EAST LANSING — The Michigan State baseball team is heading to the Big Ten tournament.
Randy Seymour’s walk-off single with the bases loaded in the ninth inning lifted the Spartans to an 11-10 victory over Minnesota on Saturday at McLane Stadium in their regular-season finale.
The win, coupled with UCLA’s win over Northwestern later in the day, earned MSU the No. 12 seed in the Big Ten tournament, which will be May 20-25 at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska. The Spartans will be the No. 12 seed.
With MSU trailing 10-9 in the ninth, redshirt-junior infielder Jacob Anderson laced a bases-loaded single, driving in junior Noah Bright to tie the game. Seymour then delivered his single to plate Parker Picot and ignite the celebration.
The Spartans improved to 28-25 overall, 13-17 in Big Ten play, to reach the conference tournament for the second time in three years. This will be Michigan State’s 16th all-time appearance and ninth under head coach Jake Boss Jr.
“They’re all fun to win. I’ll take it either way,” Boss said . “I’m just really proud of our guys. That could have gone sideways a couple different times, and it kind of did there for a minute, but we got some good at-bats. I’m just proud of our guys, and just proud of them for hanging in there. It was a really good win, and after playing poorly the last two days, I’m proud of our guys for showing some resolve and winning when we needed to. And now we’re off to Omaha.”
The Spartans will play No. 8 seed Nebraska at 7 p.m Tuesday in the opening round of pool play, before taking on No. 1 seed and regular-season co-champion Oregon at 7 p.m. Thursday.
The 12-team tournament will determine the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA tournament. Oregon and UCLA clinched a share of the Big Ten title on the last day of the season Saturday with Oregon earning the No. 1 seed based on a tiebreaker.
This year’s tournament will incorporate pool play with four groups consisting of three teams each. The four pool winners will meet in the single-elimination semifinals on May 24, followed by the championship game on May 25.
The Big Ten Network will broadcast every game of the tournament. Games will also be available on the FOX Sports App.
Saturday’s Omaha-clinching win capped MSU’s Senior Celebration Weekend. After Saturday’s game, all 11 seniors fulfilled the MSU tradition of kissing the Spartan head in center field and posed for group photos.
“Just a great group of guys,” Boss said. “It’s 11 guys, and I think seven of them have only been here for one year, which is a little bit different. But every one of them came in and acclimated themselves to East Lansing and to our program really quickly. The guys that have been here for four years, five years, we’re just really appreciative of all their hard work. We tell each group when they get here: Your job is to leave it better than you found it. And I think these guys have done that.
“I think our program is in a really good place. Obviously, we want to win some more games, and you don’t want it to come down to the last day. But if you get into our program and get to know our guys, the program’s in a good place, for sure.”
— MSU Athletic Communications