Murray State baseball looked to continue their dominant run of form and extend their win streak against the UIC Flames on April 11-13.
This was Murray State’s first home series since hosting the Evansville Aces on March 21-22. They lost two of the three games against the Aces.
Murray State’s bats cooled off after their 38-1 win over Kentucky State on April 9. However, the Racers still found a way to drive in a few runs and win the first game of the series 3-1. Senior right-hander Kane Elmy had a quality start for the Racers, pitching seven innings and only allowing two hits and two walks. The performance dropped Elmy’s ERA to 2.73, which is the best in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). RBI doubles from junior Will Vierling and redshirt sophomore Dom Decker led the offense for Murray State.
Game two saw Murray State’s win streak stop at seven games when the Flames put up 10 runs against the Racers. UIC scored five runs (four unearned) against Nic Schutte in the first two innings. The Racers put up two runs of their own but never got closer than that. Murray State was able to take some positives away from the game, as Schutte’s seven strikeouts were the fourth time in five starts that he has struck out five or more batters. Senior Carson Garner moved to fifth all-time in program history with his eighth inning solo home run. It was the 39th homer of his career.
After each team took a game in the series, that set up a rubber match on Sunday. This game was important for the MVC standings going into the last month of the season. Both teams came out swinging and put up four runs apiece before Murray State jumped out to a 7-4 lead after a five-run third inning. The Racers extended their lead to 11-5 going into the eighth inning. UIC scored four runs in the inning to make it 11-9, but the Racers locked them down in the top of the ninth to secure the series win.
Murray State moves to 23-9 on the season after the series and 7-5 in the conference. Their next game is at 5 p.m. on April 15 against former Ohio Valley Conference foe Southeast Missouri State.
