Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 By Kevin Farr
Murray State Sports Information
Facing conference leading Southern Arkansas Community College in a pivotal four-game road series, the Murray State baseball team got off to a great start with a pair of wins on Thursday.

The Aggies notched a 5-2 win in the opener and followed by rallying with a 10-4 triumph in the nightcap to improve to 31-11 overall and 15-7 in league play. Murray State will try to take the series with a twinbill Friday as well starting at 1 p.m. in El Dorado, Arkansas.

Murray State plated single runs in each of the first two stanzas of game one fueled by a Clay Jung solo homer and Brady Benedict RBI single but could only forge a 2-2 tie through four stanzas. After yielding a pair of runs in the first three frames, however, starting ace Colby Langford settled in for three straight scoreless innings to notch the pitching victory.

Langford tallied six total innings, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out nine. Tyler Zylstra worked a scoreless seventh with two strikeouts for the save.

The Aggies finally started to break it open in the fifth frame with two runs to take the lead for good as Jung doubled, Garrett Gruell singled and Gage Gilchrist walked to load the bases. Wilbert Espinal picked up the first RBI with a groundout and Patrick McCullough singled in the other.

They tacked on one more insurance tally in the sixth as Benedict led off with a single and eventually came around to score on a Gilchrist one-out double.

Murray State finished with a massive 11-4 advantage in hits over SouthArk as Jung, Gruell, McCullough and Benedict all tossed in two apiece.

Espinal put the Aggies in front 1-0 in game two with a first inning RBI single but the hosts answered with four runs to carry a 4-1 edge into the sixth. That's when the Murray State bats really came alive, leading to nine unanswered tallies down the stretch.

A pair of walks to start the inning set the stage for Gilchrist and a two-run double to center. Three batters later it was McCullough that put Murray State on top to stay with a massive three-run homer. Gilchrist and Espinal each pitched in RBI hits in the seventh for an 8-4 cushion.

McCullough doubled and scored in the eighth and the final ninth inning insurance run came via a Gilchrist solo home run.

Dylan Hill shook off a shaky opening to work seven solid innings on the mound and picked up the win by holding the Stars to four runs (two earned) on six hits while fanning four. Nathan Darden contributed two scoreless frames of relief.

Gilchrist and McCullough each doubled and homered as part of three-hit days at the plate. Gilchrist drove in four while McCullough knocked in three. Espinal also powered out three singles and had two RBI. Trace Necessary and Benedict accounted for the other Aggie hits.