Baseball 3/13/2023 9:16:00 PM

Aggies drop pair to visiting NOC-Tonkawa

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 By Kevin Farr
Murray State Sports Information
Fifth-ranked Murray State saw early leads slip away in both contests Monday afternoon at The Ranch while dropping a conference baseball twinbill to visiting Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa.

The Aggies fell 9-4 in the opening game and then 6-4 in a narrow decision of game two while slipping to 18-6 on the season.

Murray State resumes an eight-game homestand Friday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader against Southern Arkansas University Tech.

In Monday's first contest, the Aggies erased a quick 1-0 deficit in the opening stanza by plating three in their half of the inning. Two walks and two hit batters forced in the initial run before a Patrick McCullough sacrifice fly and Wilbert Espinal groundout scored the other two.

NOC-Tonkawa immediately answered with three of its own in the second frame and Murray State tied things at the end of two as Jaxon Gless tripled and scored on a Garrett Gruell single.

That proved to be all the scoring however for the Aggies as they were held without a run over the final five innings and Tonkawa pushed across one tally in the fifth and four more to virtually ice the game on a sixth-inning grand slam by Cade Tucker.

Starting hurler Will Ellis was saddled with the pitching loss, yielding five runs (four earned) and six hits in five innings of work. He struck out four and walked three.

Murray State managed only five hits with one each coming from Gruell, Clay Jung, McCullough, Gless and Brady Benedict.

Game two saw the Aggies get a fabulous pitching start from southpaw Brody Roe, holding the Mavericks scoreless through five innings. He allowed two runs and four hits over six stanzas and struck out seven but didn't figure in the decision. Three Murray State relievers were tagged for four runs on four hits, walking three in the final three innings.

The Aggies took the first inning 1-0 edge on Gruell's leading-leading 10^th home run of the season. They added another run in the fourth as McCullough opened with a single and coasted home on a Wilbert Espinal double.

It was just a 2-0 Murray State lead in the sixth when the Mavericks struck for a pair to tie the game, but the Aggies countered with two of their own as Espinal was at the forefront again with a RBI single following a Tonkawa error and Ashton Inman single. They also scored on a wild pitch.

Tucker fueled a three-run Maverick uprising a frame later on a double with the bases loaded that gave Tonkawa the lead for good.

Murray State registered eight hits in the game with two each from Inman, Espinal and Kale M

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Players Mentioned

#1 Patrick McCullough: Sophomore

#2 Brady Benedict: Redshirt Sophomore

#5 Clay Jung: Sophomore

#7 Wilbert Espinal: Freshman

#10 Brody Roe: Freshman

#22 Ashton Inman: Sophomore

#28 Will Ellis: Sophomore

#44 Garrett Gruell: Sophomore

#12 Jaxon Gless: Freshman

Players Mentioned

#1 Patrick McCullough
: Sophomore

#2 Brady Benedict
: Redshirt Sophomore

#5 Clay Jung
: Sophomore

#7 Wilbert Espinal
: Freshman

#10 Brody Roe
: Freshman

#22 Ashton Inman
: Sophomore

#28 Will Ellis
: Sophomore

#44 Garrett Gruell
: Sophomore

#12 Jaxon Gless
: Freshman