Racers Host EKU on Johnny Reagan Day, Schedule Adjusted

Murray State (18-16, 8-7) vs Eastern Kentucky Colonels (13-22, 7-11)

GAME 35-37
Dates: April 23-24, 2021
First Pitch: Friday (DH)- 1 p.m. & ~5 p.m.; Saturday TBA
Location: Murray, Ky.
Stadium: Johnny Reagan Field (550)
Dimensions: 330 (LL) 400 (CF), 330 (RL)
Series History: Eastern Kentucky leads 66-63
Last Meeting: Apr. 28, 2019 (Murray Won 8-7)

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Murray State Game Notes

First Pitch
The Racers are looking to get a series win after dropping the previous two to Southeast Missouri and Belmont. Eastern Kentucky picked up a series win, taking two of three from Jacksonville State in Richmond, Ky.

Inside the Matchup
The Racers and Colonels have met 129 times on the diamond, most recently in 2019, where MSU swept EKU. In Murray, Eastern Kentucky holds a 29-26 advantage.

Probable Starters
Friday Game 1 – Jack Wenninger (RHP) (3-3, 4.35 ERA) vs Darren Williams (RHP) (1-5, 4.71 ERA)
Friday Game 2 – TBD vs Louis Davenport (RHP) (2-2, 8.02 ERA)
Saturday – Sam Gardner (RHP) (2-4, 5.97 ERA) vs TBD

Johnny Reagan Day
Friday, April 23, is Johnny Reagan Day as the baseball program will honor the late former head coach with his number forever gracing the left field wall. The team will be referred to as the Thoroughbreds, the nickname they were known as during Reagan's tenure, and all will be wearing #36, Reagan's number.

Weekend Recap
After the cancellation of their midweek game versus Kentucky State, the Racers visited Belmont and dropped the pair of contests in the doubleheader on Saturday, 8-2 and 8-5. Murray State turned it around on Sunday, paced by the masterful pitching performance of Sam Gardner, who threw the Racers first complete game shutout since 2013 in a 2-0 victory to avoid the sweep.

Belmont used two strong pitching performances from their aces Joshua South and Andy Bean to hold the Murray State offense in check on Saturday. In the series opener, the Racers jumped out to a one-run lead but saw it quickly evaporate as the Bruins put up four runs in the following two innings and extended it a 8-2 advantage. The Racers built a 3-0 in game two before Belmont put up eight straight and win 8-5.

Sam Gardner threw a gem in Sunday's complete game shutout in a 2-0 win over Belmont. This was the first nine-inning complete game shutout for the Racers since Cameron Finch tossed a no-hitter against SIUE on March 22, 2013. Gardner scattered five hits and struck out nine without walking a batter in picking up his second win of the season. He threw 115 total pitches, allowing four singles and a double, with the hits coming in the second, fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Racers collected seven hits in the game. David Hudleson was a perfect 3-for-3 with a walk and a RBI and Jake Slunder tallied his team-high 12th multi-hit game of the season with two hits in the game.

The Racers used a five-run fourth inning to power past Bellarmine in the midweek game. In their very first meetings with the Knights, Murray State swept the series with a 12-8 and 10-5 wins.

A Look at the Racers:
Murray State sits in fourth place in the OVC standing with an 18-16 overall record and an 8-7 conference record.

The Racer begin the second half of their Ohio Valley Conference schedule when Eastern Kentucky comes to town this weekend. Murray State will play road series at Morehead (Apr. 30-May 1) and SIUE (May 14-15), and host UT Martin (May 7-8) and Austin Peay (May 20-21) in its final two home series to close out its 30-game conference slate.

Sam Gardner was named OVC Pitcher of the Week for the first time in his career after throwing his first career complete game shutout in the 2-0 victory over Belmont Sunday. Gardner faced only 30 batters, three over the minimum. He only allowed one base runner to reach second base on the day as Belmont went down in order in six of the nine innings. He retired eight of the final nine batters of the game, four of which came by strikeout.

Gardner went the distance for the first time in his career on Sunday in the nine inning complete game shutout against Belmont. He tied his career-high in strikeouts, scattered five hits and faced just 30 batters, three above the minimum. It was the first nine-inning complete game shutout since Cameron Finch tossed the eighth no-hitter in Racer history against SIUE on March 22, 2013 in a 1-0 win.

Bryson Bloomer has been on a tear in the month of April. He extended his hitting streak to ten games and has scored runs in eight of eleven games while also driving in a run in eight of eleven games. Bloomer has improved his batting average 79 points to second-highest on the team at .279, collecting seven of his ten multi-hit games during this time.

After a slow start to the season in which he was 0-4 in five starts with an ERA as high as 15.58, Gardner has found his groove in his last three outings. He has thrown 21.2 innings with an ERA of 0.83, only allowing two earned runs. Gardner matched his career-high in strikeouts, nine, twice in this span and walked just two batters. He was named OVC Pitcher of the Week for his complete game shutout performance against Belmont on Sunday.

Scouting Eastern Kentucky
The Eastern Kentucky Colonels were predicted to finish sixth the OVC in the preseason poll. They currently sit in last place but things for the Colonels are on the up-and-up, taking two of three from Jacksonville State.

The Colonels defeated the Gamecocks, 1-0 and 9-5 in the first two games of the series and won 13-4 in a midweek contest versus Morehead State.

Daniel Harris IV extended his hitting streak to 19 games and is batting .317, leading the team with 44 hits. After hitting .095 through the first 11 games, he is batting .412 and recorded at least one hit in 23 of his last 24 games.

Louis Davenport III took home OVC Co-Pitcher of the Week honors on March 15. He owns an ERA of 8.02 over 33.2 innings pitched with 53 strikeouts. Darren Williams has a 4.71 ERA and 53 strikeouts through 49.2 innings.

The EKU pitching staff tops the OVC with 314 strikeouts.

As a team, the Colonels are hitting .254 with 33 home runs and a .389 slugging % and . 336 on-base %.

Racers Host EKU on Johnny Reagan Day, Schedule Adjusted

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Players Mentioned

Bryson Bloomer

Cameron Finch

Sam Gardner

David Hudleson

Jake Slunder

Jack Wenninger

Murray State University Athletics