Racers Come On Late in Game One Victory

Thursday, May 17

Martin, Tenn.

6 p.m.

Murray State

25-27, 12-16

UT Martin

11-39, 7-21

Murray State

UT Martin

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

5/17/2018 10:19:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Mike Farnell hit a grand slam with two outs in the seventh inning to break a 4-4 tie and Murray State scored eight runs in the final three innings Thursday night on its way to a 12-5 series-opening victory at UT Martin.

The Racers (25-27, 12-16 OVC) out-hit the Skyhawks (11-39, 7-21 OVC) 15-10 in the victory, five of which went for extra bases and had five players with multi-hit nights. Davis Sims went 3-for-4 at the dish with four runs scored and three RBIs while Farnell was 3-of-5 with five driven in. Jaron Robinson also had a three-hit night as he went 3-of-4 with a pair of runs. Ramsey Scott and Grant Wood each added a pair of hits.

Sims' 27^th double of the season led off the scoring in the contest in the first inning as he scored Wood. In the next at-bat, Farnell made it 2-0 with a single through the left side. In the second, the Skyhawks knotted things up at 2-2. After Scott reclaimed the lead for the Racers in the fourth with a sacrifice fly, Martin took its only lead of the game with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom half of the inning and led 4-3.

A Scott single in the sixth tied the score at 4-4 before Farnell's blast in seventh broke the tie. It was MSU's fourth grand slam of the season and first that came in a victory. UTM scored a run in the bottom of the seventh to make it 8-5, but RBI singles from Robinson and Gavin Wehby in the eighth put the advantage at 10-5. Sims' sixth homer of the season rounded-out the scoring for MSU in the ninth.

Connor Holden picked up his first career win as he pitched two hitless innings of relief and struck-out four. Trevor McMurray got the start and went four innings, allowing four runs, only one of which was earned. Chance Carner and Tyler Anderson also made relief appearances out of the bullpen with Anderson striking out five batters in a pair of innings.

MSU goes for its fourth consecutive series victory Friday in game two of the series at 6 p.m.