Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Fort Wayne
Players Mentioned
Racers Host Mastodons in Four-Game Set at JRF
3/1/2018 4:34:00 PM | Baseball
GAMES 9-12
Murray State (4-4) vs. Fort Wayne (2-4)
March 2-4, 2018
First Pitch: Friday: 3 p.m., Saturday: 12 and 3:30 p.m., Sunday: 1 p.m.
Stadium: Reagan Field
Dimensions: 330 (LF) | 400 (CF) | 330 (RF)
Series History: MSU leads the all-time series 5-3
Last Meeting: MSU 9, FWU 4 – March 8, 2016
Live Stats: Game one | Game two | Game three | Game four
Twitter In-Game: @RacersBaseball
First Pitch
The Racers will play their first true home series of 2018 with a four-game set this weekend against Fort Wayne. MSU has won 3-of-4 as of late, including a sweep of Western Illinois last Sunday and Monday and lost a heartbreaker Tuesday at No. 8 Ole Miss. MSU has 28 home games left this season. Head Coach Kevin Moulder's first career win came against the Mastodons back in 2015.
Inside the Series
This will be the Racers' first meeting with the Mastodons since 2016. Fort Wayne won 2-of-3 the last time the two played a series back in 2015 that was played in Emerson, Ga. That series was moved from Reagan Field that year due to the heavy snow that Murray got the week leading up to the series. MSU is 4-1 at home against Fort Wayne all time.
Get Out The Brooms
The Racers' sweep of Western Illinois last week is their first of 2018. MSU's only two sweeps last season came against Evansville and Southern Illinois, which were both two-game sets played as home-and-home series.
Wood's Walk Off
Freshman Grant Wood was the hero in MSU's game three, come-from-behind victory over Western Illinois to finish off the sweep as he hit a bases-loaded walk off double to defeat the Leathernecks. Wood went 4-for-4 in the victory.
Scouting Fort Wayne
Travis Upp leads Fort Wayne in hitting this season with a .412 batting average and is tied for the team lead with three RBIs. Dylan Wilbert and Jack Lang are the only other two Mastodons hitting above .300 this season at .353 and .333, respectively. Brandon Yoho leads Fort Wayne with five runs scored in 2018 while Brady Hettinger has the only two stolen bases this season for the Mastodons. As a team, Fort Wayne is hitting .218 overall and is averaging just over three runs per game.
Trevor Armstrong has a team-best 0.00 ERA in two appearances this season and three innings of work. Damian Helm and Brandon Phelps have both of the Mastodons' wins this season and are tied for the team lead with nine strikeouts. Helm has pitched 10.1 innings this year while Phelps has logged 10 innings of work. Fort Wayne has a team ERA of 4.20 this season.
FWU plays each of its first 17 games this season on the road and is led by Head Coach Bobby Pierce who is in his 10th season.
Probable Pitching Matchups
Friday: Peyton Hayes (RHP) (0-0, 5.40 ERA) vs. Chase Phelps (RHP) (0-0, 2.25 ERA)
Saturday: Blake Clynes (LHP) (0-0, 1.93 ERA) vs. Spencer Strobel (LHP) (0-0, 9.00 ERA)
Saturday: Gray Dorsey (RHP) vs. Damian Helm (LHP) (1-1, 2.61 ERA)
Sunday: Trevor McMurray (RHP) (1-1, 7.45 ERA) vs. Shane Odzark (RHP) (0-2, 5.00 ERA)
