Story by Gage Johnson, Senior writer
In their second home game of the week, Harris Stowe University buzzed into town to try and sting the Racers.
Murray State worked out of a jam in the late innings of the ballgame to hold their lead and come away with an 8-5 victory over the Hornets.
The Racers opened up play in the bottom of the first with a quick offensive attack. Graduate student outfielder Brandon Guntzler started things off with a one-out double. A double from graduate student first baseman Ramsey Scott notched the first run of the ballgame for the Racers. They then extended their lead by scoring on a triple from freshman second baseman and a homerun from junior catcher Mike Farnell.
After adding another run off of a homerun that went over the road just outside of Johnny Reagan Field from sophomore third baseman Davis Sims, Murray State seemed to be in total control for the majority of the game.
In sophomore pitcher Trevor McMurray’s sixth start of the season, he had arguably one of his best outings on the year. McMurray was on a roll throughout, striking out seven while giving up one earned run on four hits over six innings pitched.
“Trevor did a great job,” said Head Coach Kevin Moulder. “He was commanding his fastball extremely well. I’ve seen his secondary better, but when you can command a fastball you start out right, and he was moving it in and out well.”
However in the latter half of the ballgame, the Hornets put together a solid comeback effort in the last three innings of the game. Harris Stowe cut Murray State’s lead to 6-3 with a two-out triple from senior infielder Tony Montano that brought in two runs.
Two singles then did the damage for the Hornets in the eighth, scoring two more runs to make it a 6-5 ballgame. With the bases loaded and two outs, freshman Jake Jones was able to stop the bleeding to give Murray State a chance to answer on offense.
The Racers did just that, scoring two on a double by Guntzler to make it 8-5. Minus a double, the lone hit in the inning, Jones went on to close the door to claim the Murray State 8-5 win. This marked Jones’ first save on the season for the Racers.
“Jake Jones did a really good job in an adverse situation,” Moulder said. “A freshman came right out of the bullpen in a firestorm there. He was calm cool and collective and he bailed us out there.”
Murray State now hits the road to take on Evansville University for the second time this week at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 10, at Evansville, Indiana.