Story by Keith Jaco
Staff writer
rjaco@murraystate.edu
Murray State Racer baseball has found a groove over the last two weeks, going 8-4 in its last 12, including wins in three of its last four following a bye weekend.
Coming off a road win against Austin Peay on Tuesday, March 26th, Murray State is playing its best baseball of the year.
Following a weekend off, Head Coach Dan Skirka is expecting his team to get back into their groove and play consistent baseball.
“The big thing for us after getting a week off is getting back into the swing of things,” Skirka said. “We’re going to concentrate on what we do and just try to play good baseball this week.”
The Racers will have their hands full this week, hitting the road to face Middle Tennessee State on Tuesday, March 2, before returning home to face Missouri State on Wednesday, March 3. Then Murray State will finish the week with a three-game series against Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tennessee, beginning Friday, April 5.
Murray State will get a chance to improve its road record on the upcoming road trip as the Racers are 2-6 away from Reagan Field this season.
The Racers will look for continued offensive production from their outfield this week as the Racers have been shutout just once this season.
Redshirt sophomore left fielder Jake Slunder leads the team in batting average at .299 and runs with 21. Junior right fielder Brock Anderson has punished opposing pitchers this season, batting .284, crushing a team-high seven home runs and 22 RBI’s while slugging .579. Senior center fielder Tyler Duke is batting .280 with 28 hits, 14 runs and 15 RBI’s.
Junior first baseman Ryan Perkins has also contributed to the Racer’s offensive success, batting .235 with 17 RBI’s, 14 runs and three home runs.
Murray State has been increasingly active on the basepaths this season and have stolen bases at an exceptionally high rate, going 51-60 through 24 games.
Freshman left-handed pitcher Shane Burns has shined on the mound for the Racers, tossing 30 ? innings, posting a 2.97 ERA and a 2-1 record.
Middle Tennessee State:
MTSU has hit a rough patch at the midway point of the season, dropping seven of its last 10 while posting a 9-18 record overall.
The Tigers are currently 1-2 against OVC teams with losses to Belmont and APSU and one win over Tech.
The MTSU offense is led by junior catcher Aaron Antonini and senior third baseman Drew Huff. Antonini is slugging .505 while batting .293 with 18 RBI’s, leading the team in all three categories. Huff is batting .266 with 10 RBI’s and five runs on the season.
Redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Scheldon Paulk has been a bright spot for the Tigers this season, appearing in 12 games while posting a 2.33 ERA on 19 ? innings and striking out 25.
Missouri State:
Missouri State is coming off a series win over Indiana State despite dropping game two of a doubleheader on Sunday, March 31.
After taking two-out-of-three from the Sycamores, the Bears are now 2-1 in conference play despite an abysmal 7-19 record overall.
Junior left fielder Logan Geha has provided the power for the Bears this season, crushing five home runs while batting .212 with 17 RBI’s and 14 runs. Junior catcher Drew Millas is batting .218 with nine RBI’s and nine runs.
While the Bears have had problems with their offense, pitching has been equally challenging as opponents are hitting .289 with an on-base percentage of .411.
The Bears are just 1-9 against left-handed pitching, a possible reason for Burns to get the starting nod for the Racers.
Missouri State is 2-11 on the road this season, a statistic the Racers will look to exploit in their matchup on Wednesday.
Tennessee Tech:
Murray State will look to continue its solid start in conference play over the weekend in a three-game matchup with Tennessee Tech.
Skirka would like to see his guys stick to the team’s gameplan and be prepared for a tough battle against Tech.
“Tech has had quite a run,” Skirka said. “We’re just going to go in there and control what we can control and play our game, that’s worked well for us all season long. They have a good program and have the preseason OVC Player of the Year in the middle of their lineup so we have to be ready for him.”
While the Golden Eagles possess a similar overall record of 11-15 to the Racer’s 11-13, Tech is a disappointing 2-10 against OVC teams. Tech’s 15 losses in 2019 are three more than they ended the 2018 campaign with a season ago.
Tech is a much different team than they were a year ago when they completed back-to-back OVC Regular Season Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances.
The Golden Eagles lost former Head Coach Matt Bragga to Rice University in the offseason as well as a number of key position players and pitchers.
Junior right-handed pitchers Marcus Evey and Ethan Roberts as well as senior right-handed pitcher Travis Moths were each selected in the MLB Draft following the 2018 season. Moths led the team with a 13-3 record, tossing 102 ? innings with a 3.96 ERA and 109 strikeouts.
The Golden Eagles are also missing a couple of key bats in their lineup as senior infielder Ryan Garza and senior first baseman Chase Chambers each graduated following Tech’s historic NCAA run.
Chambers batted .395 with 84 RBI’s, 80 runs and 17 home runs while Garza batted .311 with 72 RBI’s 69 runs and 17 home runs.
Because of the loss of multiple starters and relief pitchers, Tech has started nine different pitchers and have six relief pitchers who have seen action this season while only two own ERA’s lower than 3.00.
Following a 10-5 start to the season, Tech has lost six straight and nine of their last 10, including three consecutive sweeps by APSU, Eastern Illinois and Jacksonville State.
Despite its losing streak, Tech can score on offense, averaging 6.4 runs a game thanks in large part to senior center fielder Kevin Strohschein’s recent play. Strohschein went 10-13 with six runs and five RBI’s in Tech’s series against Jacksonville State. Strohschein is batting .355 with 17 RBI’s, 24 runs and four home runs on the season.
Freshman infielder John Dyer and sophomore first baseman Jason Hinchman have also contributed to the Golden Eagle’s run support. Dyer is batting .346 with 24 RBI’s, 12 runs and three home runs while Hinchman is batting .322 with 32 RBI’s, 26 runs and 11 home runs.
While the Golden Eagle offense shows no weaknesses, their pitching flaws are beginning to show. Tech junior right-handed pitcher Mark Leonard has appeared in nine games and started four, posting a 2-2 record with a 6.27 ERA in 33 innings. Junior right-handed pitcher Jacob Cole has seen the second-most action for the Golden Eagles, posting a 1-2 record with a 5.19 ERA in 26 innings.
Murray State will begin play this week against Middle Tennessee State at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 2, at Reese Smith Jr. Field.