Baseball takes series, but furious rally falls short vs. Murray State on senior day

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MOREHEAD, Ky. - After taking the first two games of the series, Morehead State baseball rallied for nine runs in the ninth, but fell to Murray State, 12-11, in the finale on senior day.

With the loss, the Eagles' record moves to 32-19 overall and 16-10 in Ohio Valley Conference play.

"I like the fight we had in the ninth. We had some good at-bats and we had the guys at the end that we wanted up, but we just didn't get it done," said head coach Mike McGuire. 

Just as they did yesterday, Murray State opened up an early 2-0 lead, but this time they extended the lead to 6-0 with four runs in the sixth.

The Eagles recorded their first hit of the game via a two-out, RBI single by junior Eli Boggess in the bottom of the sixth inning, which trimmed the Racers' lead to 6-1.

But, Murray State answered with three runs in the seventh and the eighth innings to extend the lead to 12-1.

A grand slam by sophomore Niko Hulsizer and a two-run home run by Boggess trimmed the lead to 12-8 in the ninth. Then, senior Ryan Kent tripled down the right field line to clear the bases and cut the lead to 12-11 with two outs.

But, Hulsizer struck out with the bases loaded on a check swing to end the game.

Freshman Dalton Stambaugh (3-3, 6.12) picked up the loss, allowing eight hits and four runs, just two of which were earned, in four innings of work.

The Eagles finished with nine hits, all of which came in the last four innings.

Boggess finished 2-for-4 with three runs batted in and a run scored, Kent went 2-for-5 with three runs batted in, and senior Michael Patrick went 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored.

Hulsizer's home run marked his 24th of the season, which leads the nation.

Morehead State enters the final week of the regular season as they head to Knoxville, Tenn., to face Tennessee on Tuesday and then face Tennessee Tech next weekend on the road to conclude OVC play.