Murray State University Athletics
Racers Head to Southern Miss to Kick off 2020 Season
2/12/2020 11:24:00 AM | Baseball
GAMES 1-3
Murray State at Southern Mississippi
Feb. 14-16, 2020
First Pitch:Â Friday: 4Â p.m., Saturday: 4Â p.m., Sunday: 1Â p.m.
Series History:Â Southern Miss leads 7-2
Last Meeting:Â Feb. 13-15, 2015 (USM swept 3-0)
Stadium:Â Pete Taylor Park
Dimensions:Â 340 (LF) | 400 (CF) | 340 (RF)
Watch Live ($): All Games
Listen Live:Â All Games
Live Stats: All Games
Twitter In-Game:Â @RacersBaseball
First Pitch
The Racers will open up year two of the Dan Skirka era as they travel to Southern Mississippi. In his first year, Skirka led the Racers to their best OVC record since 2010 and the #5 seed in the OVC Tournament.
Inside the Series
The Racers and Golden Eagles meet this weekend once again in Hattiesburg. Southern Miss took the first three games of this all-time before the Racers took two of three in 2012. Most recently, USM swept a three-game series in 2015.
New Faces
The Racers welcome 14 new players to the team this year, including five freshman, eight JUCO transfers, and one graduate transfer.
BrockStar
Senior Brock Anderson was named to the preseason All-OVC team, becoming the first Racer to earn the honor since 2017. A year ago, Anderson led the team with 13 home runs and 44 runs batte in while hitting .289.
Racers Picked Sixth
Murray State was picked sixth in the Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll as voted on by head coaches and SIDs. Defending regular season and tournament champion Jacksonville State was picked to repeat.
Tournament Trip
MSU advanced to the OVC Tournament last season for the third straight season. The Racers went 1-2 in Marion, Illinois, defeating UT Martin in an elimination game.
McMurray Opens Again
For the fourth straight season, Trevor McMurray will get the start on opening day. Last season, McMurray led the Racers with 68.0 innings pitched and 62 strikeouts.
Golden Eagles Repeat
For the second straight season, the Racers will open the year with the Golden Eagles as MSU started the 2019 campaign against Oral Roberts.
Home Sweet Home
The Racers will play a total of 29 contests inside the friendly confines of Reagan Field in 2019 including nine straight games at home following their three-game road trip to begin the year.
Scouting Southern Mississippi
The Golden Eagles have been tabbed to win the Conference-USA title this year after taking home the tournament title a year ago. C-USA is one of the strongest mid-major conferences in the nation with the likes of RIce, FAU, and Louisiana Tech.
Southern Miss is coming off their fourth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. In 2019,hey advanced to the Baton Rouge regional final before ultimately falling to LSU
Starting pitcher Walker Powell, infielder Matt Guidry, and outfielder Gabe Montenegro were all named to the preseason All-Conference-USA team.
The Golden Eagles clocked in at #31 in the NCBWA poll. They also received votes in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll.
Probable Starters
Friday: Trevor McMurray (RHP) (3-7, 5.56 ERA) vs. Gabe Shepard (RHP) (3-0, 2.35 ERA)
Saturday: Shane Burns (LHP) (3-3, 3.84 ERA) vs. Walker Powell (RHP) (2.81 ERA)
Sunday:Â Sam Gardner (RHP) vs. Chandler Best (LHP)
