Simon Elfrink
Sports Editor
Senior left fielder Ryan Perkins joined an exclusive club in Racer baseball history on Friday, April 9, when he hit his 200th career hit against SEMO to become the sixth player in Murray State baseball history to record 200 games and 200 hits.
“It’s just an honor to be a part of that selection,” Perkins said. “I had the honor to play with a couple of those guys so just to think about what they have done in their career, it’s just really special to be a part of.”
Perkins played his first season at the Division I level in 2017 after a high school career at Francis Howell High School in St. Charles, Missouri. His time between the lines in high school amounted to statewide recognition in multiple sports. A two-time First Team All-State player, Perkins was selected to the Louisville Slugger High School All-American Team twice. Perkins was also all-state in football, but it was his excellence in baseball that propelled him into the next level of play. By the time he graduated, Perkins was No. 7 in the state of Missouri in high school prospects.
In his first season with the Racers, Perkins made his name known in the OVC by making the All-Freshman Team after hitting .279, slugging .505, driving in 44 runs and hitting 12 home runs. He was named Freshman All-American by the Collegiate Baseball News.
As a sophomore in 2018, Perkins added another 55 starts between the chalk and slashed a .253 average, hitting six homers and driving in 27 runs. Perkins also boasted a .410 on-base percentage his sophomore year.
In his junior season, Perkins started in 53 of the 54 games on the Racers’ slate. He hit .262 with 10 big flies and 37 RBIs with a slugging percentage of .476.
Perkins was on pace to shatter his best numbers during his first senior season in 2020. In only 17 games, Perkins tallied 20 hits, six of which were home runs. He had also driven in 21 runs and brought his average and slugging percentage up to .303 and .652, respectively. Despite losing the majority of his season to COVID-19 at the peak of his game, Perkins said his disappointment in getting robbed of 2020’s spring season had nothing to do with how well he was playing at the time.
“I didn’t really care what I was doing on the field,” Perkins said. “I saw that we were winning so that was what I wanted, and for my senior season to come to an end I thought that was going to be the last time I was going to play baseball. So just to have that taken away from me, that was just a whole different feeling than to have my success going on in the field.”
Thanks to the extra year of eligibility extended to spring collegiate athletes, Perkins, along with several other big names in the Racers’ lineup, got to make the decision to play another season. Perkins said the decision to play was a no-brainer, and he wants to make the most out of this super senior season.
“To come back and alway reach for the goal to win an OVC Championship, go to a regional and always striving for that, coming back and having another chance at it was a great opportunity,” Perkins said.
Perkins said he feels good about the Racers’ chances in the conference tournament. He explained the current standings are misleading and each team is within a series sweep or a few good weekends of play from going from the bottom of the conference to the No. 1 team in the OVC.
“The key is for us not to press and [to] stay together,” Perkins said. “Really get our offense going the way we can and play good defensively and on the mound. If we get all the things going on our end we will have no problem at all.”
Perkins has his heart and mind set on taking the conference title before he graduates.
“I came here as a freshman, and I always wanted to make the regionals,” Perkins said. “Like I said earlier, my personal career goal is just to win the OVC Championship and go to a regional.”
While the Racers’ left fielder doesn’t want to dwell on his personal performance on the field, he knows he has a role to play if he and his team are to make a run at the championship. Specifically, Perkins said he wants to get his bat going in the second half of the season. As of Monday, April 26, Perkins is hitting a modest .224 batting average. However, Perkins has maintained substantial production with runners on, driving in 31 runs so far this season.
As far as Perkins is concerned, a lot of the Racers have yet to step into the full capabilities of their hitting this season. Head Coach Dan Skirka has emphasized all season long that once the lineup comes around and finds some consistency 1-9, the Racers will have nothing to worry about. As the season has progressed, Skirka has noted on multiple occasions he’s seeing more of that consistency. Perkins shares his coach’s philosophy and is excited to see what the team looks like when they’re firing on all cylinders.
“A lot of guys need to [get their bats going] as well,” Perkins said. “We’re not hitting as good as we want to. Hopefully we get the sticks hot coming toward the end and make something special happen.
