The Michigan State Spartans baseball team is set to travel to the Carolinas this weekend for three games against three separate opponents.

Michigan State's first game of the weekend will be against USC Upstate. The game will be played at Cleveland S. Harley Baseball Park in Spartanburg, South Carolina at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, and can be watched on ESPN+.

Michigan State began the season 3-1 after the opening weekend, but will have a difficult challenge on Friday as USC Upstate, also called the Spartans, sports a 5-0 record so far in the 2023 campaign.

Upstate faced off against Towson University last weekend and outscored the Tigers 26-5 in a three-game sweep. After the sweep against Towson, Upstate faced North Florida in a two-game midweek battle and came away with another sweep. USC Upstate outscored North Florida 24-11 in the two-game set.

Through the first five games of the 2023 season, Upstate is led offensively by Noah Sullivan. Sullivan is batting a whopping .471 with two home runs, and seven RBIs. Sullivan, who is also a relief pitcher for the Upstate Spartans, has thrown 4.1 shutout innings with five strikeouts. The versatility of Sullivan could be a key factor in Friday's contest against Michigan State.

The Upstate pitching staff is led by Friday night starter Reese Dutton. Dutton put up major numbers at Hartland junior college and helped them to the No. 3 overall seed in the NJCAA JUCO World Series. Dutton was named a first-team all-American at Hartland, posting 12 strikeouts per nine innings and a 1.51 ERA. In Dutton's first start as an Upstate Spartan, he dominated the Towson offense to a tune of six shutout innings, while scattering four hits and striking out six batters. Michigan State will have its hands full with Dutton and Sullivan on Friday.

The Michigan State Spartans topped the USC Upstate Spartans by a score of 13-6 in Friday's contest at Cleveland S. Harley Baseball Park in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The Upstate Spartans took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first and that would be the only lead they would take. Michigan State starter Joseph Dzierwa had some struggles early, walking the first batter of the game and giving up back-to-back doubles to plate the first run of the contest.

Just like last weekend, though, MSU would come back from an early deficit and not look back. The MSU offense got going in the third inning by way of a bases-clearing three-run double off the bat of Trent Farquhar to take a 3-1 lead. Brock Vradenburg would drive home Farquhar on an RBI groundout to take a 4-1 lead after three innings. Michigan State would tack on two more runs in the fourth inning to take a commanding 6-1 lead.

Upstate would not go down quietly, though. On a 3-1 pitch with the bases loaded, Grant Sherrod took a fastball down the middle over the left field wall for a grand slam to cut the Michigan State lead to 6-5 after six innings. The Michigan State offense would waste no time responding, scoring five runs in the top of the seventh to take a commanding 11-5 lead, which would be the game-deciding inning in this one. Michigan State relief pitcher Nolan Higgins would close the ninth inning for MSU, giving the team a 13-6 win against USC Upstate, which came into the game with a perfect 5-0 record.

Next, Michigan State will travel to Boiling Springs, North Carolina to face off against the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs at Bill Masters Field at John Henry Moss Stadium at 2 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday.

The Runnin' Bulldogs struggled mightily against Rider last weekend, going 1-3 and being outscored 27-9 in the four-game series. Gardner-Webb also faced Elon in a midweek clash on Tuesday and lost 7-5.

Through the first five games of the 2023 season, the Bulldogs are led by Mark Black in the offensive department with a .417 average, three RBIs and a stolen base. The Bulldogs will need to get more from the entire lineup to compete against the Spartans on Saturday.

Pitching wise, the Bulldogs are led by Bobby Alcock. Alcock, who was a Cape Cod league representative, is the Bulldogs’ Friday night starter and he made his presence known against Rider by going five innings and only allowing one earned run, while striking out six in Gardner-Webb's only victory so far this season.

The Spartans had a tough day at the office on Saturday, dropping the second of three games this weekend to the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs by a final score of 7-3.

Michigan State started Noah Matheny on the mound, while the Bulldogs went with Tyler Switalski. The Spartans, who are no strangers to starting a game with a deficit, watched the Bulldogs take an early 1-0 lead in the first inning by way of a Curtis Robison solo home run. Saturday was a tough one for Matheny, giving up four runs in just 3-plus innings of work. The Bulldog offense would chase Matheny out of this game with a couple extra base hits that would plate the Bulldogs' third and fourth runs of the game in the fourth inning.

The Spartans would fight back in the fifth inning with a two-RBI double off the bat of shortstop Mitch Jebb to cut the Bulldog lead to 5-2. Reigning Big Ten Conference Player of the Week, first basemen Brock Vradenburg, would knock in the Spartans' third run of the game to cut the deficit down to two. Unfortunately for the Spartans, that would be the last of the scoring for the day as the Bulldog bullpen held the comeback attempt in check.

The Gardner-Webb offense would go on to add two insurance runs on a two-run home run from Bo Rusher III, which would be the last of the scoring for both teams for the day. Gardner-Webb reliever Connor Maggi closed the Spartans out in the ninth inning to give the Bulldogs a 7-3 win, improving their record to 3-4 and dropping the Spartans to 4-2 on the young 2023 season.

The last game in the three-game weekend for Michigan State comes against the Presbyterian Blue Hose on Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern Time at PC Baseball Complex in Clinton, South Carolina.

Presbyterian started the 2023 campaign by taking on Georgetown for a three-game series. The Blue Hose took one out of three games against the Hoyas, and only lost by a combined three runs in the two losses. Presbyterian then evened up its record by defeating Western Carolina 3-0 in a midweek game on Wednesday.

Through the first four games, the Blue Hose have been carried by the team's pitching staff with a team ERA of 2.62. The Spartans will see Charlie McDaniel starting on the bump on Sunday. McDaniel had a rough first inning against Georgetown last weekend, allowing five first-inning runs to the Hoyas. McDaniel was dominant after that, though, giving the Blue Hose six shutout innings against Western Carolina.

Through the first four games of the season, the Blue Hose offense doesn’t sport a hitter with an average above .280, and overall Presbyterian has just a .214 team batting average.

Michigan State capped off the weekend with a Sunday matinee against Presbyterian, but the Spartans ended up losing to the Blue Hose by a final score of 8-6.

It was actually Michigan State that got on the scoreboard first in this one, as first basemen Brock Vradenburg hit two-run home run to left-center field, giving the Spartans a 2-0 lead in the top of first inning. Presbyterian answered in the bottom of the first, however, when catcher Dalton Reeves hit an RBI-double to score the Blue Hose's first run of the game, making the score 2-1 with MSU still in the lead.

Presbyterian would score the next four runs as the Blue Hose took a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the third inning. Michigan State wouldn't go down easily, though, as catcher Bryan Broecker homered to left field in the fourth inning, which scored two runs for the Spartans. At that point, the Blue Hose had a narrow 5-4 lead.

In the top of fifth inning, the Spartans tied the game on a single from Vradenburg, which scored shortstop Mitch Jebb. The score was knotted at 5-5. However, Reeves immediately responded in the bottom of the fifth inning with a two-run home run to right field. The Blue Hose took the lead back at 7-5.

Reeves wasn't done yet. He added his second homer of the game in the in the seventh inning, which gave Presbyterian an 8-5 lead, and essentially iced the game for the Blue Hose. The Spartans would add one more run, thanks to a homer from right fielder Jack Frank, but it was too, too late for Michigan State, MSU lost the game by the aforementioned final score of 8-6.

Pitcher Ryan Szeczepanik was charged with the loss for MSU, while Charlie McDaniel earned the win for Presbyterian.

After losing two of three games this past weekend, Michigan State's record now stands at 4-3 through seven games on the 2023 season. Presbyterian improved to 5-2.

Michigan State looks to rebound as it continues to play in South Carolina. The Spartans will play the College of Charleston on Friday and Sunday, and Charleston Southern on Saturday. MSU will also square off with Air Force on Monday, March 6.