Story by Keith Jaco
Staff writer
rjaco@murraystate.edu
Murray State Racer baseball lost a back-and-forth battle with the Missouri State Bears 15-10 on Wednesday, April 3, at Reagan Field.
Head Coach Dan Skirka was disappointed in his team’s pitching effort following the loss.
“They’re a good ballclub and we put them in situations to be successful,” Skirka said. “We walked 12 [batters] against a good hitting team so that’s a recipe for failure.”
The Racers batted around in the home half of the first, taking a commanding four-run lead after one inning of play.
Junior right fielder Brock Anderson got the Racers on the board with a single up the middle, scoring senior center fielder Tyler Duke and redshirt sophomore left fielder Jake Slunder, giving the Racers a 2-0 lead.
Junior first baseman Ryan Perkins followed Anderson’s single with an RBI single of his own, scoring Anderson and giving the Racers a 3-0 lead.
Following a pair of outs, second baseman Jordan Holly reached on a throwing error from shortstop, scoring Perkins and putting the Racers up four at the end of the first.
Missouri State responded by getting two runs back in the top of the second on a two-run bomb from freshman shortstop Mason Hull, cutting the Racer lead to 4-2.
After a scoreless third inning, the Bears struck again, this time on a solo home run from junior first baseman Ben Whetstone in the top of the fourth, bringing Missouri State within one, 4-3.
Murray State responded with its own solo home run in the bottom of the fourth as Holly crushed a 1-1 fastball to left field to start the bottom half of the inning, giving the Racers a 5-3 lead.
Missouri State used a five-run top of the fifth to take a 8-5 lead thanks to a three-run bomb from freshman third baseman Anthony Herron Jr.
Murray State retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth, scoring four runs to go up by one, 9-8. Junior designated hitter Sean Darmafall started the Racer rally, sending a single to left field, scoring Perkins from second.
Following consecutive strikeouts by senior shortstop Jaron Robinson and junior catcher Vito Iovino, Holly tripled to deep left center, scoring Darmafall and redshirt freshman third baseman Wes Schad, tying the game at eight.
Keeping the rally going, Duke sent a two-out single to center field, scoring Holly and giving the Racers the lead after five innings of play.
The Bears’ offense didn’t go away as they added another three-run blast in the top half of the sixth, this time by Hull, taking his second homer of the game.
The Racers got one run back in the bottom of the seventh as Holly added his fourth RBI of the game on a two-out single to center field, scoring Darmafall.
Murray State had no answer for Missouri State in the eighth and ninth innings, giving up four unanswered before falling 15-10.
Looking ahead, Skirka believes his team will be up for the challenge that Tennessee Tech poses.
“Every game is important but obviously the conference ones are a little extra special,” Skirka said. “We’re going to a tough place in Cookeville and playing Tennessee Tech but we’ll be ready.”
Murray State will hit the road for a three-game series against Tennessee Tech starting at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 5, at Bush Stadium.