Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 By Kevin Farr
Murray State Sports Information
Pitching and key hitting late proved to be key Thursday afternoon as the Murray State baseball team notched identical 3-2 conference victories at the University of Arkansas Rich Mountain.

Improving to 28-10 overall and 12-6 in conference play, the Aggies will be back at The Ranch Saturday to close out the season series with Rich Mountain in a 1 p.m. twinbill.

Southpaw ace Colby Langford was stellar while allowing just two runs (one earned) on three hits and struck out eight in six strong frames, but needed some offensive dramatics in the final inning to pick up the pitching win.

Trailing 2-1 and down to their final two outs, the Aggies got a one-out single by Clay Jung before Wilbert Espinal followed with a two-run homer over the rightfield wall. Tyler Zylstra then slammed the door on the Bucks in the bottom of the seventh, striking out two of the three batters he faced, for the save.

Espinal also played a key role in Murray State's only other tally in the fourth inning, getting things going with a single before advancing to third on a two-out error and scoring on an Inman single to right.

Jung finished the game with three hits as Espinal and Ashton Inman added two apiece. Garrett Gruell, Trace Necessary and Brady Benedict each also notched a single.

It wasn't quite as late a rally in the second game, but two runs in the sixth of the nine-inning affair provided the decisive tallies for Murray State on Necessary's two-run blast over the leftfield wall.

Dylan Hill twirled five and two-third innings, scattering two runs on four hits and struck out three for the pitching triumph. Nathan Darden tossed the final three and one-third scoreless stanzas, yielding three hits and fanned five in recording the save.

Espinal's solo homer in the fourth inning gave the Aggies their initial run of the game.

Murray State made the most of six hits, two of which came from Gruell. Espinal smashed another home run while Jung, Necessary and Benedict added one hit each.