To say this season hasn’t gone according to plan for Michigan State baseball would be an understatement. After taking a series against a top-10 Louisville team to start the season, Jake Boss Jr.’s team kind of fell apart and they just snuck into the Big Ten Tournament over the weekend.
The Spartans finished the regular season 22-31 and 11-19 in the Big Ten which was good for 12th and an appearance in the conference tournament somehow.
Unfortunately, this still falls short of expectations following a season in which Boss and the Spartans picked up their second winning season in three years. The Spartans were 28-27 last year and they had some really talented players, but the offseason attrition clearly took its toll on the program.
Still, after a, 18-8 win over Illinois State on Saturday, Michigan State has punched its ticket to the Big Ten Tournament thanks to a Minnesota loss and Boss made Spartan history.
With the win, Boss picked up his 490th win at Michigan State, passing Daniel Litwhiler who coached the Spartans from 1964-1982 and made the NCAA Tournament three times. He now moves into sole possession of second place in program history with 490 wins.
With Today’s Victory For MSU, Spartan Baseball Head Coach Jake Boss Jr. passed legendary head coach Danny Litwhiler for number 2 on the Michigan State Baseball Coaches All-Time Wins List with his 490th win at Michigan State!!#VictoryForMSU pic.twitter.com/xqP2msyAnO
— Michigan State Baseball (@MSUBaseball) May 16, 2026
Although Boss has received plenty of warranted criticism over the years for making the NCAA Tournament just one time, he’s still been one of the most successful coaches in program history, winning nearly 500 games. After signing a contract extension right before the season, Boss will now have a chance to move into first place all time in a few years.
Boss will have to prove a lot of people — including myself — wrong next season.
Pre-2018 Jake Boss Jr. was a mastermind
Although the Spartans made the NCAA Tournament just one time from 2009-2017, Boss was building winning rosters every year. He went just 23-31 in his first season with the Spartans before reeling off eight straight winning seasons.
Since then, Boss has just three winning seasons and one of them was in a COVID-shortened campaign where the Spartans played just 15 games.
It’s pretty unacceptable what has happened to the program over the past decade and Boss is now responsible for turning it around. He’s proven that he can win at Michigan State and it’s time for him to get back to that killer mindset that he had for the first nine seasons of his Spartan tenure.
Following his extension, he has no choice but to turn it around.
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