Racers Look To Close Out Regular Season At Bradley

Dates (Times): May 16-18 (6 p.m. CT, 11 a.m. CT, 11 a.m. CT)
Site (Venue): Peoria, Ill. (Dozer Park)
Opponent: Bradley Braves
TV: ESPN+
Live Stats: GoRacers.com
All-Time Record vs. Bradley: 13-21

The Racers are slated for their final Missouri Valley Conference weekend of the 2024 regular season when they take on the Bradley Braves May 16-18 at Dozer Park in Peoria, Illinois.

This is the first time Murray State has traveled to play on Bradley's home field in series history, which started in 1967. MSU dropped the series to Bradley, 2-1, in 2023 in their first clash as conference opponents. The Racers are 6-4 in their last 10 games against the Braves.

Scouting Report
Bradley enters the weekend with a 13-34-1 record under head coach Elvis Dominguez, who is in his 16th season as the Braves skipper and his 23rd season overall as a head coach. Since his arrival to Bradley in 2009, he has amassed a record of 348-415-2 and holds a career record of 526-614-4. Dominguez has produced four career 30-win seasons, three of which have been during his tenure leading the Bradley baseball program.

Bradley is led offensively by Beau Durbin, who leads the team with a .366 batting average, 64 hits, 15 doubles, 96 total bases, a .549 slugging percentage and a .426 on-base percentage. Timmy O'Brien leads the team with eight home runs, 43 RBIs. Ryan Vogel has been the Braves' top run scorer, leading the team with 37 runs and has the second-most stolen bases with 12 on 17 attempts. Tyrese Johnson leads the team with 15 stolen bases on 18 attempts, which is tied for the fifth-most in The Valley.

The Braves pitching staff is led by Noah Edders, who has a team-high five wins this season through 14 starts on the mound. He leads the team in strikeouts with 72 and was a part of Bradley's only shutout this season.

Weekly Notes
After the Racers secured their 34th win of the season against Valparaiso on May 12, they notched the most single-season wins under head coach Dan Skirka since his arrival to Murray in 2019 and are six wins shy of tying the single-season win record of 40 games that was set in 1975.

Murray State ranks among the top 50 in Division I in walks (40th), base hits (30th), home runs (18th), runs scored (35th), runs per game (47th), slugging percentage (44th), strikeout-to-walk ratio (41st) and walks allowed per nine innings (28th). The Racers are also one of four MVC schools in the RPI's top 100, ranking 76th.

On May 10, Drew Vogel became the first Racer since 2015 and fourth all-time to hit for the cycle. He led off the game with a home run in the first inning, hit a two-out triple in the fourth, an RBI double in the sixth and completed the cycle with a single to lead off the bottom of the 10th inning. With Vogel's home run on May 12, he became the second player in school history to hit 20 home runs in a season and is two shy of tying the school record of 22 that was set by Wes Cunningham in 2010.

Taylor Howell and Vogel's 60 RBIs are tied for the most on the team and tied for third-most in the Missouri Valley. Both players also tie each other for the sixth-most single-season RBIs in school history. Vogel ranks among the top 100 in Division I in hits (65th), home runs (22nd), runs scored (82nd), RBIs (47th), slugging percentage (74th) and total bases (24th).

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

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Players Mentioned

Taylor Howell

Drew Vogel

Murray State University Athletics