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USA Today
2 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
College World Series: How did Murray State get here? Can Cinderella run continue?
College World Series: How did Murray State get here? Can Cinderella run continue? The College World Series is upon us again. This week, eight college baseball teams will take the field in Omaha in pursuit of a national championship. We have a few familiar faces. LSU and Arizona — two of the sports most storied programs — are back. Louisville, UCLA, Arkansas, Oregon State, and Coastal Carolina are here too. Then there's Murray State. The Racers were the No. 4 seed in the Oxford Regional, but upset Georgia Tech and beat Ole Miss twice to advance to a super regional vs. Duke. Murray State kept the magic rolling at Duke, beating the Blue Devils in three games. The Racers are now 44-15 on their way to their first ever College World Series appearance. Here's what you should know about Murray State as the Racers look to continue their Cinderella run. The pitching will be tested Murray State's pitching has struggled vs. power conference teams. The Racers are winning games, but it's because of a lineup that's managed to win shootouts. If Murray State finds itself in a pitcher's duel, there are questions. The Racers' top two arms, Nic Schutte and Isaac Silva, both have 1.38 WHIPs. Schutte allowed six earned runs in his regional start vs. Ole Miss and five earned runs in his super regional start vs. Duke. Silva allowed seven runs vs. Georgia Tech and six vs. Duke. Behind those two, the Racers don't have that many trusted arms in the bullpen, either. The LSU lineup should feel good about this matchup if they meet in Omaha. Who can do damage at the plate? Murray State's offense is red hot right now. It's how they've won tournament games despite a pitching staff prone to allowing chunks of runs. Jonathan Hogart leads the team with 22 home runs. The redshirt senior has been slugging away with six home runs in the NCAA Tournament. Hogart hit three bombs vs. Duke, including two in the Game 3 win. Hogart isn't alone in supplying the power. Slugger Carson Garner has 32 extra base hits with a 1.027 OPS. Keep an eye on Dom Decker and Justin Mercer, too. They don't have much power, but Decker hits .361 and Mercer hits .356. This lineup has scored 12+ runs on three occasions in the NCAA Tournament, including a 19-run outburst vs. Duke. Program history This year was just Murray State's fourth NCAA Tournament appearance. The Racers had made three prior trips in 1975, 1979, and 2003. Murray State and LSU are in the same side of the bracket, so there's a chance they meet this week. There's also some postseason history between the squads after they met in the 1975 regional. All of Murray State's previous postseason trips ended in a regional exit. This year was the program's first taste of a super regional and the Racers took advantage, earning the College World Series trip. Murray State isn't the type of program you expect to see in Omaha. The Racers stadium holds just 800 fans, but head coach Dan Skirka has Murray State punching above its weight.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
College World Series: Murray State clinches final spot in Omaha with 5-4 win over Duke
Luke Mistone's leadoff home run in the eighth inning powered Murray State to a 5-4 win over Duke in the decisive Game 3 of their Super Regional series at Durham, North Carolina. The win clinched the final spot in the eight-team Men's College World Series for the Racers. Murray State jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a Jonathan Hogart leadoff homer and Dom Decker RBI single following a Carson Garner double. But Duke answered in the bottom half of the frame, cutting the deficit in half on Jake Hyde's sacrifice fly that scored Wallace Clark. Advertisement Hyde tied the score at 2-2 with a third-inning homer off Murray State reliever Reese Oakley with one out. The Blue Devils went on top one inning later with Jake Berger's leadoff home run. Duke momentarily looked as if it might add to its 3-2 lead in the fourth with a deep drive to right field by AJ Gracia. However, the ball stayed in the park, caught at the wall by Dustin Mercer. Oakley also allowed another long fly ball to Clark in the sixth, but Hogart caught the ball at the warning track to keep the Racers within one run. Two deep flies that were caught at the outfield wall and prevented Duke from taking the lead allowed an opportunity for Murray State to tie the game. Hogart did just that on a solo home run with one out in the seventh. That set up Mistone's heroics in the following inning, chasing Duke reliever Reid Easterly from the game after three innings and two home runs allowed. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, James Tallon couldn't shut down the Racers' lineup from there. He hit Will Vierling with a pitch and then gave Murray State a 5-3 lead by serving up a double to Dan Tauken. Advertisement Tallon stayed in trouble by issuing consecutive walks to Nico Bermeo and Conner Cunningham to load the bases with no outs. However, he managed to keep the Racers from scoring any more by striking out Hogart, getting Mercer to hit into a force play at home and striking out Garner to end the inning. Duke cut its deficit to 5-4 in the eighth on a two-out home run by Macon Winslow. Murray State reliever Graham Kelham then put the tying run on base by walking Noah Murray on five pitches. However, he struck out Kyle Johnson to maintain the lead. In the bottom of the ninth, Kelham flirted with danger by hitting leadoff hitter Clark with a pitch. However, he recovered by getting Gracia to foul out to left field. Ben Miller then hit a groundball to shortstop which got the out at second base. But umpires ruled Clark interfered with Decker by running into him at the bag. Advertisement What would have been a game-ending double play was instead overturned after review. Coming back from a premature on-field celebration, the Racers finished the win with Kelham getting Hyde to ground out to first base. Murray State will face UCLA in its opening Men's College World Series matchup. Game 1 in Omaha is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.
