Racers Rescue Win at Valparaiso

Thursday, April 17

Valparaiso, IND.

3 p.m.

Murray State

25-9, 0

Valparaiso

8-24, 0

Murray State

Valparaiso

Photo by: Valparaiso University

4/17/2025 9:01:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

MSU scores five runs in the ninth inning to win for the 25th time this season

It ain't over till it's over – Yogi Berra

No more truer words were ever spoken about the game of baseball and the Murray State Racers certainly know well after they snatched an 11-10 victory Thursday over the Valparaiso Beacons at Emory G. Bauer Field.

The Racers are 25-9 on the season and improved to 8-5 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The two play again Friday at 1 p.m. Central Time in game two and finish of the league series Saturday at the same time.

Trailing 10-6 in the top of the ninth inning, the Racers set the table for heroics after Connor Cunningham, Jonathan Hogart and Dustin Mercer tagged a pair of singles and a double to make it a 10-7 game. With two outs and the bases loaded, Luke Mistone tripled down the right field line to tie the game and scored the go-ahead run on a Valparaiso error.

Derek LeBron got the final five outs to get the win for the Racers, who have now won 10 of their last 11 games.

The Racers have won the last five games played with Valparaiso.

Game Notes

The Racers totaled 13 hits today and their top-six in the batting order went a combined 12-for-29 (.413).
Dom Decker and Vierling each had a three-hit day and Mistone and Mercer each had a pair of hits.
In the last three games (wins over SEMO, UIC and Valpo) Racer batters are hitting .351 (39-of-111) with eight doubles, two triples and four home runs.
Hogart leads the team with 18 multi-hit games, while Mercer has 17, Mistone and Vierling have 15 and Dan Tauken has 10.
Dom Decker has the Racers' best current hit-streak of eight games and on-base streak of 17 games.
Jacob Hustedde was solid in four innings on the mound starting in the third inning and ended up giving only two runs on 1 hit.
LeBron got the last five outs in hitless fashion with just one walk.
The Racers lead the Beacons 11-5 in their all-time series and are 3-1 at Emory G. Bauer Field.
The pitching match up for Friday's game-2 is Nic Schutte (RHP) for the Racers and Valpo's Harry Deliyannis (RHP).
Schutte (2-3) has an ERA of 3.56 in 43 IP. His last two starts have produced 17 strikeouts in 14 innings.

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