EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State baseball will meet the Lansing Lugnuts, High-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics, at Jackson® Field™ on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, in the Crosstown Showdown.
“One of our philosophies here with regard to scheduling and how we do things in our program, is similar to what (legendary MSU men’s basketball coach) Coach Izzo has always said, it’s about creating memories for our players during their short time here and the Crosstown Showdown is certainly one of those things that our players never forget,” MSU head coach Jake Boss said. “It’s extremely unique across college baseball, there aren’t many schools that get a chance to play against a professional team during the course of the season.
Game time for the 16th overall Crosstown Showdown exhibition game will be announced at a later date. The 2024 meeting marks the third year in a row for the CTSD to be played after returning in 2022 for the first time since the fall of 2019 after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic.
The 2024 edition will be the 12th Crosstown Showdown played in the spring out of the 16. It will serve as the Lugnuts’ final prep for the 28th Minor League Baseball season that begins just a few days after the Crosstown Showdown.
“The relationship we have with the Lugnuts has been outstanding for a very long time now and we’re honored to be able to compete against those guys,” Boss said. “It’s always a fun night, and it’s a chance for our guys to experience baseball at the professional level, and it’s a dream of every guy to play at that level at some point in their career. So it’s a brief window into that but it’s an incredible experience that again, our guys will never forget.”
The Crosstown Showdown exhibition between the Lugnuts and Spartans began in 2007 as a celebration of baseball in Mid Michigan. The Lugnuts won the inaugural CTSD on April 3, 2007, 4-3, in front of 6,223, as the Lugnuts held off a late Spartan rally, as the Green & White was down, 4-1, entering the ninth and rallied with two runs and placed the game-tying run on base and had the potential go-ahead run into the batter’s box, but a strikeout ended the Spartan rally and the game. Michigan State won its first victory in the series in 2009, 12-2, on April 16, 2009 in front of a record-setting crown of 12,992. The Lugnuts have won the last 10 in a…
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