Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
4-1
Buffalo
2-2
Racers Drop Slugfest in Home Opener
2/24/2017 6:11:00 PM | Baseball
The Murray State offense put up 10 runs and collected 16 hits on Friday afternoon at Reagan Field but it was not enough as the Racers lost their home opener to visiting Buffalo, 12-10. The loss was the Racers' first setback of the season and drops their record to 4-1.
Ryan Perkins and Davis Sims led MSU with three hits each in the loss while Perkins also scored three runs on the day and hit a solo home run, his second of the season, in the eighth. Brandon Gutzler did the most damage at the plate for MSU as he was 2-for-5 with two runs and four RBIs and also hit his third homer of the season. Aaron Bence and Jaron Robinson also had multi-hit days against the Bulls.
After a scoreless first for both teams, Buffalo (2-2) got on the scoreboard first with a big five-run top of the second and wouldn't relinquish the lead from there. Each time the Racers would score in the contest, the Bulls would respond with runs of their own in the next inning.
A three-run third for the Racers cut the deficit to 5-3 as Gutzler, Tyler Lawrence and Ramsey Scott had three consecutive RBI singles in the inning. In the fifth, UB got those three runs back however and lengthened the lead back up to five at 8-3. After Gutzler's two-run blast in the bottom half of the inning, the Bulls again responded in the top half of the sixth with three runs to make the score 11-5.
A two-run deficit was as close as MSU would get the rest of the way as the Racers made it an 11-9 game with four runs in the sixth inning. Bence, Gutzler, Kipp Moore and Robinson all collected ribbies in the inning.
Trevor McMurray took the loss as he got the start on the mound in the series opener. McMurray pitched 1.2 innings and allowed five runs on four hits. Luke Brown, Chance Carner, Tyler Horsley, John Lollar and Bobby Pennington all appeared in relief in the loss. Brown, Carner and Horsley combined to pitch three scoreless inning on the day.
The Racers and Bulls continue their three-game set Saturday at Reagan Field. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: TUOHY, Alec (2-0)
L: McMurray, Trevor (1-1)
S: HARASTA, Logan (1)
Batting:
2B: HAEFNER, Ben 1 ; MALLARO, Vinny 1 ; KWITZER, Chris 1
3B: KWITZER, Chris 1 ; DUDEK, Brian 1
HR: KWITZER, Chris 1 ; WASILEWSKI, Brian 1
RBI: HAEFNER, Ben 2 ; MALLARO, Vinny 1 ; KWITZER, Chris 3 ; WASILEWSKI, Brian 2 ; DUDEK, Brian 2
Base Running:
RUNS: TOMASULO, Phillip 1 ; THROWER, Alex 1 ; HAEFNER, Ben 2 ; MALLARO, Vinny 2 ; KWITZER, Chris 3 ; WASILEWSKI, Brian 1 ; TAFT, Andrew 1 ; DUDEK, Brian 1
HBP: TOMASULO, Phillip 1 ; BRENNAN, Kyle 1
Batting:
2B: Moore, Kipp 1 ; Perkins, Ryan 1 ; Sims, Davis 2 ; Robinson, Jaron 1
HR: Perkins, Ryan 1 ; Gutzler, Brandon 1
RBI: Moore, Kipp 1 ; Perkins, Ryan 1 ; Gutzler, Brandon 4 ; Lawrence, Tyler 1 ; Scott, Ramsey 1 ; Robinson, Jaron 1 ; Bence, Aaron 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Moore, Kipp 1 ; Perkins, Ryan 3 ; Gutzler, Brandon 2 ; Sims, Davis 1 ; Robinson, Jaron 1 ; Bence, Aaron 2
HBP: Perkins, Ryan 1
