Baseball To Play Non-Conference Midweek With Belmont

Murray State (22-20, 12-9 OVC) vs Belmont Bruins (20-21, 12-12 OVC)

GAME 43
Dates: May 4, 2021
First Pitch: Wednesday: 4 p.m.
Location: Murray, Ky.
Stadium: Johnny Reagan Field (550)
Series History: Belmont leads 26-18 (W1)
Last Meeting: Apr. 17-18, 2021 (Belmont won series 2-1)

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Murray State Game Notes

First Pitch
Following a five-game win streak, the Racers have lost four of their last five and are looking to bounce dropping a conference series to Morehead State. Belmont is coming off a series loss to Southeast Missouri, losing two of three. The Bruins took the series between the two teams earlier in the year, winning 8-3 and 8-5.

Inside the Matchup
Since Belmont joined the OVC in 2013, the Racers and the Bruins have met 27 times on the diamond with BU holding a 19-8 advantage. Combined with the games played before 2013, Belmont leads Murray State, 26-18.

Probable Starters
Quinton Kujawa (RHP) (4-3, 4.54 ERA) vs Will Jenkins (RHP) (1-0, 4.80 ERA)

A Look at the Racers:
Murray State sits third in the conference standings only behind Morehead State and Southeast Missouri with an overall record of 22-20 and a conference record of 12-9.

Following their five-game win streak, the Racers have dropped four of their last five. MSU fell late to Southern Illinois in the midweek game in Carbondale. The Racers then headed to Morehead State where they dropped both games of the Friday doubleheader but avoided the series sweep with a convincing 13-3 win on Saturday. MSU fell 11-6 in a non-conference matchup with the Eagles on Sunday.

Eighteen of the Racers 25 runs against Morehead State came by way of the long ball. Murray State hit a total of 12 on the weekend to move them into 7th in the nation with 62. Jake Slunder lead the team with four followed by Brock Anderson, Bryson Bloomer and Brennan McCullough each with a pair of homers, including McCullough's first two of his career. Alex Crump and Jacob Pennington also added solo shots in the opening game of the series.

Jake Slunder had the best weekend of his career against Morehead State. He had his first career multi-home run game, finishing a grand slam shy of the home run cycle. His three home runs, 12 total bases, four runs scored and six RBIs are a career-high for him as well as third, fourth, sixth and seventh in Murray State's single-game records. Slunder owned a slugging percentage of 1.105 with eight hits including his four home runs and one double.

Bryson Bloomer has been on a tear in the month of April batting .433 with an on-base pct of .462% and slg pct of .650%. He is riding a nine-game hitting streak, longest active on the team. Bloomer has a team-high 26 hits, 7 doubles and 14 RBI in the month and is outhitting the next closest Racer by 8 hits. Since his hot-streak, Bloomer's batting average has improved 100 points to highest on the team at .300, collecting 10 of his 13 multi-hit games during this time.

Murray State shortstop David Hudleson and catcher Alex Crump is batting .326 and .325, respectively. In the month of April, Hudleson was hitting a blistering .385, collecting 10 of his 15 hits. Crump had the second-highest slugging percentage in April, behind Bryson Bloomer at .622. He hit two home runs and drove in seven runs.

Jordan Cozart and Brock Anderson has slugged 26 of Murray State's 62 homers. Last week, Anderson blasted two of the Racers' 12 long balls.

The Racers are seventh on the NCAA Home Run leaderboard with 62 home runs. Murray State hit 12 home runs against Morehead State after hitting three in the series against Eastern Kentucky and two against Bellarmine in the game prior. They are also ranked 12th in home runs per game (1.48) and T-37th in doubles (78).

Brock Anderson and Jordan Cozart are tied for 12th in the nation with 13 home runs each. Anderson hit two long balls in the over the weekend against Morehead State. They are tied for 33rd in both home runs per game and total bases. Jake Slunder is T-23rd with 19 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 0-1, owning a 2.76 ERA in 12 appearances on the mound with six saves, tied for 38th most in the country. In 16.1 innings pitched, Holden has struck out 18 compared to only three walks.

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

The Bruins dropped two of three to Southeast Missouri over the weekend. They had won their previous two conference series against Tennessee Tech and Murray State.

John Behrends leads the Bruins offensively. He won OVC Player of the Week last week, one week after teammate Logan Jarvis earned the honors.

Behrends and Jarvis are batting .373 and .372, respectively and are top two in the Bruins lineup in hits, doubles, home runs, total bases, slugging percentage and on-base percentage.

Jarvis is eighth in NCAA Division I Baseball in the walks category while Shacklett is currently 10th, being ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the OVC.

As a team, the Bruins are hitting .268 with 25 home runs and a .392 slugging pct and . 380 on-base pct.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Brock Anderson

Bryson Bloomer

Jordan Cozart

Alex Crump

Connor Holden

David Hudleson

Quinton Kujawa

Brennan McCullough

Jacob Pennington

Jake Slunder

Murray State University Athletics