The story of the tournament!…too bad they’re in our way
By far and away the best story of this NCAA Baseball Tournament is little ole Murray State slaying some giants and making it all the way to Omaha for the first time ever.
The Racers beat Ole Miss twice at Swayze Field in the Oxford Regional and slugged their way to a 13-11 over ACC Champions Georgia Tech in the winner’s bracket game. Then, facing elimination against Duke in the Durham Super Regional, they beat the Blue Devils 19-9 to force a winner take all game, and held on the following night 5-4 to become the fourth 4-seed to ever make it to the College World Series.
With their facilities, or lack thereof, Murray State’s captured the hearts of America and for the neutral observer they’ll be the biggest rooting favorite once the games get going this weekend.
Murray State tarps their own field, their head coach cuts their own grass, and their field only holds 800 people.
They easily have the worst facilities in the Missouri Valley and their coach makes 10x less than the coach of their opponent on Saturday. Give me the Racers. pic.twitter.com/0XcpMKkr8j
— 573 Baseball (@573Baseball) June 10, 2025
And look I get it! They’re a great story! But if it’s between us and them, well then sorry Racers, but y’all are in our way.
Murray State Racers
2025 Record: 43-15 (17-8)
RPI Ranking: 53
SOS Ranking: 193
Quadrant Results: Q1 (6-3), Q2 (1-0), Q3 (12-6), Q4 (24-6)
Team ERA: 5.42
Team Batting Average: .308
Team Fielding: .979
The Missouri Valley isn’t the strongest of the mid-major conferences, so the Racers tried their best to punch above its weight class. They beat Western Kentucky 2-1 on February 24, swept our friends Little Rock in late February/early March; Murray also went down to Oxford in March and played Ole Miss tough, losing 8-7 in 10 innings.
The Racers finished tied for first atop the MVC standings with Missouri State at 17-8, but it should be noted Murray was supposed to close out the regular season with a three-game set against the Bears. Games two and three of that series ended up being cancelled, but Murray State won the first game 16-5.
If there was any doubt who the class of the MVC was, the Racers answered that in the conference tournament. They got a scare from Belmont in the first round, but won 15-14 in 11 innings. From there, Murray won its next three tournament games by a combined score of 25-12, and took down Missouri State in the championship game 10-5.
In seven NCAA Tournament games, the Racers have scored 70 runs. Redshirt senior outfielder Jonathan Hogart has been on a heater lately with 22 homers on the year and six since the tournament started. Hogart homered twice in Murray’s CWS-clinching win over Duke, and hit his NCAA-leading eighth leadoff homer to start the game.
ANOTHER LEADOFF HOMER FOR JONATHAN HOGART
The Murray State player leads D-I in leadoff HRs this season pic.twitter.com/uboBW8hmde
— ESPN (@espn) June 9, 2025
You don’t score average 10 runs a game throughout the Tournament on accident, and Murray State hitters have been on a tear since postseason play began. The Racers have seven guys hitting .286 or better since the MVC Tournament began, including six players hitting .333, and Dustin Mercer is, quite literally, batting .500. Mercer’s as locked in as could possibly be, with 25 hits in 50 postseason at-bats, nine doubles, and 14 RBI.
As a team, Murray’s slugging .574 this postseason with 32 doubles and 20 homers. The Racers will swing for the fences and that will get them in trouble, however. For all the praise I just heaped on them about the numbers they’ve put up since postseason play began, they’ve also struck out 98 times over these 11 games. That could lead to a lot of Ks if Murray State draws LSU and Anthony Eyanson in a potential winner’s bracket game.
Murray State’s been riding its offense to Omaha, but if the bats go cold I’m not sure the Racers have the pitching to go deep. Murray State’s staff ERA this postseason is 7.65, allowing 107 hits and 93 runs through 11 games.
Of the three starters Murray’s used this postseason, Kane Emly’s 6.17 ERA is by far the best. Nic Schutte has an ERA of 9.00 and Isaac Silva’s at 9.82. That’s, obviously, a small sample size and to be fair the numbers are better for the whole season, but this rotation still ain’t great. Schutte’s got an ERA of 4.85 in 17 appearances (15 starts) and 91 innings; Silva’s at 5.09 over that same span, but has thrown 81 innings; and Emly’s made 16 appearances, 10 starts, and has an ERA of 4.45 in 56.2 innings. Racer pitching doesn’t strike out a lot of batters either, ranking 207th in the country with 7.53 Ks/9.
The Racers have three bullpen arms that have thrown at least 40 innings, and the lowest ERA is Dylan Zentko’s 4.38. Zentko’s 4-1 with three saves in 49.1 innings, while Graham Kelham also has a 4-1 record but nine saves in 43 innings.
Just because Murray State’s a four seed doesn’t mean they should be dismissed as a national championship contender. Fresno State won it all as a 4-seed in 2008 and Oral Roberts, the last 4-seed to make it to Omaha, played a winner’s bracket game against Florida in 2023; and while Stony Brook was 13 years ago, LSU knows all too well about the indignity of losing to a 4-seed. The Racers have already taken out an SEC team, beat the ACC regular season champ, and they’ll have the rest of the country rooting for them. Murray State is having a storybook season, and while it pains me to say it, I hope the Racers don’t have a storybook ending.