Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
4-3
Western Illinois
0-6
Wood's Walk Off Double Leads to Sweep of WIU
2/26/2018 5:13:00 PM | Baseball
Grant Wood belted a walk off two-run double to straightaway center field Monday afternoon at Reagan Field as Murray State rallied to defeat Western Illinois 4-3 and finish off the sweep of the Leathernecks.
With the bases loaded and no one out in the inning, Wood took the first pitch he saw and gave it a charge to bring home Jake Slunder and then Tyler Duke for the game-winning run. Slunder came on as a pinch runner for Mike Farnell who led off the inning with a single to right. Duke and then Caleb Hicks followed that up by both taking walks to load up the bases for Wood's heroics.
Wood went a perfect 4-for-4 at the dish in the win and drove in three runs while scoring a run of his own. Ramsey Scott and Gavin Wehby also had multi-hit days, going 2-for-4 and 2-of-3, respectively. Jaron Robinson collected the other RBI in the win as he had 1-for-4 day.
WIU (0-6) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to an RBI groundout in the top of the second. The Racers (4-3) would not stay down for long however, as Wood singled through the right side in the bottom of the second, scoring Kyle Stevens and tying the game at 1-1.
In the fourth inning, Robinson's sacrifice fly RBI pushed MSU out front 2-1 as he brought in Wood from third base on the play. However, in the fifth, the Leathernecks would jump out in front with a two-run inning and would maintain that lead all the way until the ninth. The Racers had their chances earlier in the game to take lead, but left 12 men on base in the win.
Brayden Cook got his first career win as he pitched a solid relief appearance, pitching 4.2 innings of scoreless relief while allowing just four hits and striking out three. Blake Clynes got the start on the hill for MSU, pitched 4.1 innings, and allowed three runs, two of them earned, off three hits while striking out four and walking four batters. The Leathernecks used 12 pitchers on the day.
MSU will not get long to enjoy this one as it travels to Ole Miss Tuesday for a 4 p.m., contest with the top-15 ranked Rebels.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Cook, Braydon (1-0)
L: Pete Minella (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Steve McShane 1 ; Johnathan Fleek 1 ; Grant Hannant 1 ; Mitch Ellis 1
RBI: Drue Galassi 1 ; Grant Hannant 1
SH: Steve McShane 1
SF: Drue Galassi 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Steve McShane 1 ; Dillon Sears 1 ; Drue Galassi 1
SB: Drue Galassi 1 ; Bailey Montgomery 1
CS: Grant Hannant 1
HBP: Dillon Sears 1 ; Drue Galassi 1
PO: Mitch Ellis 1
Batting:
2B: Wood, Grant 1 ; Wehby, Gavin 1
RBI: Robinson, Jaron 1 ; Wood, Grant 3
SH: Wehby, Gavin 1
SF: Robinson, Jaron 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Slunder, Jake 1 ; Stevens, Kyle 1 ; Duke, Tyler 1 ; Wood, Grant 1
SB: Stevens, Kyle 1
CS: Duke, Tyler 1 ; Wood, Grant 1
HBP: Perkins, Ryan 2 ; Sims, Davis 1
PO: Perkins, Ryan 1
