EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State baseball announced its 2020 schedule Thursday. Head coach Jake Boss Jr., and the Spartans will open the 2020 season on February 14 in the first of a 56-game regular-season ledger.
MSU’s home slate consists of hosting 22 games at McLane Stadium at Kobs Field. The home slate is highlighted by hosting a Southeastern Conference opponent for the first time since 1913, welcoming Arkansas to East Lansing.
“We’re very excited to play what I feel is going to be a very balanced schedule,” Boss said. “We go to a couple of new places, which is always an exciting thing for our players and our program, and we face some new opponents and opponents we haven’t faced in a long time.”
While the Spartans will not play Michigan in a conference series, MSU will meet UM in a pair of non-conference midweek games, including Tuesday, April 14 at Cooley Law School Stadium in Lansing, home of the Lansing Lugnuts. Michigan State will play Michigan in Ann Arbor on Tuesday, May 5. The Spartans will also play in-state foe Eastern Michigan on Wednesday, April 15 at Comerica Park in Detroit, home of the Detroit Tigers.
“Playing at Cooley Law School Stadium and Comerica Park is always a highlight and a thrill for our players, to get to experience professional baseball stadiums,” Boss said.
MSU will also play in the annual First Pitch Invitational in Greenville, South Carolina, as well as the Pensacola Cox Diamond Invitational in Pensacola, Florida, as well as playing Morehead State in a weekend series at Shipyard Park in Charleston, South Carolina and a four-game series against Merrimack in Greenville.
The Spartans kick off the 2020 season on Friday, Feb. 14, in the first of a four-game series against Morehead State, Friday-Sunday, Feb. 14-16.
“We open with Morehead State in Shipyard Park in Charleston, South Carolina” Boss said. “We’ve never been there before, but I’ve heard great things and the people at Shipyard Park have been great to work with. Morehead State has come off a very good year last year with a new head coach. We know they’ll be very well coached and excited to play.”
Following the season-opening weekend in Charleston, the Spartans return to South Carolina the following weekend to face Merrimack in a four-game weekend series, Friday-Sunday Feb. 21-23, at Fluor Field, home of the Greenville Drive. The Drive’s owner is Craig Brown, an MSU alum. Michigan State then opens the first weekend of its spring break back at Fluor Field, hosting the 11th annual First Pitch Invitational, Feb. 28-March 1, then a midweek single game against USC Upstate on March 4.
“We do get to spend two back-to-back weekends in Greenville, South Carolina with opening up there with Merimack, who is a new Division I program. They’ve had a lot of success in the past at the Division II level,” Boss said. “Then going back the next weekend for the First Pitch Invitational at Fluor Field, that we host with a very strong field in Kansas, Western Carolina and Ball State. Staying down in Greenville for a midweek game is always a plus, getting the chance to workout at the facility and get some good work in during spring break.”
The Spartans wrap up their spring break trip in the southeastern corner of the country by heading to Pensacola, for the 2020 Pensacola Cox Diamond Invitational at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
“For the back end of spring break we’re going back to Pensacola, Florida, where we were a few years ago, for a tournament with Troy, Louisiana-Lafayette and Sanford. Again, three very good programs from the south that are going to be very, very competitive,” Boss said.
Michigan State returns to the Midwest for a three-game series in Terra Haute, Indiana, at Indiana State, the return series from the Sycamores visiting East Lansing last season.
“We’ve never been to Indiana State, so it will be a good trip to go down there and again, it’s some place we haven’t been before,” Boss said.
MSU’s home slate includes five home midweek games, along with the aforementioned midweek games against Michigan at Cooley Law School Stadium and Eastern Michigan at Comerica Park.
Michigan State’s 2020 home opener is on Wednesday, March 18 against Toledo. MSU will also host Oakland (March 25), Western Michigan (April 1), Notre Dame (April 7) and Akron (May 12).
“The schedule is fairly similar to most years with the midweek games that we have with the in-state schools and the local regional schools with Toledo, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Notre Dame and Akron,” Boss said.
MSU’s home slate is highlighted by hosting Arkansas in a two-game midweek series on April 21-22. It is the first time that Michigan State has hosted a team from the SEC for the first time since 1913, when the Spartans hosted both Georgia and Kentucky.
“We are excited to have Arkansas here for two midweek games in the end of April. I think every time you have a chance to bring in a program that has competed for National Championships on a regular basis and is a fixture in Omaha at the College World Series, it’s an exciting thing for our program,” Boss said.
MSU’s non Big Ten weekend schedule will feature a three-game series against Villanova, Friday-Sunday, May 1-3, welcoming the Wildcats to East Lansing for the first-time ever. Michigan State and Villanova have not met on the diamond since 1997 in Boca Raton, Florida.
“We have another new opponent also during our Big Ten bye week with Villanova. It’s a program that we haven’t played in recent years. It will be good to bring new faces into East Lansing and show off our facility,” Boss said.
Michigan State’s Big Ten schedule will not include conference series with Michigan due to the Big Ten’s schedule rotation.
“An interesting year where we did not play Michigan in a conference series, but we will play them in a pair of midweek games,” Boss said. “It’s up to the conference office and the way that they do conference scheduling has kind of gone the last couple of years. The conference office and the computers spit out the schedule and this is the last year for this cycle. Moving forward, each team will have two protected rivals to kind of combat against this, and I believe starting next year, our protected rivals will be Michigan and Ohio State. We will play both of those schools every year.”
The 2015 season was the last time that Michigan State and Michigan did not meet in a conference series during the regular-season.
“It’s difficult in a league not only with 13 schools with baseball to find a balanced schedule when you don’t have an even amount of teams, but also when you play eight conference weekends and you have four teams that you don’t play,” Boss said. “The idea initially was to rotate those four teams to try and find some type of balance. What we ended up coming up with is what’s going to go in effect next year with our protected rivals. I think it’s a good idea. I certainly would welcome the opportunity to play as many conference series that we can, whether it be with Michigan or anybody else. I think the more the better, but it was just a scheduling conflict I guess this year.”
While the Spartans’ Big Ten ledger doesn’t include the rival Wolverines, MSU’s conference slate has four home conference series against Minnesota (March 27-29), Penn State (April 10-12), Iowa (April 24-26) and Purdue (May 14-16). Michigan State has four road league series at Maryland (March 20-22), Ohio State (April 3-5), Indiana (April 17-19) and Illinois (May 8-10).
“It’s a very competitive league again this year. It’s a very competitive league schedule balanced with some pretty exciting home series and home midweek games,” Boss said. “It’s going to be fun to go out and compete and represent Michigan State.”
The 2020 B1G Tournament is May 20-24, returning to TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska, which will serve as the host venue for the conference tournament through 2022.
The NCAA Regional dates are May 29-31, while the NCAA Super Regionals are June 5-7, with the College World Series slated for June 12-23 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha.
2020 Michigan State Schedule (PDF)
