Murray State to the College World Series for first time after beating Duke

Yahoo

15-06-2025

Omaha, meet the Racers.
In what almost certainly goes down as the biggest and most thrilling win in program history, Murray State punched its first-ever ticket to the College World Series, defeating the Duke Blue Devils 5-4 in a back-and-forth Super Regional showdown.
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The victory marks a historic moment not just for the Racers but for college baseball in Kentucky, as an in-state program breaks through to the sport's biggest stage.
The Racers came out swinging in the top of the first inning. Jonathan Hogart opened the game with a leadoff homer—his 21st of the season—to give Murray State an early edge. That momentum continued when Carson Garner crushed a double off the right-field wall, and Dom Decker followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0.
Duke answered with solo homers from Jake Hyde and Jake Berger to take a 3-2 lead, but the Racers refused to fold. Hogart tied the game with his second home run of the night, a 413-foot bomb in the seventh.
Then, Luke Mistone and Dan Tauken delivered clutch hits in the eighth to make it 5-3.
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Duke threatened late, but closer Graham Kelham slammed the door shut with 2.2 strong innings to clinch the win.
For Kentucky fans, especially those who bleed blue for the University of Kentucky, this victory carries extra satisfaction. Beating Duke — the same Duke program still infamous in the Commonwealth for Christian Laettner's heartbreaking buzzer-beater in the 1992 NCAA Tournament — is always a little sweeter.
Ironically, this, too, involved a controversial kick from a Duke player. What looked like base interference by a Duke player in the ninth inning could have ended the game, but the officials said it was not interference, giving the Blue Devils one more shot before grounding out.
Now, Murray State is Omaha-bound, making school history and giving the Big Blue Nation one more reason to smile.
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