Racers Take Series Opener In Carbondale

Friday, April 12

Carbondale, Ill.

6 p.m.

Murray State

21-12, 0

Southern Illinois

19-15, 0

Murray State

Southern Illinois

4/12/2024 9:47:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

13 runs in the last five innings propelled Murray State over the Salukis on Friday.

By: Drew Parsley

The Racers took the first game of the weekend series, 14-1, over the Southern Illinois Salukis at Itchy Jones Stadium in Carbondale, Illinois.

SIU struck the scoreboard first on an RBI groundout in the first inning, yet were unable to provide any more offense for the next eight innings. The Racers were held scoreless until the third inning when Dustin Mercer drove in Riley Hawthorne on a fielder's choice to tie the game.

Later in the fifth inning the Racers exploded for a six-run frame, starting with two sacrifice fly outs from Logan Bland and Dustin Mercer to give Murray State a 3-1 lead. Dan Tauken and Taylor Howell then ripped back-to-back RBI base hits—two runs driven in by Tauken and one by Howell. The inning was capped off with Tauken scoring on a failed pickoff attempt to first by the SIU pitcher.

MSU added three more runs in the seventh on Carson Garner's 13th home run of the year and a sacrifice fly from Ethan Krizen. The Racers' scoring was capped off on a grand slam from Mercer for his seventh home run of the season on a 3-2 count with two outs in the ninth.

With Garner's home run, he is now tied for the 17th-most homers in a single season in program history, and Vogel's 11th stolen base of the season in the fifth inning is tied for the 27th-most in a season.

Cade Vernon earned his fifth win of the year going seven innings allowing just one run on six hits, one walk and striking out five Saluki batters.

Tauken and Garner each recorded two RBIs, and Garner extended his reached-base streak to a team-high 24 games. As a team, the Racers drew 13 walks. Murray State has now scored at least 10 runs in 13 of their 33 games in 2024. Garner recorded his 12th multi-RBI game of the year, tied for the most on the team with Howell. Tauken turned in his 10th multi-RBI game and Mercer his eighth. Mercer also joins Tauken as the only two players to record at least five RBIs in a game this year after Mercer drove in six runs on the day.

The second game of the weekend series is set for Saturday, April 13 at 2 p.m. CT at Itchy Jones Stadium.

For more information on the Murray State baseball program, visit GoRacers.com or @RacersBaseball on Instagram and X.

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Next Event

Southern Illinois

L, 3-4

Apr 13 (Sat)

2 p.m.

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Full Schedule

Team Stats

Pitching:

W: Vernon, Cade (5-2)

L: Mike Hansell (3-3)

Murray State

Batting:

2B: Krizen, Ethan 1

HR: Mercer, Dustin 1 ; Garner, Carson 1

RBI: Mercer, Dustin 6 ; Garner, Carson 2 ; Tauken, Dan 2 ; Howell, Taylor 1 ; Krizen, Ethan 1 ; Bland, Logan 1

SF: Mercer, Dustin 1 ; Krizen, Ethan 1 ; Bland, Logan 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Vogel, Drew 1 ; Mercer, Dustin 2 ; Garner, Carson 2 ; Hogart, Jonathan 2 ; Tauken, Dan 1 ; Hawthorne, Riley 2 ; Orberson, John 1 ; Krizen, Ethan 2 ; Rudd, Dalton 1