Racers Put on Offensive Show in Series Finale

Sunday, February 28

Reagan Field

1 p.m.

Murray State

5-3

Northern Illinois

1-7

Northern Illinois

Murray State

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

2/28/2016 6:03:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

It was an offensive showcase at Johnny Reagan Field Sunday as Murray State tied a team record with six home runs in a single game and were just two shy of tying the program record for single-game runs as the Racers closed their series against Northern Illinois with a 29-16 victory.

Brandon Gutzler continued his torrid series with three of the six home runs. Those three homers is just one shy of tying the OVC record of four in a single game. One of those players who have that record is Gutzler's teammate, Tyler Lawrence, who also had a homer in the victory Sunday. Adam Bauer and Ramsey Scott also went deep in the finale. The Racers (5-3) were just shy of tying the team record of 31 runs scored in a single game, set back in 1950 against Lipscomb. MSU scored a total of 71 runs in the four-game series.

Gutzler went 3-for-4 on the day and collected six RBIs. For the series, Gutzler hit .647 with eight extra-base hits, five of those homers, and drove in 20 while scoring 10 runs. Bauer went 4-of-6 with three runs and four RBIs on the day while Lawrence was 2-for-6 with a pair of runs and four ribbies. Lawrence was also about three feet shy of hitting two more home runs in the game, one was a double off the wall and on another, he was robbed at the center field fence. Had that one gone over, MSU would have had back-to-back-to-back homers on just three pitches.

Scott was 2-of-5 at the dish with four RBIs and two runs scored. Aaron Bence, Caleb Hicks and Kipp Moore all collected three hits in the win with Hicks scoring four times and Bence and Moore scoring three times each. Jaron Robinson also had three runs on the day and a pair of RBI. As a team, the Racers pounded-out 23 hits and had 26 RBIs in the win.

Sunday's contest was like much of this series, NIU jumped out to an early lead with two runs in the first before MSU tied things up in the bottom of the inning on RBIs from Bauer and Jack Hranec. After the Huskies (1-7) scored three more in the second and two in the third, the Racers found themselves down 7-2.

That's when the Racer bats began to heat up as Lawrence got two runs back in the third with his homer to left center. In the four-run fourth, Bence's sacrifice fly that scored Moore made it 7-5 NIU before a two-run blast from Bauer and Gutzler's first long ball of the day made it 8-7 in favor of the home team. MSU added to its lead with six runs in the fifth inning on homers by Scott and Gutzler and an RBI single from Bauer.

However, as they did for much of the series, the Huskies fought back in the sixth with an eight-run inning of their own and took a 15-14 lead into the bottom of the sixth. In the bottom half of the inning, Moore's RBI double tied the game at 15-15 and a sac fly from Robinson put the Racers up for good 16-15. The Racers would get one more run in the inning and led 17-16 after another NIU run in the top of the seventh.

Gutzler's third blast of the day made it 18-16 and Hicks would score later in the inning on a wild pitch to push the lead back up to three. In the eighth, the Racers really poured it on, scoring 10 runs in the frame. Lawrence and Scott each had two-RBI hits in the inning while Tyler Dixon, Cody Gilbert, Moore and Robinson each collected ribbies in the inning and Gutzler drew a bases loaded walk to begin the scoring in the inning.

Derrik Watson picked up his first career win in the contest as he pitched 2.2 innings of relief, allowing one run on four hits while striking out two batters. Ryan Dills got the start on the hill today for MSU with Tyler Anderson, Sheldon Baxter and Chad Gendron all coming on in relief.

The Racers have now scored 10 runs or more in five consecutive contests, all coming at Reagan Field and have won 4-of-5. During this five-game stretch, the Racers have averaged nearly 17 runs per game and have hit .430 as a team.

MSU returns to action Wednesday as Lindenwood (Ill.) comes to town for a 3 p.m. contest.

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Tuesday, October 28

Murray State Drops Doubleheader at Vanderbilt to Close Fall Slate

Friday, October 17

Racers Baseball Travels to Vanderbilt For Second Fall Scrimmage

Tuesday, October 14

Racer Baseball Announces 2025 Fall Schedule

Tuesday, September 02

Next Event

Lindenwood (IL)

L, 8-11

Mar 2 (Wed)

3 p.m.

Box Score Recap Box Score (.pdf)Preview Live stats History

Full Schedule

Team Stats

Pitching:

W: Watson, Derrik (1-0)

L: SAVARISE, Jon (0-1)

Northern Illinois

Batting:

2B: FLETCHER, Justin 1 ; WOOD, Brad 1 ; JUMONVILLE, Joe 1 ; HOOK, Tommy 1 ; RUSSELL, Carl 2

HR: RUSSELL, Carl 1

RBI: FLETCHER, Justin 3 ; WOOD, Brad 2 ; ZUBEK, Johnny 1 ; SISLER, Brian 1 ; BRANDNER, Tony 2 ; JUMONVILLE, Joe 2 ; RUSSELL, Carl 3 ; LETZ, Stephen 1

SH: ZUBEK, Johnny 1

SF: ZUBEK, Johnny 1 ; SISLER, Brian 1

Base Running:

RUNS: FLETCHER, Justin 3 ; WOOD, Brad 1 ; ZUBEK, Johnny 1 ; SISLER, Brian 1 ; BRANDNER, Tony 1 ; JUMONVILLE, Joe 1 ; HOOK, Tommy 3 ; RUSSELL, Carl 3 ; MALLDER, Brandon 1 ; LETZ, Stephen 1

SB: JUMONVILLE, Joe 1

CS: ZUBEK, Johnny 1

HBP: FLETCHER, Justin 1 ; RUSSELL, Carl 2

Murray State

Batting:

2B: Lawrence, Tyler 1 ; Moore, Kipp 2

3B: Moore, Kipp 1

HR: Bauer, Adam 1 ; Gutzler, Brandon 3 ; Lawrence, Tyler 1 ; Scott, Ramsey 1

RBI: Bence, Aaron 1 ; Bauer, Adam 4 ; Gilbert, Cody 1 ; Gutzler, Brandon 6 ; Lawrence, Tyler 4 ; Hranec, Jack 1 ; Dixon, Tyler 1 ; Scott, Ramsey 4 ; Moore, Kipp 2 ; Robinson, Jaron 2

SF: Bence, Aaron 1 ; Robinson, Jaron 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Bence, Aaron 3 ; Thompson, Reed 1 ; Bauer, Adam 3 ; Gilbert, Cody 1 ; Gutzler, Brandon 5 ; Lawrence, Tyler 2 ; Hranec, Jack 2 ; Hicks, Caleb 4 ; Scott, Ramsey 2 ; Moore, Kipp 3 ; Robinson, Jaron 3