Racers Fire on all Cylinders, Take Two on the Road Over Eastern Illinois

Sunday, April 25

Charleston, Ill.

1 P.M.

Murray State

18-24, 15-11

Eastern Illinois

20-16, 11-11

Murray State

Eastern Illinois

Photo by: Sandy King

Racers Fire on all Cylinders, Take Two on the Road Over Eastern Illinois

4/25/2021 8:37:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Game 1 Box Score (PDF)Game 2 Box Score (PDF)

Stellar pitching, timely hitting propels Murray State to pair of vital OVC victories on the day

Murray State softball opened a seven-game road trip with a doubleheader against Eastern Illinois on Sunday afternoon. The Racers prevailed in both contests, earning wins of 6-1 and 2-1 to secure a series victory over the Panthers. The Racers, who improved to 16-11 in the OVC behind stellar pitching and timely hitting, will try for the series sweep on Monday at 1:00 p.m. in the series finale in Charleston, Illinois.

"Today was a big day as we keep inching closer to the finish line of the regular season. We got great pitching, good defense, and had a lot of quality at-bats. We executed offensively when we needed to. We are looking forward to another chance to have a great day tomorrow," said MSU head coach Kara Amundson.

Game 1 – Murray State 6, Eastern Illinois 1

Sierra Gilmore's big day at the plate began in the third inning of game one on Sunday when the senior drove in the game's first run with her two-out RBI single that scored Jensen Striegel.

The Racers doubled their lead in the following frame, as Lexi Jones gave the Racers another two-out run when her RBI double to center field scored Lindsey Carroll to extend the Racer lead to 2-0.

The lone Panther run of the contest came in the home half of the fourth when Amber Cieplinski hit a solo home run to cut the deficit in half, but the Racers responded with two more runs in the fifth as Murray State scored in its third-straight opportunity.

Those two Racer runs came with one swing of the bat as Gilmore blasted her fourth home run of the campaign – a two-run shot to center field as the Racers owned a 4-1 advantage through five innings of action.

Despite the three-run cushion, the relentless Racer bats inflicted more damage in the seventh when freshman Bryce Adkinson collected the first RBI of her career, driving in Brittney Proctor, before a sacrifice fly off the bat of Lindsey Carroll made it 6-1 Racers.

Hannah James worked a 1-2-3 bottom half in the circle for MSU as the junior retired the last 11 Panther batters of the game in order to notch her seventh win of 2021. The Nicholasville, Kentucky native struck out three while surrendering just one run on four hits in the complete-game outing.

At the plate, the six Murray State runs came on 10 hits, with Gilmore (3-4, 3 RBI, R, HR) and Striegel (2-4, 3 R, 3B) leading the way with multi-hit performances. Seven different Racers collected a hit in the ballgame.

Game 2 – Murray State 2, Eastern Illinois 1

Taylor Makowsky and Jenna Veber teamed up in the circle to hold the Panthers to a single run in game two as the Racers came out on top in a low-scoring affair. Makowsky got the starting nod and struck out a pair of EIU batters, surrendering just one run over three innings of work on the day. Veber then took it the rest of the way, earning her seventh win of the campaign with four shutout innings that featured two strikeouts while facing just three batters over the minimum.

All of the scoring in game two came in the third frame, with Murray State plating its runs by way of a Sierra Gilmore two-out, two-run single that scored Striegel and Lily Fischer as the Racers took a 2-0 lead in the top half.

The only Panther run of the second contest came from a solo home run once again, this time by EIU's Megan Burton to cut the Racer lead to a single score through three innings of action.

Racer pitching stymied the Eastern Illinois bats the rest of the way, protecting the one-run margin to secure both the 2-1 triumph and the weekend series victory over the Panthers.

Gilmore (2-3, 2 RBI, 2B) collected two more hits to record her 15^th multi-hit performance of the season while extending her hitting streak to six games. Fischer (1-3, BB, R) also reached base twice in the ballgame.

The Racers will wrap up the series with Eastern Illinois on Monday with a single game that is slated for 1:00 p.m. in Charleston, Illinois.