EAST LANSING – The Michigan State baseball program announced its 2016 schedule on Wednesday, Oct. 21. Head coach Jake Boss and the Spartans will begin the 2016 campaign on Feb. 19 with the First Pitch Invitational in Greenville, South Carolina.
Fans can get their first glimpse of the 2016 squad at the annual First Pitch Dinner, Feb. 7th. More details will be released in the near future.
The Spartans’ 55-game slate will include 20 games against teams that played in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
“We are excited to compete in 2016 with another very challenging schedule featuring eight teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last season,” said Boss. “As always, we will compete in many outstanding venues and regional type atmospheres early in the season to prepare us for another very challenging and deep Big Ten slate.
“We will play in several new locations in 2016 including Corpus Christi, Pensacola, and Tampa, adding to the experience for our student-athletes of seeing different parts of the country and experiencing different places.”
MSU will meet Presbyterian, Furman and Fordham to open the season at Fluor Field in Greenville, Feb. 19-21.
“The trip to Greenville continues to be a highlight of our season and one that we will continue to make each year,” said Boss.
The Spartans will make a trip to Corpus Christi, Texas, to take on Texas State, TAMUCC and Central Florida in the Kleberg Bank Tournament, Feb. 26-28, before beginning their spring trip in Florida the following week.
MSU will play eight games in a 10-day span, beginning March 4 with the Pensacola COX Diamond Invitational. The Spartans will meet Southern Mississippi, Auburn and Troy, March 4, 5 and 6, respectively.
After a day off the Spartans will play their remaining five games in the Snowbird Classic at North Charlotte Regional Park in Port Charlotte, Florida. MSU will meet Illinois State (March 8), Pittsburgh (March 9), Butler (March 11), St. Joseph’s (March 12) and North Dakota State (March 13) in the event.
Michigan State will head right back to the Sunshine State the following weekend to meet 2015 NCAA Tournament participant South Florida in Tampa, March 18-20.
Following its 17 games on the road to start the season, Michigan State will begin a nine-game homestand on March 23 against Central Michigan. Two days later, MSU will host Rutgers in its first Big Ten series of the season, March 25-27.
“Our home schedule features 22 games and we’ll see five NCAA Tournament teams from 2015 coming to East Lansing,” said Boss.
The Spartans will host Big Ten foes Indiana (April 22-24), Nebraska (May 7-9) and Maryland (May 19-21) in three-game sets at McLane Baseball Stadium.
For the first time since 2013, the Spartans and Michigan Wolverines will meet in a conference series. The two teams will square off in Ann Arbor April 29 and May 1, and play at McLane Stadium on April 30.
Michigan State will travel to Penn State (April 8-10), Purdue (April 15-17) and Iowa (May 13-15) to complete its conference schedule.
A year after traveling to Oregon where the Spartans picked up a three-game sweep, the Ducks, which were a part of the 2015 NCAA Tournament, will make a return trip to East Lansing, April 1-3.
Another NCAA Tournament team from a year ago, Notre Dame, whom the Spartans also defeated on the road in 2015, will visit East Lansing on April 19.
Other non-conference opponents on the Spartans’ home schedule include: Oakland (March 29), Eastern Michigan (April 5), Western Michigan (April 20) and Toledo (April 27). MSU will visit Western Michigan (May 10) and Central Michigan (May 17).
For the second straight year, MSU again play twice at Comerica Park, taking on Central Michigan (April 13) and Eastern Michigan (May 11).
The 10th annual Crosstown Showdown against the Lansing Lugnuts will be April 6 at Cooley Law School Stadium.
The 2016 Big Ten Tournament will take place May 25-29 at TD Ameritrade Field in Omaha, Nebraska.
2016 Michigan State Schedule (PDF)
