Key Conference Series for OVC Tournament Berth as Racers Head to SIUE

Murray State (27-20, 15-9 OVC) at SIU Edwardsville Cougars (22-21, 12-12 OVC)

GAME 48-50
Dates: May 14-15, 2021
First Pitch: Friday. 2 p.m. & ~5:30 p.m.; Saturday: 1 p.m.
Location: Edwardsville, Ill.
Stadium: Simmons Complex (1,500)
Series History: SIUE leads 20-13
Last Meeting: Lost, 11-9, May 18, 2019 in Edwardsville, Illinois

Follow The Racers:
Live Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: Game 1 Game 2 Game 3
Twitter In-Game: @RacersBaseball
Murray State Game Notes

Schedule Changes
Murray State and SIUE will play a doubleheader Friday with the first pitch of game one coming at 2 p.m. They will conclude the series with a 1 p.m. game Saturday.

First Pitch
The Racers are on their second five-game win streak of the season, using extra innings to walk-off three of the victories. MSU is three games ahead of SIUE and will look to clinch a postseason spot with a series win this weekend. SIUE is currently in fifth, one place out of a tournament position.

Inside the Matchup
The Racers and Cougars have met just 33 times on the diamond with SIUE holding a 20-13 advantage. In Edwardsville, the Cougars have a 10-5 lead.

Probable Starters
Shane Burns (RHP) (1-1, 5.14 ERA) vs Noah Matheny (RHP) (5-2, 4.31 ERA)
Sam Gardner (RHP) (5-4, 4.53 ERA) vs Jake Bockenstedt (RHP) (2-1, 6.99 ERA)
TBA vs Brant Glidewell (RHP) (6-1, 3.21 ERA)

A Look at the Racers:
Murray State sits second in the conference standings only behind Southeast Missouri with an overall record of 27-20 and a conference record of 15-9.

The Racers are on their second five-game win streak of the season, taking back-to-back midweek games and sweeping the conference series against UT Martin. They've gone to extra in three of their last five games, coming out on top in all. With the conference series sweep, the Racers sit solidly in second place in the OVC behind only Southeast Missouri, who holds the tiebreaker over Murray State.

The Racers final road conferences series of the season with SIUE is all important in Murray State's hope of making the OVC conference tournament as only the top four teams will receive spots. MSU sits in second place at 15-9 while SIUE is in fifth at 12-12, only three games behind the Racers with one series remaining against Austin Peay in the final week of the regular season.

Murray State went to extra innings for the third time in their previous five games. The Racers are 3-0 in extra time this season. Last week versus Belmont, the Racers came back and tied it in the ninth before walking off on a wild pitch in the 12th. In the series opener against UT Martin, Bryson Bloomer hit a towering three-run home run in the eleventh to win it 8-5. On Tuesday, Jordan Cozart's walked it off for the Racers 5-4, in 11 innings to split the season series with SIU.

Ryan Perkins and Sam Gardner earned OVC Co-Player of the Week and Pitcher of the Week, respectively.

Gardner threw seven scoreless innings in game two against UTM to secure the series win for the Racers. He struck out seven of the first nine batters he faced and set a new career-high of ten K's.

Perkins hit .462 with five runs, two doubles, a triple, home run, two walks, 1.000 slugging percentage and a .533 on-base percentage. Perkins scored the game-winning, walk-off run on a wild pitch against Belmont and went 3-for-3 in game two vs UTM, with two runs scored, a home run and four RBI.

In his last six starts, Gardner is 5-1, has gone a minimum of 6.0 innings and has an ERA of 1.69 during the span. He's earned OVC Pitcher of the Week twice, thrown a complete game shutout and set a new career-high in strikeouts, ten. Gardner leads the team with 60 K's, good for fourth in the OVC. He currently is ninth in opponent batting average (.254) and 10th in ERA (4.37)

Bryson Bloomer has reached base safely in 27 straight games, dating back to the Memphis series at the end of March. Jake Slunder is the next closest Racer with a non-active streak of 15. He also had a hitting streak as long as ten games and 14th of his 20 multi-hit games have come during this time. In game one of the UT Martin series, Bloomer blasted the game-winning three-run walk-off home run to win it 8-5 for the Racers.

Jordan Cozart and Brock Anderson has slugged 27 of Murray State's 68 homers. Last week, Anderson blasted two of the Racers' 12 long balls and added a solo shot on Wednesday to take sole control atop the OVC's home run leaderboard.

The Racers are seventh on the NCAA Home Run leaderboard with 68 home runs. Murray State hit five long balls in the UTM series after hitting 12 home runs against Morehead State. They are also ranked 16th in home runs per game (1.45) and 20th in doubles (93) and 47th in doubles per game (1.98).

Brock Anderson is tied for 16th in the nation with 14 home runs. Anderson hit two long balls in the over the weekend against Morehead State and another last Wednesday versus Belmont. Jordan Cozart follows closely behind with 13, good for 22nd in the nation. Anderson is 22nd (.33) in home runs per game while Cozart is 38th (.31). Jake Slunder is T-15th with 22 stolen bases and T-29th in runs (43). Bryson Bloomer is 37th with 14 doubles. Connor Holden is T-38th with six saves. Jordan Cozart is T39th in runs (42).

Redshirt junior Connor Holden has been named to NCBWA's 2021 Stopper of the Year Midseason Watch List. He is one of 65 of the nation's top relief pitchers to be named to the list. This season, Holden is 1-1, owning a 2.14 ERA in 15 appearances on the mound with seven saves, tied for 38th most in the country. In 21.0 innings pitched, Holden has struck out 22 compared to only five walks.

Scouting SIU-Edwardsville
The SIU Edwardsville Cougars are currently sitting in fifth place in the OVC standing with an overall record of 22-21 and conference record of 12-12. They were picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll.

Last weekend, the Cougars got back in the win column taking two of three at Jacksonville State after dropping their previous two series to Eastern Illinois and Austin Peay.

The Cougars have hit 20 wins in a season for the first time since 2017. They are third in the OVC in slugging percentage at .444 and fourth in batting average at .276.

Connor Kiffer leads the Cougars offensively, driving in a team-high 37 runs, hitting .327 and slugging .506.

Raul Elguezabal ranks just behind Kiffer in most offensive categories coming in at a .313 batting average, 51 hits, and 25 RBI.

Brady Bunten has won OVC Player of the Week twice this season. He is second on the team in runs driven in.

Key Conference Series for OVC Tournament Berth as Racers Head to SIUE

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Brock Anderson

Bryson Bloomer

Shane Burns

Jordan Cozart

Sam Gardner

Connor Holden

Ryan Perkins

Jake Slunder

Murray State University