Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
7-10, 3-2
Eastern Illinois
7-10, 2-3
Burns Dazzles in Racer Win Over Eastern Illinois
3/16/2019 4:30:00 PM | Baseball
Behind the left arm of Shane Burns, the Murray State baseball team rebounded from yesterday's loss to Eastern Illinois by defeating the Panthers, 3-1, Saturday afternoon at Reagan Field.
Burns pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while striking out four to improve to 2-1 and lowering his ERA to 3.38.
"Shane's a super competitor when he gets out on the bump," said head coach Dan Skirka. "His process is great, throws strikes, attacks hitters, really doesn't look like a freshman when he's out there, which is awesome."
The Racers improve to 7-10 overall and 3-2 in the OVC, while EIU falls to 7-10 and 2-3 in conference play.
With Murray State as the road team, the Racers took an early lead, scoring one run in each of the first two innings.
In the first, Jake Slunder reached on an error before eventually coming into score on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Perkins.
The following inning, Jaron Robinson led off with an opposite-field triple and came into score when Bryan Chilton hit a grounder to short one batter later.
The Panthers had their best chance to score off Burns in the fifth when they put a runner on third with one out, but back-to-back strikeouts by the freshman kept EIU off the board.
The Racers added an insurance run in the seventh when, for the second time this season, Slunder scored from first on a single. Brock Anderson hit a ball up the middle and Slunder just kept running after a lackadaisical throw to the infield.
The combination of Blake Clynes and Peyton Hayes worked a scoreless eighth inning, but the ninth proved to be trickier. Two singles and two walks produced a run for the Panthers before Braydon Cook came out of the bullpen with still just one out. The redshirt-sophomore fanned his first batter before getting a pop up to left field to end the game and earn his second save this week.
The two teams will play the rubber game tomorrow afternoon at Reagan Field. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Burns, Shane (2-1)
L: DEXTER, Spenser (1-1)
S: Cook, Braydon (2)
Batting:
3B: Robinson, Jaron 1
RBI: Anderson, Brock 1 ; Perkins, Ryan 1 ; Chilton, Bryan 1
SH: Cozart, Jordan 1
SF: Perkins, Ryan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Slunder, Jake 2 ; Robinson, Jaron 1
SB: Anderson, Brock 1
Batting:
RBI: PENA, Christian 1
Base Running:
RUNS: KERRIGAN, Keith 1
SB: EMME, Grant 1
CS: IGNOFFO, Ryan 1
