Murray State baseball notched another historic milestone this season with a 12-11 win Monday over Ole Miss: advancing to its first NCAA super regional in program history.
After winning both the Missouri Valley Conference’s regular season title and the conference tournament championship last month, the Racers earned a spot in the 64-team NCAA Division I baseball tournament.
The tourney format puts those teams into one of 16 double-elimination, four-team regionals. One team advances out of each regional to the super regional round, which is a best-of-three series. Ultimately, the eight teams that win their super regional series move on to the Men’s College World Series.
Murray State was placed in the Oxford, Mississippi Regional hosted by Ole Miss, along with Georgia Tech and Western Kentucky University. Out of those four, Murray State was the lowest-seeded team at the regional.
The Racers first defeated the Ole Miss Rebels 9-6 on Friday – the team’s first NCAA tournament win since 1979. Murray State then beat Georgia Tech on Saturday 13-11 to secure a spot in the regional final.
The Ole Miss Rebels routed Murray State 19-8 on Sunday night to force a winner-take-all game Monday. In their third tournament matchup, the Racers took an early lead and were up 10-3 by the bottom of the sixth inning. Ole Miss then launched a comeback attempt, racking up eight runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Ultimately, the Racers were able to hold the Rebels scoreless in the final inning to secure a spot in the super regional round.
During the Oxford regional, the Racers also broke the program record for most wins in a season. Murray State currently sits at 42 wins.
On Tuesday, over 200 Racer Nation faithful lined the sidewalk outside of Johnny Reagan Field at Murray State University to welcome back the baseball players and congratulate them on their accomplishments.
To keep its historic run going, coach Dan Skirka said the team needs to do the same things it’s been doing all season.
“[The] process isn't going to change,” Skirka said. “They're going to have fun, they're going to compete like crazy, they're going to love each other – and that's the biggest thing.”
Murray State isn’t the only Kentucky school to advance out of the regional stage. University of Louisville’s baseball team will also play in the super regional round this weekend, hosting the University of Miami Hurricanes.
The Racers are heading to North Carolina this weekend to take on the Duke Blue Devils in a best-of-three series. The first game is scheduled to take place Saturday at noon CT. The winner of the super regional will advance to the Men’s College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska later this month.
