL / Crystal Lake South HS
10        Nick Williams OF        RS-SR   Racine, WI / Union Grove HS / Wabash Valley CC
11        Parker Picot    OF        JR         Rochester Hills, MI / Rochester Adams HS / Alabama
18        Noah Bright    C          GR       Macomb, MI / Henry Ford II HS / Lansing CC
28        Aidan Donovan           RHP     SO        Commerce, MI / Orchard Lake St. Mary's HS
35        Randy Seymour          INF       SR        Frankfort, IL / Lincoln-Way East HS
41        Nolan Higgins RHP     SR        Wixom, MI / Orchard Lake St. Mary's HS

On Roster But Didn't Play In 2025:
8          Isaac Sturgess OF        SO        Davison, MI / Powers Catholic HS
14        Tommy Szczepanski   RHP     SR        Bay City, MI / Garber HS / Virginia Tech
15        Gannon Grundman    LHP      JR         Howell, MI / Hartland HS
19        Adam Broski   C          RS-SO Harrison Twp, MI / Warren De La Salle HS
20        Josh Klug         RHP     JR         Traverse City, MI / Traverse City Central HS / Louisville
21        Khamaree Thomas     OF        SO        Chicago, IL / Kenwood Academy

• Also on MSU's 2026 roster is junior infielder Jasen Oliver, who was on Indiana's 2024 and 2025 B1G Tournament rosters before transferring to Michigan State ... Oliver is currently out for the season with an injury.

MSU B1G TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• MSU is making its 17th overall appearance in the B1G Tournament, including the 10th under head coach Jake Boss Jr., now with a 12-18 ledger in the conference tourney under Coach Boss, winning at least one game in seven of the 10 visits as well as winning two games in five of the previous nine tournaments.

SPARTANS IN OMAHAAAAA, SOMEWHERE IN MIDDLE AMERICA
• MSU is making its sixth trip to an Omaha-hosted B1G Tournament, making the conference postseason tournament in 2014, 2016, 2018, 2023 and 2025 hosted by Omaha ... MSU is now 6-10 in the B1G Tourney in Omaha.

• In 2014, the No. 6 seed Spartans went 2-2, beating third-seeded Illinois in the opening round, 2-1, before losing to No. 2 Nebraska, 3-2, but bouncing back to beat Illinois again, 11-2, before falling to No. 1 seed Indiana, 7-4, as the Hoosiers advanced to the title game and won the conference crown.

• The 2016 B1G Tournament saw the seventh-seeded Spartans upset No. 2 seed Nebraska, 5-1, and No. 6 seed Maryland, 4-3, before falling to No. 4 seed Ohio State twice, 3-2 in 10 innings, and 7-3, as OSU also advanced to the championship game and won the title.

• In 2018, the No. 8 seed Spartans lost to No. 1 seed Minnesota, 3-2, in the opener, before being eliminated by fifth-seeded Indiana, in a heart-breaking 6-5 loss in 10 innings.

• The 2023 Spartans were the No. 8 seed in the B1G Tournament, losing to No. 1 seed Maryland, 3-2, before bouncing back to beat No. 5 seed Rutgers, 6-4, eliminating the Scarlet Knight, but then losing to No. 4 seed Nebraska, 4-0.

• In 2025, the 12th-seeded Spartans had a rematch with Nebraska, the No. 8 seed, and were topped, 5-4 in 10-innings ... MSU then lost to No. 1 seed Oregon, 4-2.

• The 2026 Spartans opened B1G Tournament action with an 8-4 upset of No. 5 seed Purdue on Tuesday morning, becoming the first 12-seed to get a BTT win in the current tournament format ... MSU was also playing in the coldest game in BTT history in Omaha, with first pitch temp at 47 degrees ... the Spartans continued their improbable run with a 4-3 win over No. 8 seed Iowa on Wednesday evening, rallying from a 3-2 deficit in the sixth, scoring the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth.

MITTEN STATERS
• Michigan State has 21 players on its 2026 roster from the state of Michigan ... USC does not have any Michiganders on its roster.

FROM THE HOME OF IN-N-OUT
• The Spartans do not have any California natives on their roster ... the Trojans have 30 players from their home state of California on its roster.

LET'S SEY-MOUR HOMERS AS SEYMOUR CLIMBS HR LIST, TIES GIBBY
• Senior infielder Randy Seymour smacked his 16th home run of the season on Saturday, one of the three Spartan seniors to homer on Spartan Senior Celebrations Day ... to add to the excitement, Seymour also tied Spartan great Kirk Gibson with 16 in 1978, along with Matt Riggins (1996) and Bob Malek (2002), for No. 2 on the list ... Mike Eddington is MSU's single-season HR king with 20 homers in 1984.

Seymour's teammate Parker Picot is also climbing the list, now part of a three-way tie for the No. 8 spot after his homer on Tuesday in the BTT opener vs. Purdue.

MSU SINGLE-SEASON INDIVIDUAL Home Runs
1.         Mike Eddington          20        1984
2.         Kirk Gibson     16        1978
            Matt Riggins   16        1996
            Bob Malek      16        2002
5.         Randy Seymour          15        2026
            Sam Busch      15        2025
            Chris McCuiston         15        2002
8.         Parker Picot    14        2026
            Rob Ellis          14        1971
            Kyle Geswein 14        2002
11.       Brock Vradenburg      13        2023
            Ryan Krill         13        2015
            Travis Gulick   13        2003
            Jim Sepanek    13        1985
            Scott Ayotte    13        1995
--          CJ Deckinga    6          2026

HOT & SPICY PICOT
• Junior outfielder Parker Picot homered in three-straight games (May 9-10 at Ohio State, May 12 vs. Eastern Michigan) as part of smacking nine home runs in a span of 11 games.

Picot has bookended that 11-game spurt with two HR vs. UCLA on May 3, and adding two more on May 16 for his third multi-homer game of the season ... He now has 14 homers for the season, with his two-run blast in the fifth frame and a three-run homer in the eighth vs. Illinois State game, before adding a solo homer on Tuesday morning vs. Purdue.

Picot had one HR vs. Maryland on April 25, then two HRs vs. No. 1 UCLA on May 3, one homer on May 6 vs. Western Michigan, then in back-to-back games against the Buckeyes of Ohio State with one on May 9 and another on May 10 ... he then added a solo homer vs. Eastern Michigan on May 12 for this third-straight game with homer ... after not hitting a HR in the first two games of the Illinois State series, Picot broke out the microscopic slump with a pair of HRs in the series and regular-season finale on Saturday.

After a cold stretch during most of March, Picot has turned things around at the plate and his numbers have sky-rocketed of late ... Picot's average was at .088 on March 18 and 20, before starting to climb out of the slump on March 24, then reaching peak climbing speed on April 11, hitting .432 from a span of April 11 - May 3, with his average reaching .271 after the May 3 outing vs. UCLA going 3-for-5 with two HR, and later peaked at .298 after Thursday's opener vs. Illinois State when he went 3-for-3 and extending his season-long hit streak to nine games, before it came to an end after going without a hit in Friday's loss, but then bounced back with two hits, both for HR, on Saturday, and he brought a .290 average into the B1G Tournament, dipping down to .287 after going 1-for-5 on Tuesday.

Picot has at least one hit in 19 of the last 24 games, with nine multi-hit outings over that span ... he also has 11 HR and 10 doubles over that span, with an .955 slugging percentage in the last 11 games, with 17 RBI over that span.

PICOT PELTING PICKLED PITCHES
• Picot pelted a pair of pickled pitches for home runs in the wild, 13-11, game vs. No. 1 UCLA on May 3, with a two-run homer in the first frame and added a solo home to lead off the fifth ... Picot pelted an opposite-field homer over the wall in right and into the Red Cedar River for his first home run of the day ... He then smashed a solo blast to left center to lead off the fifth frame.

Picot was the first Spartan to hit two homers in a game in a two-week span, as senior infielder Randy Seymour smacked two HRs on April 18 in a 13-8 Victory for MSU at Washington.

Picot added a third game with two HRs on May 16 vs. Illinois State with a two-run homer in the fifth inning, before adding a 3-run homer in the eighth, part the Spartans' five HRs on the day on the way to the 18-8, 8-inning, run-rule Victory for MSU.

WHERE THERE'S A WILL-IAMS THERE'S A WAY TO A 15-GAME HIT STREAK
• Senior outfielder Nick Williams is also swinging a scorching hot stick, currently on a 15-game hitting streak, with a hit Wednesday vs. Iowa, which is the longest by a Spartan this season and longest since 2024, when teammate Ryan McKay had a 16-game hot stretch.

Over the 15-game hit streak, Williams is hitting .508 (30-of-59) with 14 RBI and three HR, two triples and eight doubles, slugging .960.

2026 EDITION OF HOME RUN HITTERS MAKING MARK
• The 2026 Spartans have vaulted up the MSU single-season team home runs list, as they now have 62 HR, marking just the third time with 60 or more homers and the most since 2004 when the Green & White blasted 75 HR.

MSU entered the B1G Tournament with 15 HR in the last 10 games of the regular season (1.5 pg), including hit three home runs over the weekend in the series vs. UCLA, to crack into the Top 10 of the Spartans' single-season team home runs list, matching the 1990 squad at the No. 9 spot, before adding to that total and climbing further up after adding one homer in each of the two midweeks, then added four at Ohio State and one vs. Eastern Michigan, before erupting for five in the regular-season finale on Saturday.

After one homer on Tuesday morning in the BTT opener, the Spartans have 62 home runs in 54 games, averaging 1.1 HR/game, ahead of last year's 51 HR in 55 games, for a 0.9 HR/game average ... at their current pace of 1.1 HR/game, the Spartans will end the season with at least two more home runs, giving them 63 to tie for No. 3 on the single-season list with the 1994 and 1984 Spartan squads, and the most since 2004's 75 homers.

MSU SINGLE-SEASON TEAM HOME RUNS
            1.         2002    95
            2.         2004    75
            3.         2026    62
            4.         1994    59
                        1984    59
            6.         1985    57
            7.         1988    54
            8.         2023    52
                        2025    51
            10.       1990    49

CENTURY OF DOUBLES
• Senior infielder Randy Seymour's double on Wednesday gave the Spartans the century mark of doubles for the season with the 100th two-bagger ... with the 100th double, the 2026 MSU squad now has 100 doubles, tying the 3024 their most since 2023 with 106

MSU SINGLe-SEASON DOUBLES
            1.         2002    126
            2.         2011    115
            3.         2010    114
            4.         2017    113
            5.         1994    110
            6.         2004    107
            7.         2023    106
            8.         2016    101
                        1984    101
            10.       2026    100
                        2024    100

PITCHING STAFF SLINGIN' STRIKEOUTS
• MSU's pitching staff has been racking up the strikeouts, as the seven strikeouts fired by the Spartans on Tuesday combined with the eight on Wednesday gives the Spartan staff 413 Ks on the season, not only cracking the program's Top 10 single-season strikeouts list, but also topping the 400-K plateau for just the ninth time in program history.

By topping 400 Ks, it marks the sixth time out of those nine seasons under the tutleaege of Spartan pitching coach Mark Van Ameyde, who is in his ninth season back and his 15th overall on MSU's coaching staff, back since 2018 season, and was previously on the MSU bench from 2009-14, including associate head coach from 2011-14, before becoming the Eastern Michigan head coach in 2015.

Currently averaging 7.5 K's/game, the Spartans will have 421 after at least one more games in the B1G Tournament, which would move up to the No. 3 spot.

TEAM SINGLE-SEASON STRIKEOUTS
            1.         2016    466
            2.         2019    445
            3.         2025    426
            4.         2024    420
                        2017    420
            6.         2026    413
            7.         2015    409
            8.         2018    407
            9.         2023    403
            10.       2002    390
            11.       2012    389
            12.       1998    380