Michigan State’s 142-year-old baseball program is known more for producing individual talents like Steve Garvey, Kirk Gibson and Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts than for winning a lot of games. So the Spartans had reason to celebrate the opening weekend of the season, even though it didn’t end the way they would have liked.
They won two of three on the road against a Louisville team ranked as high as No. 8 in the preseason, making it the highest-ranked series win under 18th-year coach Jake Boss Jr.
The Spartans opened with a 4-3 win Friday on Randy Seymour’s tie-breaking homer in the eighth inning. Parker Picot hit a grand slam and three-run homer in a 14-3 victory Saturday. Louisville won Sunday’s finale 9-1.
The Spartans’ big weekend came against one of the winningest programs over the past two decades. The Cardinals went 2-2 in the College World Series last year.
MSU was 28-27 last season and finished 12th in the Big Ten Conference. The Spartans haven’t been above .500 in conference play since 2016, and the most recent of their five NCAA Tournament appearances was in 2012.
Their challenging start to the season continues Friday with the first of three games at a top-10 Texas.
In the polls
The top three teams in the D1Baseball.com and Baseball America polls remained the same Monday.
UCLA (2-1) and LSU (3-0) are the top two in both polls, with Texas (3-0) third by D1Baseball and Mississippi State (3-0) third by Baseball America.
Slam man
Things quieted down considerably for Baylor’s Tyce Armstrong after he became the second player in NCAA history, and first in 50 years, to hit three grand slams in a game, doing so Friday.
The Bears completed a three-game sweep of New Mexico State with wins of 5-2 Saturday and 7-3 Sunday. Armstrong was a combined 0 for 6 with two RBIs in those games.
Armstrong was the story of opening day, launching all three of his slams to left field in a 15-2 victory. His 12 RBIs were a school record.
The only other player to hit three grand slams in a game was Louisville’s Jim LaFountain, who did it against Western Kentucky on March 24, 1976.
Tigers off and running
Defending national champion LSU opened with a three-game sweep of Milwaukee. Jake Brown highlighted Sunday’s 21-7 win with a grand slam, solo homer and a career-best six RBIs. Brown was 6 of 12 with eight RBIs in the series.
“Jake is the leader of this team, there’s no question about that,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “I’m very thankful that he is a Tiger, and I think he’s got a chance to be one of the best players in the country this year.”
Cleanup spot
Aidan King, who pitched six shutout innings, and Hawaii transfer Cooper Walls, who allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings, turned in strong starts in Florida’s 11-0, 6-1 sweep of UAB on Saturday. Gators pitchers allowed one run, walked one and struck out 13 across 16 innings. … Florida Gulf Coast’s Evan Dempsey, Preston Rogers and Ashton Pocol combined to strike out a program record-tying 19 in a 2-1, 10-inning victory over North Dakota State on Friday. … Coastal Carolina, the 2025 national runner-up, swept three games from Fairfield. Chanticleers pitchers combined for 17 strikeouts in a 5-0 win in the finale, the most in a nonconference game in five years. … Southern California’s Grant Govel and Cameron Fausset combined to hold Pepperdine hitless in a seven-inning 11-0 run-rule win Saturday. Govel went a career-long six innings, walked one, hit a batter and struck out 10.
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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
Eric Olson, The Associated Press
