Anderson & Woosley Homer - Racers Fall In Late Innings At No. 1 Arkansas

Friday, March 5

Fayetteville, AR

3 p.m.

Murray State

5-4

Arkansas

8-0

Murray State

Arkansas

Photo by: Darren Dedman

Anderson & Woosley Homer - Racers Fall In Late Innings At No. 1 Arkansas

3/5/2021 7:42:00 PM | Baseball

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The Murray State Racers made a bid Friday to upset No. 1 Arkansas, but lost a late lead in a 7-6 defeat at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville.

The Racers (5-3) had their four-game winning streak snapped, while the Razorbacks, the top ranked team in NCAA D-I, improved to 8-0.

MSU got a pair of two-run homers in the top of the fifth inning from Brock Anderson and Trey Woosley for a 6-3 lead. It was Anderson's third long ball of the spring and the first for Woosley.

Lefty Shane Burns made the start for the Racers and left the game trailing 3-1. He pitched three innings and gave three runs on three hits, five walks and four strikeouts. Jacob Pennington entered the game in the fourth and kept the Racers in the lead with 3.2 innings of work on 2 runs on four hits with five strikeouts and no walks.

Arkansas took the lead for good with a two-run homer by Robert Moore off MSU's Alec Whaley to make it a 7-6 Razorback lead in the bottom of the eighth.

Jordan Cozart made a bid to tie it in the ninth inning with a long fly ball out to the wall in left center. The next two batters struck out and Arkansas had the 7-6 win.

Both teams had eight hits in the game. Woosley had two hits, while Jake Slunder, Bryson Bloomer, Ryan Perkins, Cozart, Anderson and Tanner Booth all had one hit each. Slunder and Perkins each drove in a run.

Game two of the weekend series with Arkansas is set for a 1 p.m. first pitch Saturday in Fayetteville, with Sunday's game also with a 1 p.m. start.

Game Notes
Over the years, the Racers, also known as Thoroughbreds, have competed annually against many Power-5 conference teams. Murray State's most recent wins against these teams was at Kansas in 2016 and 2018. MSU also beat Ohio State and Kentucky in 2014.

Arkansas leads the all-time series with Murray State now 3-0. Today was the first time the Racers had played Arkansas since 1986.

Anderson's home run tied him for the team lead with Jordan Cozart at three.

Jake Slunder extended his hit streak to six-straight games, while Jordan Cozart and Trey Woosley are now at five. Slunder is the only Racer to reach base in every game this season.

Alabama transfer, Sam Gardner, takes the ball for the Racers in game two and freshman Jack Wenninger gets the start on the mound in game three Sunday.