Michigan State baseball had nothing to play for besides pride on Thursday night, and the Spartans went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the country before falling 4-2 to Oregon in their second and final game of pool play in the 2025 Big Ten Tournament.
Incidentally, due to the pool play tiebreaker rules, the game would not affect Oregon either way either. Whether or not they move into the semifinals this weekend rests entirely on their game on Friday against Nebraska, who needed a ninth-inning comeback and extra innings Tuesday to knock off Michigan State.
The Ducks check in at No. 5 in this week's USA Today Coaches Poll, but the Spartans were not intimidated. Michigan State had beaten Oregon just three weeks earlier, only this time the Spartans were not able to rely on Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Joseph Dzierwa to throw and complete game as he did then. Dzierwa took a no decision in Tuesday's loss to the Cornhuskers.
Michigan State opened the scoring Thursday as leadoff batter Ryan McKay doubled a 2-2 pitch into the gap in left-center. He advanced on a fly out to right field, then scored on Sam Busch's RBI sacrifice fly to left field to give the Spartans the early 1-0 lead.
In the bottom half of the first Busch made a spectacular defensive play on a bunt, charging in and scooping the ball up before flipping it with his glove to catcher Caleb Berry who tagged the Duck runner trying to score from third base. However, Oregon got on the board with their next batter, as Anson Aroz doubled to left on an 0-2 count with two outs.
The next five innings saw both teams fail to get anyone across the plate, though each team did get runners into scoring position more than once. The best scoring chance came from Oregon in the bottom of the fourth as they loaded the bases with two outs before a groundout to second base ended the frame.
Another leadoff double in the top of the seventh, this time from Parker Picot, led to Michigan State's second run which tied the game up. An error by the center fielder allowed Picot to advance to third base on his double, and two batters later he scored on an error by the second baseman from a ball batted by JT Sokolove.
Once again, though, the Ducks responded to one run from MSU with two of their own in the bottom half. After an initial pop-up to start the inning, Oregon sandwiched a pair of singles around a walk to take the lead. Then Aroz drove in his third run of the game on a single through the right side to put the Ducks up 4-2 before the Spartans went down in order in both the eighth and ninth to end the game,
Michigan State ends their 2025 campaign 28-27, following a 13-17 finish in Big Ten play. Regardless of Oregon's result this weekend, they will be awaiting their Regional placement for next week, where they will almost assuredly be hosting.