From moving game locations because of rain to dealing with cold weather to trying to maintain a winning streak, the Murray State baseball team has faced every challenge head- on.
The Racers went 5-0 from April 6 to April 9 to send their record to 21-8 on the 2025 season. Murray State’s current win streak stands at six.
Murray State faced off against the Bradley Braves in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, due to inclement weather that hit Murray and the region. The Racers swept the Braves in the series that ran across April 6-7.
Junior Nic Schutte pitched eight shutout innings in the first game as the Racers cruised to a 5-0 win on April 6. Schutte struck out 10 batters, becoming the first Racer to do so since Jacob Pennington in 2022 against Eastern Illinois.
Murray State scored five runs on six hits, led by senior outfielders Jonathan Hogart and Dustin Mercer, who each had two hits and one run batted in each. Junior infielder Luke Mistone drove in the other three runs with a two-run single in the first inning and an RBI sacrifice fly in the third inning.
April 7 saw the Racers and Braves play a doubleheader to finish their series. Murray State shut out the Braves 10-0 in the first game behind six scoreless innings from senior pitcher Isaac Silva and multi-RBI games from Hogart, Mercer and senior infielder Carson Garner.
Bradley showed fight in the third game of the series after being outscored 15-0 in the first two games. The Braves pitched their best of the series in the second game of the doubleheader, holding the Racers to only four hits for the game. However, the Racers scored three runs off those hits and held off a late Bradley comeback attempt to win the game 3-2.
The Racers returned home for a lone non-conference game against the Bellarmine Knights on April 8. The Racers scored runs in all but one inning on the way to a 10-0 win over the Knights in seven innings. Garner smashed two home runs and led the Racers with four RBIs.
On April 9, the Racers secured a dominant 38-1 win over the Kentucky State Thorobreds, which broke the 75-year-old record of 31 runs. Murray State also set a single-game RBI record with 35 RBIs and is now 12-2 when they score 10 or more runs.
The Racers scored eight quick runs in the first inning and were able to keep the Thorobreds scoreless until the top of the fifth. The bottom of the fifth resulted in the Racers scoring 11 runs, the second-most runs in a single inning in program history. This is the second time they have accomplished this feat this season, the first time being on Feb. 14 against Western Illinois.
Murray State’s 38 runs were evenly spread between fifteen Racers with senior outfielder Dan Tauken and sophomore outfielder Brady Grabowski driving in the most teammates with six RBIs. Graduate student Nico Bermeo, junior Parker Patterson, junior outfielder Charlie Jury and sophomore Dom Decker each drove in five.
The team hit six home runs courtesy of Hogart, Tauken, Bermeo, Jury and Grabowski. Grabowski’s home run was also his first career hit.
Junior Preston Chaudoin started the game for Murray State and struck out a career- high five batters in only two innings. Freshman Reese Oakley finished out the game and earned his first career win.
The Racers return to Johnny Reagan Field at 5 p.m., Friday, April 11 to host UIC for the first of a three-game weekend series.
