Story by Mark McFarland Assistant Sports Editor
Junior first baseman Ramsey Scott catches a pick off throw in the game against Memphis on March 22.
The Racers went 3-7 on the break, with two wins against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and one win against the University of Memphis.
The two wins against SIUE gave the Racers an OVC win for a new conference record of 3-9, after being swept by Austin Peay State last weekend. Head Coach Kevin Moulder said taking 2-3 against SIUE was good, but they let the one game get away from them.
KENTUCKY STATE
Murray State welcomed Kentucky State to Reagan Field with an 18-5 victory Tuesday night.
The Racers finished the game with 22 hits to the Thorobreds’ eight. Senior right-handed pitcher Brad Boegel struggled on the night giving up five hits and three walks in just two innings. Chad Gendron, junior right-handed pitcher, came in for the next three innings giving up one earned run on one hit to earn the win.
Junior left-handed pitcher and first baseman Jack Hranec went 4-6 with a triple, a walk and four RBIs to lead the team, following him was graduate student and outfielder Tyler Dixon who finished 4-5 with four doubles, a walk and four RBIs. Sophomore infielder Caleb Hicks also helped the cause by going 2-5 with a double, a walk and three RBIs.
AUSTIN PEAY STATE
The Governors swept the Racers in three games last weekend winning by a combined score of 32-17.
Murray State got out-hit 41-32 in the series while leaving 28 runners on base. Austin Peay finished the series with 17 extra base hits including 14 doubles, while the Racers came away with 13 extra base hits, including three home runs. Though the Governors committed four errors to the Racers’ zero errors in the series, it did not hurt Austin Peay in the sweep.
Ramsey Scott, junior first baseman, led Murray State on the weekend by hitting 7-13 with three doubles and two RBIs. Sophomore catcher and infielder Kipp Moore followed by hitting 6-11 with one home run, two doubles and five RBIs for the weekend.
Junior outfielder Cody Gilbert bats during the Racers’ game against the University of Memphis March 22.
MEMPHIS
The Racers defeated the Tigers 10-6 on March 22 in a mid-week match-up at Reagan Field.
Murray State committed two errors defensively leading to two of the six runs the Tigers scored. Memphis came up just short as it left seven runners on base on nine hits. The Racers finished the game with 11 hits, only one of which was an extra base hit.
Hranec led the way for the Racers as he finished the game hitting 3-3 with three RBIs and a walk.
Moulder said that he was proud of his guys for coming out and winning a pivotal mid-week game that could help boost their confidence as the season moves on.
“Memphis was a quality win for us,” Moulder said. “That’s a good program on a yearly basis and for us to get a win against a team from that conference is always a good win and confidence builder for us.”
SIUE
After being swept in the season series last year, the Racers took 2-3 games at home against the Cougars March 18-20 to bring their OVC win total to three games on the year.
Murray State was led by Scott, who finished the series 4-10 with a home run, a double, four RBIs and two walks. He was followed by Hicks who went 5-13 with a double and four RBIs.
The Racers outscored the Cougars 18-13 and also out-hit them 31 to 25 on the weekend. Murray State finished off the weekend with eight extra base hits, six of them doubles. SIUE struggled in the extra base hit category as the team only had five of them, all of which were doubles.
Murray State will welcome the last place team in the OVC, Eastern Illinois. Moulder said that any time you’re at home, you want to take care of business.
“It will be a very big series for us; this will tell a big part of the story for us,” Moulder said. “If we can come out and win this series, it will get us right back in the mix of things, where we can compete for the rest of the season. It would not behoove us to falter in this series.”