Racers Head To The Music City To Take On Belmont

Saturday, April 17

Nashville, Tenn.

1 p.m.

Murray State

Belmont

Photo by: David Eaton-Murray State Athletics

4/15/2021 5:07:00 PM | Baseball

Games Notes (PDF)

Murray State heads to Nashville, Tenn. for three-game series

Murray State (16-14, 7-5) at Belmont Bruins (13-13, 7-5)

GAME 31-33
Dates: April 17-18, 2021
First Pitch: Thursday-4 p.m.; Friday (DH)-1 p.m., ~5 p.m.
Location: Nashville, Tenn.
Stadium: E.S. Rose Park (500)
Dimensions: 330 (LL) 400 (CF), 330 (RL)
Series History: Belmont leads 24-17
Last Meeting: May 22, 2019 (Belmont Won 8-1)

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Murray State Game Notes

First Pitch
After the cancellation of their midweek game, MSU is looking to bounce back after dropping their first conference series of the year, losing two of three to Southeast Missouri over the weekend. Belmont is also coming off a conference series loss falling to Jacksonville State in two of three games.

Inside the Matchup
Since Belmont joined the OVC in 2013, the Racers and the Bruins have met 24 times on the diamond with BU holding a 17-7 advantage. Combined with the games played before 2013, Belmont leads Murray State, 24-17. In 2019, the Bruins swept the Racers in the regular season and then beat MSU in the first round of the OVC tournament, 8-1.

Weekend Recap
The Racers overcame their biggest deficit of the season, falling behind by seven runs to Bellarmine. In the very first meeting between the two programs, the Racers scored 10 runs in the sixth and seventh inning combined using three two-run home runs to come over the deficit and beat the Knights 12-8.

Murray State remained at home for a three-game series against the Southeast Missouri Redhawks. The Racers held their first-ever 'Players Weekend' with special jerseys featuring their nicknames on the back and honored their five 2021 Seniors in a pregame ceremony before Saturday's game.

On Friday, the Racers were swept in a pair of contests, 8-3 and 12-8 as the Redhawks handed MSU their first conference series loss. In game one, the Racers could not come up with a shut down inning after they plated runs as the Redhawks took a 2-1, 3-2 and 5-3 leads.

Game two saw the Racers fall behind by seven runs in the first inning but slowing battled their way back, cutting it to a two-run deficit. The Redhawks then went off for five runs to smother the Racers hopes. Ryan Perkins finished a triple shy of the cycle and collected his 200th career hit in the game, a double.

Behind a solid pitching performance from Sam Gardner on Senior Day, the Racers scored in all but two innings to take the final game of the series, 11-6. Jordan Cozart hit is team-leading 12th home run, tying him for 5th in the nation.

The Racers hit nine home runs during the week to keep them atop the OVC leaderboard in homers.

A Look at the Racers:
Murray State sit in third place in the OVC standing with a 16-14 overall record and a 7-5 conference record with series wins over Eastern Illinois, Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech.

Bryson Bloomer has been on a tear in the month of April. He is on an eight-game hitting streak, fourth-longest active streak in the OVC and scored runs in all eight games while driving in a run in seven of eight games. Bloomer has improved his batting average 77 points to second-highest on the team at .277, collecting six of his nine multi-hit games during this time.

Last week versus Bellarmine and SEMO, Bloomer hit .529 with four runs scored, a trio of doubles, three RBI and a stolen base over the week. Bloomer collected multiple hits in each game, going 3-for-4 with a RBI and a run scored to help the Racers erase a seven-run deficit on Tuesday's comeback win over Bellarmine. He continued the momentum going into the weekend, picking up a pair of hits in all three games vs SEMO and finished the week with a .706 slg% and a .556 ob%.

Jordan Cozart is tied for fifth in the nation with 12 home runs, six of which have come in the first inning. He hit two long balls in the over the weekend against Southeast Missouri and is tied for 13th in total bases (82) and 14th in home runs per game. Cozart is also T-33rd in runs (32), T-36th in RBIs (33) and T-39th in slg pct (.713)

Ryan Perkins became just the sixth player in Murray State history to play in 200 career games and collected 200 career hits. On March 19^th, Perkins played in his 200^th game against Jacksonville State and on Friday he surpassed 200 hits in game two of the doubleheader against Southeast Missouri with a double to left center. He was 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored in the game.

On the mound, the Racers will hand the ball to redshirt sophomore Shane Burns, freshman Jack Wenninger and graduate transfer Sam Gardner.

In conference play, Burns leads the OVC in innings per game at 6.50 innings per game and is fourth in ERA with a 3.12 ERA. He is 1-0 with 14 strikeouts over 26.0 innings.

Wenninger is 2-1 in conference play and holds a 4.35 ERA. Opponents are batting .235 against him, good for sixth in the OVC, with 23 strikeouts. Through his 31.0 innings of works, he has only given up one home run.

Gardner has gone at least 6.0 innings in his previous two appearances, earning his first win of the season on Senior Day. Against Tennessee Tech, he tied a career-high in strikeouts with nine and followed it up with seven punch outs versus Southeast Missouri to lead the Racers with 27 strikeouts.

Reliever Jake Jones is second in the OVC with four wins in his 12 appearances while Alec Whaley is tied for third with two saves.

Scouting Belmont
The Belmont Bruins were predicted to finish atop the OVC in the preseason poll but have had a tough go of things midway through the 2021 season, currently sitting in seventh place in the standings.

The Bruin visited Jacksonville State over the weekend and dropped two of three to the Gamecocks. winning series against SIU-Edwardsville and Eastern Illinois and falling to UT Martin, Austin Peay and Jacksonville State.

John Behrends is the Bruins offensive spark, leading the team in batting average (.380), hits (41), runs (28), doubles (9) and home runs (5). His .380 BA is fourth-best in the OVC.

Logan Jarvis and Carson Shacklett are 19th and 25th in the NCAA with 25 and 24 walks, respectively.

Joshua South has taken home OVC Pitcher of the Week honors three times this season. He owns an ERA of 3.80 over 42.2 innings pitched with 35 strikeouts. Andy Bean has a team-low 3.32 ERA and a team-high 37 strikeouts through 40.2 innings.

As a team, the Bruins are hitting .271 with 22 home runs and a .404 slugging % and . 375 on-base %.