Murray State
8-5
North Alabama
3-9
Racers’ Bats Stay Hot Against North Alabama, Look Ahead To Home Series With Lindenwood
3/7/2024 7:34:00 PM | Baseball
Murray State combined for six extra-base hits including three home runs in the win over the Lions.
MSU has back-to-back games with at least 11 runs scored and have now scored at least 10 runs in six different games this season.
The Racers opened up the game on a two-run homer in the first inning from Dustin Mercer for his fourth this year. Murray State then tacked on a run in both the second and third innings on an RBI double from Drew Vogel and an RBI groundout from Carson Garner.
The Lions scored their first run on a solo shot to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning.
Murray State doubled its score in the sixth after two scoreless innings on a sacrifice fly hit by David Stokely, an RBI single from Logan Bland capped off by a two-RBI base hit from Vogel. UNA followed up the Racers' four-run inning by adding two more of their own on a wild pitch and a bases-loaded walk.
With one out in the top of the seventh, Garner blasted his eighth home run in 13 games to extend the Racers' lead to six. The next frame Dan Tauken hit a home run to make it a 10-3 ball game for his first long ball in a Racers uniform.
The Lions closed the gap to four in the eighth on a leadoff single followed by a double, an RBI groundout and a two-out two-run home run. The Racers put their 11th run up on a sacrifice fly from Ethan Krizen pinch hitting for Stokely.
Ethan Lyke earned the win for the day to improve to 2-0 on the season, going 5 2/3 innings allowing just two earned runs on four hits, two walks and struck out five batters. Jacob Pennington added 1 1/3 shutout innings out of the bullpen, striking out three of the four batters he faced.
Vogel, Mercer, Tauken and Garner all recorded a multi-hit game in Florence, and Vogel and Mercer each had three hits and combined for five RBIs.
Seven Racers picked up a hit on Thursday and all nine in the starting lineup reached base at least once. Murray State also scored runs in seven of the nine frames on Thursday.
The Racers return home to Johnny Reagan Field to face the Lindenwood Lions for Players' Weekend on March 8-10 with Senior Day to be played on March 9.
Scouting Report
The Lions enter the weekend series with a 5-7 record under head coach PJ Finigan, who is in his first year as Lindenwood's skipper. The Lions are most recently coming off a midweek road loss to Missouri, 5-4.
Lindenwood's offense is led by Bryson Arnette and Colin Shea, who both enter the series leading the team with 12 hits each. Arnette leads the team in RBIs with eight and Shea is tied for the second-most with teammates James Jett and Mitch Cummins. Dawson Hokuf has hit three of the Lions' five home runs thus far this season.
The Lions' pitching staff is led by Eli Brown, who carries a 2.65 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP heading into the series. Brown is the team's leader in strikeouts with 25 across 17 innings on the mound. He has allowed five earned runs on 13 hits and three walks.
The only other three pitchers for Lindenwood with at least 10 strikeouts this season are Zach Buschschulte (12), Preston Salazar (11), and Josh Newell (10).
For more information on the Murray State baseball program, visit GoRacers.com or @RacersBaseball on Instagram and X.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lyke, Ethan (2-0)
L: John Allen Stogner (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Vogel, Drew 1 ; Mercer, Dustin 1 ; Hogart, Jonathan 1
HR: Mercer, Dustin 1 ; Garner, Carson 1 ; Tauken, Dan 1
RBI: Vogel, Drew 3 ; Mercer, Dustin 2 ; Garner, Carson 2 ; Tauken, Dan 1 ; Stokely, David 1 ; Krizen, Ethan 1 ; Bland, Logan 1
SF: Stokely, David 1 ; Krizen, Ethan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Vogel, Drew 1 ; Mercer, Dustin 1 ; Hogart, Jonathan 1 ; Garner, Carson 2 ; Hawthorne, Riley 1 ; Howell, Taylor 1 ; Tauken, Dan 3 ; Bland, Logan 1
SB: Garner, Carson 1 ; Hawthorne, Riley 1
CS: Garner, Carson 1
HBP: Hawthorne, Riley 1
Batting:
2B: Andrew Knight 1 ; Leighton Jenkins 1
HR: Jonathan Lane 1 ; Dominick McIntyre 1
RBI: Jonathan Lane 1 ; Gehrig Frei 1 ; Dominick McIntyre 3
SH: Dominick McIntyre 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jackson Ferrigno 1 ; Jonathan Lane 2 ; Andrew Knight 1 ; Dominick McIntyre 1 ; Leighton Jenkins 1
