Spartans Overtaken Late In Loss To No. 1 Bruins Sunday

Sunday, May 3

12:02 PM

Michigan State University

16-28, 10-17

No. 1 UCLA

43-4, 24-0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
UCLA	1	1	0	0	0	0	6	3	2	13	13	3
Michigan State	3	0	1	2	2	2	1	0	0	11	14	1

Spartan head baseball hat and glove on the dugout railing.

Photo by: MSU Baseball Social Squad

5/3/2026 6:27:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score UCLA 13, MSU 11 Box Score

MSU led UCLA until late innings for second time in three-game weekend series.

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State baseball again had a lead on No. 1 UCLA until the late innings on Sunday afternoon, and the Spartans were overtaken by the Bruins for the second time in the three-game Big Ten Conference series, downed in a 13-11 loss at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium.

On Friday, MSU led UCLA, 1-0, until the eighth inning when the Bruins scored two runs and two more in the ninth for a 4-1 results. On Saturday, the visiting team scored four runs in the top of the first, only to see MSU hold UCLA off the board the rest of the game, and the Spartans' comeback came up short in a 4-3 outcome.

The Spartans opened a 10-2 lead through six innings on Sunday, scoring in five of the six stanzas, with three in the first, none in the second, one in the third, then two in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth. The Bruins stormed back with a six-run seventh inning to close to 10-8. MSU scored a run in the home half of the seventh for an 11-8 lead, but UCLA scored three in the top of the eighth to tie it up, and then tallied two in the ninth for the go-ahead runs, and MSU was unable to counter in the ninth to end the game. Every inning saw at least one team or the other score a run, plating runs in the same frame in two innings, the first and the seventh.

Michigan State is now 16-28 overall and 10-17 in Big Ten play. UCLA improved to 43-4 overall and remain unbeaten league action at 24-0.

"Yeah, it's too bad. You have a big lead like that in the seventh inning; you feel like you should win the game, and another reason that they're (UCLA) undefeated in the conference," MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. "We knew they weren't going to go away. I thought our guys played hard, but we're a little short. We asked Nolan Higgins to do some things today that's probably unfair to him. But our bullpen is a little bit short. It's certainly disappointing. I'm sorry to have to put Nolan (Higgins) into that position, but we're trying to win the game."

Senior starter Carter Monke stymied the Bruin offense, scattering five hits and only yielding two runs and a pair of walks, while chalking up three strikeouts, all on inning-ending punchouts to end the second, third and fifth frames.

Senior reliever Tommy Szczepanski went 0.1 IP, before turning the ball over to fellow senior reliever Nolan Higgins, who went 2.1 IP and was dealt the tough-luck loss. Junior reliever Gannon Grundman went 0.1 IP, getting the final out and putting an end to the Bruin rally in the ninth.

UCLA used eight pitchers on the day, with reliever Zach Strickland earning the win, while reliever Easton Hawk picked up his third save of the weekend and 12th of the season.

The top-ranked Bruins are believed to the first No. 1 team to visit East Lansing, and UCLA captured the Big Ten Conference weekend series.

MSU out-hit UCLA, 14-13, with the Spartans leaving eight runners on base, while the Bruins left nine baserunners stranded.

Michigan State's three losses to UCLA this weekend was by a combined five runs, the closest run-differential of the season for the Bruins, and only the second single-digit run margin, along with seven runs in UCLA's series win over Minnesota, as MSU hung with the top-ranked team all weekend long, with several leads, including Sunday's Spartan score advantage until the seventh.

"I mean, it's never over," Boss said."We've had some good wins when we've been down, and we've had some tough losses when we've been up, and that's the nature of college baseball. It's a good day to hit, the wind is blowing like crazy. But you've got to get twenty-seven guys out."

Junior outfielder Parker Picot and the rest of the first four Spartans in the line-up were hard to get out on Sunday, with 10 hits amongst the top four in the line-up, all with at least two hits. Picot was 3-for-5, while senior outfielder Nick Williams was 3-for-4, graduate senior catcher Noah Bright went 2-for-4 and sophomore outfielder Khamaree Thomas was 2-for-5.

Picot posted three RBI and three runs scored, blasting two home runs, with a two-run homer in the first frame and added a solo home to lead off the fifth. Picot added a one-out double in the sixth and later came around to score. 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 blast to left center in the fifth.

Williams had three hits and added two walks, and scoring four runs and driving in three runs, one coming on a solo homer before the fans had returned to their seats from the seventh inning stretch.

Bright had two singles, including an RBI single in the fourth.

Thomas tallied two hits with a single and a double, two ribbies and a run scored, smacking an RBI double in the first, adding an RBI single in the third.

Junior infielder Ryan McKay was 1-for-5 with two runs scored, knocking a single in the fifth and later coming around to score, and reached on a fielder's choice in the sixth, and coming in to score.

McKay's second run was scored after he was driven in by senior infielder Randy Seymour's triple in the sixth for his lone hit and RBI on the day, now with a team-leading 44th RBI and team-lead tying second triple of the season.

Sophomore infielder Dayton Murphy was 1-for-5, while freshman designated hitter Isaiah Domey was 1-for-3 with a run scored.

Michigan State then wraps up its season-long nine-game homestand at Jeff Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium by hosting Bowling Green and Western Michigan in a pair of non-conference midweek match-ups on Tuesday, May 5 and Wednesday, May 6, respectively, both with 6:02 p.m. start times.

The Spartans then play at Ohio State next weekend, Friday-Sunday, May 8-10, in the penultimate weekend of the regular-season and final weekend of Michigan State's B1G schedule, as the Spartans drew their bye in the conference schedule on the final weekend, and will host Illinois State, Thursday-Saturday, May 14-16 in Spartan Senior Celebrations weekend.

MSU's 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.