Adam Bauer and Jack Hranec brought the power while Austin Dubsky and Chad Gendron provided the pitching as Murray State stayed alive in the OVC Baseball Tournament behind the strength of an 8-5 win over Southeast Missouri Friday in Oxford, Ala.
Hranec, who continues to hit at a blistering pace at the tournament, led the Racers (29-29) at the plate by going 3-for-5 with four RBIs, three runs scored and two more home runs, now giving him five for the tournament and 16 overall on the season. Bauer was 2-for-5 at the plate, also scored twice and had a two-run homer in the game. His fifth long ball of the year.
Chad Gendron picked up the 10-out save in the contest and earned his eighth save of the season as he pitched 3.1 innings of relief and allowed one unearned run off two hits while striking out three batters. Dubsky got the start on the hill and earned his second consecutive win as he pitched 5.2 innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits.
The Racers got the early lead thanks to Hranec’s first inning solo home run that was crushed to right center field. The Redhawks (29-26) however, would score three runs in the second to take a 3-1 lead. Two of those runs went unearned thanks to a pair of MSU fielding errors.
However, MSU wouldn’t stay down for long as Bauer’s two-run shot tied the game at 3-3. Two batters later, Hranec belted his second homer of the contest and pushed the Racers out in front 5-3, a lead that wouldn’t be relinquished.
In the sixth, SEMO would get a run back to cut the lead to 5-4, but Gendron would come on, get out of the bases-loaded jam and preserve the Racer lead. From there, MSU got a pair of insurance runs in the eighth thanks to a Tyler Lawrence RBI single and a sacrifice fly from Jaron Robinson, making the score 8-4. Hranec’s infield single RBI in the ninth gave the Racers one more run of cushion before SEMO got a late run in the ninth to finish the scoring.
MSU out-hit the Redhawks 10-6 in the victory and also collected four extra-base hits while Southeast Missouri got just one double for extra bases.
The Racers now wait to see the outcome of the Morehead State and Tennessee Tech contest as they could be facing Belmont Friday night at approximately 7 p.m., or the winner of the Morehead and Tech game Saturday morning.
by Kevin DeVries