Pitching Dominates as Murray State Shuts Down Illinois State in Saturday Sweep

Friday, April 17

Murray, Ky.

5 p.m.

Murray State

22-16, 8-5

Illinois State

22-15, 6-7

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Illinois St.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	8	2
Murray St.	1	0	0	0	1	4	0	0	X	6	11	0

Photo by: David Eaton-Murray State Athletics

Pitching Dominates as Murray State Shuts Down Illinois State in Saturday Sweep

4/18/2026 11:43:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Sam Rhodes

MURRAY, Ky. – Murray State Baseball secured a series victory over Illinois State on Saturday, navigating a bizarre 24-hour stretch that included a power outage, 18 hours of delay, and a pair of dominant pitching performances at Johnny Reagan Field. The Racers took the series opener 6-1 before clinching the weekend with a 1-0 shutout in the nightcap.

"Really good leadership from multiple guys." Head Coach Dan Skirka said, "You can go up and down the line, and it's usually the guys who aren't playing, and that just speaks to the culture that these guys have built, and they want to be a part of it. They want to bring the juice for their buddies."

Friday's series opener began with Murray State (23-16, 9-5 MVC) taking an early 1-0 lead in the first inning on a Kristofer Hokenson RBI single. The Racers dominated on both sides of the ball for the remainder of the evening.

Nic Schutte was exceptional on the mound, posting a career-high 11 strikeouts with no runs allowed to earn the win. Schutte surrendered just five hits, all of which were singles, and walked only one batter.

The Racers took a commanding 6-0 lead after scoring one run in the fifth inning and adding four more in the sixth. After a power outage forced the game to be postponed, the Racers and Redbirds (22-16, 6-8 MVC) resumed play at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Offensively, the Racers were led by Connor Chisolm, who posted a career-best 4-for-5 performance at the plate, including a double and an RBI. Kristofer Hokenson added an RBI single in the first inning to set the tone early.

After a power outage forced the game to be suspended in the sixth inning with the Racers leading 6-0, play resumed Saturday afternoon after an 18-hour delay. Ben Rosin entered in relief to strike out four batters in 1.2 innings, sealing the five-run victory and completing a 15-strikeout team performance.

"That's why I picked him for that situation," Skirka said. "You go with a fifth-year guy that can handle something out of the ordinary. Then he comes in, it's raining the whole time and he just fills up the strike zone. He never let any of that stuff bother him."

After rain continued to delay the middle game of the series, Saturday's contest eventually began at 7:30 p.m. The nightcap proved to be a pitcher's duel throughout with the Racers coming out on top 1-0. The lone run of the contest came on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch from pinch-hitter Tyler Butina.

Jacob Hustedde was masterful on the mound, allowing just one hit across 6 1/3 innings of work while striking out six. "He stayed aggressive," Skirka said of Hustedde. "Really, we didn't help him. He had the three walks early where he pitched himself into problems and got out of it. He never wavered, showed really good body language and stayed on the offensive."

With both wins, the Racers move into T2 in the MVC standings joined by UIC, and trailing Indiana state by half a game.

Tomorrow's series finale is set for a 1 p.m. first pitch at Johnny Reagan Field