Racers Get Sunday Sweep of Leathernecks

Sunday, February 25

Marion, Ill.

Noon

Murray State

2-3

Western Illinois

0-4

Western Illinois

Murray State

2/25/2018 7:59:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

The Murray State baseball team went up the road to Bank One Park in Marion, Ill., and swept a doubleheader against Western Illinois, winning game one 11-5 and coming from behind in game two to win 5-4. Sunday's games were originally scheduled to be played at Reagan Field Friday and Saturday.

The Racers (3-3) jumped on WIU (0-5) early in the first of the twin-bill, scoring four in the first inning and didn't look back. The Leathernecks would get within two at 4-2 thanks to a two-run home run in the second but the Racers responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning and then scored in in innings four through six to push the lead to 11-4.

Ryan Perkins, Jaron Robinson and Davis Sims all had two hits in the win with Perkins driving in a run and scoring four times while Sims tallied a game-high three ribbies. Robinson and Sims both had a pair of doubles in game one. MSU pounded out 10 hits in the victory.

Trevor McMurray picked up his first win of the season as he got the start on the hill. McMurray pitched 5.1 innings and allowed four runs on nine hits while striking out a career-high six batters. Connor Holden and Nate Pianto pitched two and 1.2 innings of relief, respectively and combined for five strikeouts and just one walk.

Game two was a different affair as neither team could get the bats going until the latter half of the game. Perkins got MSU on the board first in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly RBI to left that scored Tyler Duke. Perkins was robbed of extra bases on the play as the Leatherneck left fielder made a diving over-the-shoulder grab.

A pair of hits with two outs in the top of the sixth pushed WIU ahead for the first time all day but the lead wouldn't last long as Caleb Hicks belted his first homer of the season to right center in the bottom of the inning to tie the score at 2-2.

MSU would take the lead for good on Mike Farnell's sac fly RBI later in the inning that brought home Wehby and in the seventh, Sims scored on an error by the WIU shortstop and later in the inning, an RBI single by Grant Wood scored Wehby to push the MSU advantage to 5-2.

WIU made things interesting with a run-scoring triple and an RBI groundout in the eighth to make it 5-4 before Alec Whaley could get out of the inning. In the ninth, Tyler Anderson came on and slammed the door shut for his first save of the season with a swing strikeout to end it.

Peyton Hayes took the no decision in the start as he went 5.2 innings and allowed two runs while striking out five. Whaley got his second win of the season in relief as he pitched 2.1 innings.

Both teams collected nine hits in the nightcap with Sims leading the way with another two-hit game while Wood was 2-of-3 in the win.

The Racers will go for the series sweep Monday as the series is slated to return to Reagan Field for a 1 p.m., first pitch.