Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Hofstra
Players Mentioned
Racers Open Season at The Tangi Tourism Baseball Classic
2/15/2017 11:49:00 AM | Baseball
GAMES 1-4
Tangi Tourism Baseball Classic and at Alcorn State
Feb. 17-20, 2017
First Pitch: Friday: 1 p.m., Saturday: 1 p.m., Sunday: 1 p.m., Monday: Noon
MSU All-Time vs. Hofstra: first-ever meeting
MSU All-Time vs. Louisiana: first-ever meeting
MSU All-Time vs. Southeastern Louisiana: SLU leads 8-4
MSU All-Time vs. Alcorn State: first-ever meeting
Stadiums: Alumni Field (Capacity: 2,000) and McGowan Stadium (Capacity: 500)
Dimensions: 320 (LF) | 400 (CF) | 320 (LF) and 330 (LF) | 400 (CF) | 330 (RF)
Live Stats
Watch Live: Day One | Day Two | Day Three
Listen Live: Louisiana | Southeastern Louisiana
Twitter In-Game: @RacersBaseball
First Pitch
The Racers open their 2017 campaign with four consecutive contests down south. MSU will play its first three games at the Tangi Tourism Baseball Classic hosted by Southeastern Louisiana before traveling to face Alcorn State Monday. The Racers will play a pair of neutral site contests to begin the year before closing the classic against Southeastern.
Inside The Weekend
MSU's meeting against Hofstra in the season opener will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools. The matchup with 13th-ranked Louisiana will also be a first for the Racers and Ragin' Cajuns. MSU is 29-39-1 all-time in season openers and is 1-1 under Head Coach Kevin Moulder in openers. Southeastern Louisiana enters the weekend receiving votes in the preseason national polls.
Scouting Hofstra
The Pride went 15-37 a season ago and are led by David Leiderman who was named to the Preseason All-CAA Team. Leiderman hit .271 with 21 extra-base hits and 35 RBIs in 2016. John Russo is in his ninth season as the head coach at Hofstra.
Scouting No. 13 Louisiana
The Ragin Cajuns are ranked in the top-15 in most preseason top-25 baseball polls in 2017. The three-time defending Sun Belt Conference tournament chmapions are a unanimous choice in 2017 to win the West Division. Louisiana had four named to the preseason all-conference team in Gunner Leger (SP), Dylan Moore (RP), Joe Robbins (Utility) and Steven Sensley. Louisiana went 43-21 overall a season ago and 2-2 in the NCAA Regionals.
Scouting Southeastern
The host-Lions went 40-21 in 2016 and also made a trip to the NCAA Tournament where they beat Utah Valley and lost to Rice twice. Southeastern landed five on various preseason All-Southland Teams, including two First Team honorees in second baseman Carson Crites and pither Mac Sceroler. Fourth-year head coach Matt Riser leads the Lions.
Scouting Alcorn State
The Braves are led by Wallace Rios Jimenez (INF) and Conrado Skepple (RHP) who were both named preseason All-SWAC. Alcorn State went 16-36 in 2016 and is led by Head Coach Bretton Richardson who is in his second season with the Braves.
Probable Pitching Matchups
Friday: Trevor McMurray (RHP) vs. John Rooney (LHP) (3-8, 5.02 ERA)
Saturday: Ryan Dills (RHP) (5-3, 5.20 ERA) vs. Nick Lee (RHP) (7-1, 3.31 ERA)
Sunday: Austin Dubsky (RHP) (5-5, 5.81 ERA) vs. Kade Granier (RHP) (5-1, 1.42 ERA)
Monday: TBA vs. TBA
OVC Expands Tournament Field
On Tuesday the OVC office announced that eight teams will now qualify for this season's OVC Tournament held at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Ala. In previous seasons, only six teams advanced to the tournament. The tournament will open with the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds playing one another on Tuesday, May 23.
