Murray State
32-24
Austin Peay State
23-33
Racers’ Walk-Off to Advance to the OVC Championship Game
5/29/2021 7:54:00 PM | Baseball
The Racers walk-off against Austin Peay, 7-6 in 11 innings to advance to the OVC Championship Game.
Brock Anderson and Jordan Cozart have been going blow-for-blow with home runs all tournament long. Anderson hit his third in the first inning while Cozart launched his fourth in the fifth, which ties for second-most in the OVC Tournament. They both have hit 19 home runs on the season.
The offense was a team-effort as eight of nine Racers in the starting lineup collected a hit and the defensive was fantastic to keep the Govs off the base paths.
The Govs got the scoring started in the first inning with an unearned run but Anderson answered with his 19th home run of the season and third of the OVC tournament to even the game at one.
In the third, the Govs had bases loaded with only one out but Quinton Kujawa limited the damage to only one run. Austin Peay tacked on another run in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead.
Murray State began chipping away at the Govs two-run lead as Brennan McCullough drove in Bryson Bloomer for his first RBI on the tournament, cutting the deficit to one.
After Austin Peay added two in the top half of the fifth, the Racers went to work in the bottom half of the inning. Jake Slunder and Brock Anderson both drove in runs in the inning before the big two-run blast from Jordan Cozart gave the Racers their first lead of the game. It was Cozart's fourth home run of the tournament, tied for second-most all-time in the OVC, and his 19th of the season to tie Anderson for the league lead.
Austin Peay tied the game in the top of the seventh on a RBI groundout. The game would remain scoreless to send the Racers to their second extra-inning game of the tournament.
In extra innings, the Racers had two on with nobody out in the tenth but a double play and a foul out ended the threat.
For the second inning in a row, Wes Schad, pinch hitting, lead off the 11th with an infield single and a walk to David Hudleson had two on for the Racers. Jordan Holly came on to pinch run for Schad and Jake Slunder put down his first sacrifice bunt of the season to move the runners into scoring position. An intentional walk to Bloomer loaded the bases for Anderson. Anderson struck out but the pitch bounced in the dirt over the catchers' head allowing Holly to score from third and walk off the game.
Kujawa got the start for the Racers, starting his second game in as many days. He threw 74 pitches to give Murray State 3.2 strong innings after throwing 54 pitches in three innings against Morehead State yesterday.
Cade Vernon came on for a third of an inning and Alec Whaley pitched 2.1 innings to get way to Connor Holden.
Holden earned the win, coming on for the Racers in the seventh. He pitched a new career-high, 4.2 innings, and allowed only one hit and one runner into scoring position on a walk in the eighth in fifteen batters faced.
The #2 seed Racers advance to the OVC Championship Game immediately following versus #1 seed Southeast Missouri. The Racers will need to defeat the Redhawks twice to win their first championship since 2003. Southeast Missouri enters the game undefeated in the double elimination tournament.
BOOM. pic.twitter.com/xLausPfbNr
— Murray State Baseball (@RacersBaseball) May 29, 2021
B5 | MUR 6, APSU 5
— Murray State Baseball (@RacersBaseball) May 29, 2021
There is no emoji for how hot Cozart's bat is. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/VrP6aQ5qRD
T9 | MUR 6, APSU 6
— Murray State Baseball (@RacersBaseball) May 29, 2021
Our guy Brock with the 💪! HUGE first out of the 9⃣th inning!#ShoesUp | #WeAreRacers🏇 pic.twitter.com/K0cUsU7jDg
T9 | MUR 6, APSU 6
WILD FINISH ‼️ pic.twitter.com/ZAwcEuTbch
— Murray State Baseball (@RacersBaseball) May 29, 2021
Love this team! Let's play again. 4:55 p.m. 1st pitch vs SEMO. @OVCSports pic.twitter.com/A3phcXUM1h
— Murray State Baseball (@RacersBaseball) May 29, 2021
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Holden, Connor (2-1)
L: GOLLERT, Harley (4-5)
Batting:
RBI: SPAIN, Garrett 1 ; McDONALD, John 1 ; FOREMAN, TJ 1 ; LUNA, Skyler 1 ; DeLANCEY, Ty 1
SH: BOLTON, John 2
Base Running:
RUNS: AVROS, Gino 3 ; McDONALD, John 1 ; ALEXANDER, Jack 2
CS: SPAIN, Garrett 1
HBP: AVROS, Gino 1
Batting:
2B: Bloomer, Bryson 1
HR: Anderson, Brock 1 ; Cozart, Jordan 1
RBI: Slunder, Jake 1 ; Anderson, Brock 2 ; Cozart, Jordan 2 ; McCullough, Brennan 1
SH: Slunder, Jake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Slunder, Jake 1 ; Bloomer, Bryson 2 ; Anderson, Brock 1 ; Cozart, Jordan 1 ; Woosley, Trey 1 ; Holly, Jordan 1
SB: Slunder, Jake 1 ; Bloomer, Bryson 1
HBP: Slunder, Jake 1
