Story by Keith Jaco
Staff writer
rjaco@murraystate.edu
Murray State Racer baseball is off to its best start in conference play since 2010 after capturing its fourth-consecutive conference series win over Tennessee Tech.
Despite regular season losses to Middle Tennessee State and Missouri State last week, the Racers have continued their stellar play against conference foes.
Coming off their wins over Tech in Cookeville, Tennessee, since 2008, the Racers have moved into a first-place tie with Belmont University in the OVC.
Head Coach Dan Skirka is proud of his team’s OVC start but knows there is a lot of work ahead for the Racers.
“[We’re] going to enjoy it but we have to get back to work [this week],” Skirka said. “We have a long way to go; it’s a long season.”
The Racers will look to redshirt freshman third baseman Wes Schad and senior center fielder Tyler Duke for continued offensive production. Schad went 6-14 with 5 RBIs and three home runs while Duke went 5-12 with four RBIs, three walks and one home run against Tech.
Murray State will begin its week with a home matchup against MTSU on April 10, at Reagan Field. The Racers dropped their last meeting with MTSU 8-5 in extra innings on Wednesday, April 3, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Skirka believes the Racers’ break in action caused some rust to set in for his team heading into their last matchup with the Blue Raiders.
“We played MTSU coming off our bye weekend and it looked like it,” Skirka said. “The main thing we have to do this time around is have a better understanding of the strike zone and be aggressive with our pitches.”
MTSU is coming off a three-game sweep of Western Kentucky in which they scored 10 or more runs in each win. Despite MTSU’s four-game winning streak, the Racers will look to exploit the Blue Raiders’ 4-11 record away from home.
Starting Friday, April 12, Murray State will open up a three-game series with Southeast Missouri State.
SEMO is 3-7 in its last 10, dropping two out of three to Jacksonville State over the weekend. The Racers will look to take advantage of the Redhawks’ 2-6 record on the road and 5-10 OVC mark when they visit Reagan Field on Friday.
The Redhawks are led on offense by sophomore shortstop Tyler Wilber and junior first baseman Danny Wright. Wilber is batting .418 with 24 RBIs, 28 runs and one home run while Wright is batting .297 with 17 RBIs and 20 runs.
On the mound, freshman left-handed pitcher Noah Niznik and junior right-handed pitcher Dylan Dodd have been the anchor for SEMO. Niznik is 2-2 in eight starts, tossing 40 ? innings with 33 strikeouts and eight walks. Dodd is 4-2 in eight starts, pitching 47 ? innings with 52 strikeouts and nine walks.
Heading into the matchup with the Redhawks, Skirka says no changes will be made to his team’s preparation.
“It’s going to be a big weekend with the alumni weekend and Johnny Reagan Day on Saturday,” Skirka said. “We don’t typically change a whole lot of what we do week-to-week. We are who we are and when we execute and stay within that game plan, we have success. When we try to do things we can’t, we struggle; We really just need to keep getting better at what we do.”
Murray State will take the field to face MTSU at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10, at Reagan Field.