Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Illinois State
Racers Set to Begin MVC Baseball Championship
5/19/2026 3:31:00 PM | Baseball
MURRAY, Ky. -Â Murray State Baseball will kick off the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, the first MVC championship event the university has hosted since joining the league in 2022. The Racers are looking to secure back-to-back MVC titles following last season's historic run to the College World Series.
"The whole league," head coach Dan Skirka said. "Top to bottom is really competitive. So, this is going to be a heck of a tournament."
The 2026 MVC Baseball Championship is a double-elimination tournament, with the first two seeds, UIC and Indiana State, receiving first-round byes. All tournament information with live updates throughout the week is available at goracers.com/sports/2026/4/7/mvc-championship.
The Racers are the third seed in the tournament, playing in the first round against the Illinois State Redbirds. Game one will be a rematch of the April 17-19 series in Murray, when the Racers swept the Redbirds.
The weekend series against Illinois State was a low-scoring affair, with Jacob Hustedde and Nic Schutte dominating on the mound in the first two contests. Schutte tossed a career-high 7.1 innings of shutout pitching, striking out 11 with just one walk.
Hustedde followed suit in game two, with 6.1 innings of shutout work, striking out four while allowing just one hit.
Schutte is slated to get the start for the Racers at 3 p.m. against Illinois State.
"We try to look at it just the same as every week," Schutte said. "You have to come out here, you have to compete, you have to play good baseball to win."
Against all teams in the MVC Tournament, Murray State has gone 8-7. The Racers' bats performed well in those games with a team average of .293, led by graduate outfielder Connor Chisolm, who batted .493 against the five teams present this week.
Murray State will open tournament play at Johnny Reagan Field at Taylor Family Park against Illinois State slated for 3 p.m. Wednesday. All games throughout the week will be available to stream on ESPN+.
