Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Eastern Kentucky
Racers Sweep EKU With Second Straight Six-Run Comeback
4/28/2019 4:55:00 PM | Baseball
For the second straight day, the Murray State baseball team came back from six runs down to defeat Eastern Kentucky, earning the series sweep with an 8-7 win, Sunday afternoon at Reagan Field.
Similar to yesterday, the Racer bullpen was the key to victory as six pitchers threw one scoreless inning each, allowing a total of three hits while striking out three. As the Racers got closer and eventually took the lead, Justin Thomas, Jake Jones, and Braydon Cook each did not allow a hit in the final three innings of the game to secure the win.
"We told the bullpen they were going to be one of our strengths and today that was it," said head coach Dan Skirka. "Six innings, just three hits, three walks. They did a fantastic job."
The Racers only had six hits of the day led by Wes Schad and Bryan Chilton with two each, but the biggest hit of the day belonged to Ryan Perkins who smacked a game-tying two-run home run in the seventh inning, his eighth of the season.
Murray State started off sluggish out of the gate as the Colonels had a couple of hits clank off Racer gloves to take a 5-0 lead after two turns at-bat.
Despite the early deficit, Skirka didn't feel the need for a motivational speech in the dugout as he had confidence in his players.
"Guys handled their business the right way, they know how to carry themselves and they're confident in themselves. We didn't have to say anything, we just had to stop the momentum and get it swinging our way."
The Racers got one run back in the bottom of the second when Schad double to lead off the inning before coming around to score from second on a sacrifice fly by CJ Bush.
After a scoreless third inning for both teams in the third, the Colonels added two more runs in the fourth to take a 7-1 lead after four innings, the same as yesterday.
Like Saturday, the Racers started their rally in the fifth, scoring three runs on two hits and a couple of EKU errors. Chilton knocked in the first two runs of the inning with an RBI single through the left side. Perkins was then hit by a pitch before advancing to third on a bunt by Jake Slunder, but when the throw to third got away, Perkins came scampering on home to make it a three-run game.
After Connor Holden pitched a scoreless top of the sixth, MSU chipped away a little more in the bottom of the inning as Schad singled and advanced to second on an error to lead off the inning before moving over to third on a sacrifice bunt and scoring on Bush's second sacrifice fly of the game.
The comeback was made complete in the seventh when Chilton walked to lead off the inning before watching Perkins crush a ball over his head along with everyone else's head for a game tying two-run shot.
The Racers took the lead later in the inning when Slunder walked and advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt. The sophomore then started dancing off third base, distracting the pitcher and ultimately forcing a balk.
The final two innings went by quickly as Jones pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth before Cook closed it out in the ninth with his fifth save of the season.
The Racers will return the diamond with a non-conference game against Southern Illinois, Wednesday. First pitch in Carbondale is scheduled for 5 p.m.
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