Lansing Lugnuts’ pitching aids Michigan State baseball to 1-0 win in annual Crosstown Showdown
LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State baseball topped the Lansing Lugnuts, 1-0, in the 2025 Crosstown Showdown on Tuesday night at Jackson® Field™ in the 17th-annual exhibition game between the Spartans and the High A-affiliate of the Athletics.
Tuesday’s game was a seven-inning contest, and used modified rules, including Lugnuts pitchers throwing to both teams, and were on limited pitch counts as some innings ended early.
A crowd of 3,733 was in attendance, with the early fans receiving an anthracite-colored Crosstown Showdown jersey, presented by Delta Dental. The jerseys featured the Crosstown Showdown logo, along with Spartan green lettering and numbering, with number 17 on the back to commemorate the 17th year of the Crosstown Showdown.
In collaboration with Michigan State Baseball and Southside Community Kitchen, the Lansing Lugnuts also hosted a canned food drive at the 2025 Crosstown Showdown, with donations for the Southside Community Kitchen.
New MSU volleyball head coach Kristen Kelsay threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Sparty, the MSU Spirit Squad and MSU Marching Band were in attendance, along with the famous Zeke the Wonder Dog.
“It’s always a great experience playing the Lugnuts. It’s something our guys will remember for the rest of their lives,” MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. “It’s such a great organization. (Lugnuts general manager) Zac Clark is so generous and kind to us. It’s always about the experience here, and tonight was no different. Thank you to the Lugnuts, their staff, their players for making a memory for our guys.”
One of the players to make memories Tuesday night was senior infielder and East Lansing, Michigan native, Sam Busch, who had a single in the first inning.
“I’ve been coming to the Crosstown Showdown since I was a little kid,” Busch said. “Playing for Michigan State is a dream come true, and I never take it for granted.”
After Busch’s single in the first inning, the Spartans were held without a hit in the other six innings.
“We only played seven innings, so I wasn’t sure if that one run was going to hold up, and every run is important,” Busch said. “It’s fun to play here every year and be able to compete with the Lugnuts and play in front of the community.”
The victory for MSU snapped an 11-game Lugnuts winning streak in the series, including last year’s 18-0 Lugnuts’ win using similar inning-shortened modified rules. Tuesday’s Spartan win cut the Lugnuts’ lead to 14-3 in the all-time series.
“It’s not necessarily about winning or losing tonight for us. It’s about the experience of it,” Boss said. “We used all of their pitchers, which was a little bit different, but at the same time, when the game ended, we were up 1-0, but again, tonight was more about the experience of playing against the pro guys and hopefully a glimpse of things to come for our guys.”
Busch made sure to capitalize on the experience Tuesday night.
“Just watching them during BP, the different rounds they are taking. During the game, they are all loose, and that is a big thing for us to do while we’re playing,” Busch said.
Along with the Lugnuts pitchers pitching to both teams, Lugnuts catcher Cole Conn batted in the Spartan line-up and he knocked a double in the first inning. A groundout by sophomore infielder Ryan McKay moved Conn to third, and graduate catcher Caleb Berry smacked a line drive to center that Lugnut center fielder Rodney Green mishandled, and Conn scampered home on the fielding error. Busch followed with his single to right, before the inning came to a close due to pitch count for Lugnuts starter Yunior Tor.
That lone run stood up for the remaining six innings of the game.
Lugnuts pitchers Grant Judkins (3.0 innings, five strikeouts, two hits, one walk), Tom Reisinger (2.0 IP, one K, two walks, no hits), Jake Pfennigs (1.0 IP, two hits) and Corey Avant (1.0 IP, one hit, two Ks, one walk) pitched for Michigan State, blanking the Lugnuts’ lineup on a combined five hits.
Pitching for the Lugnuts was Yunior Tur (3.0 IP, four Ks, two hits, one walk, one run), Kyle Robinson (2.0 IP, four strikeouts, no hits), Henry Gómez (1.0 IP) and Garrett Irvin (1.0 IP, three strikeouts) only allowed two hits to the Spartans, both in the first inning against Tur.
Along with Busch, graduate designated hitter Will Shannon drew a walk in the second inning, and Berry also reached on another Lugnuts’ error in the fourth, to be the only other Spartans to get on base.
With Tuesday’s contest being an exhibition and not an official game to count toward the record, the Spartans had a total of 15 position players see action.
Michigan State’s game scheduled for Wednesday against Bowling Green was cancelled due to inclement weather in the East Lansing forecast.
In the their next action, the Spartans resume Big Ten Conference action by returning to the road for the third time in the first four weekends of conference play, heading to Bloomington, Indiana for a three-game weekend series against the Hoosiers at IU’s Bart Kaufman Field. The series opens Friday, April 4 at 6:02 p.m. Game two is slated for Saturday, April 5 at 2:02 p.m., before Sunday’s series finale at 1:02 p.m.
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