Box Score By Kevin Farr
Murray State Sports Information
The Murray State Aggies rallied from an early five-run deficit, eventually taking the lead for good in the seventh inning on the way to a 9-7 victory over visiting Richland College on Monday at The Ranch.

With the win, Murray State moved to 11-6 on the season and ran its winning streak to six straight heading into Friday's conference opener at home with Western Oklahoma State College at 2 p.m. The visiting Thunderducks saw their record slip to 10-7.

Things didn't look promising early on for the Aggies as Richland raced to a 5-0 lead in the second inning, capitalizing on four hits, four walks and an error.

Murray State responded in its half of the second by plating four runs with two outs without the aid of a hit, cashing in five walks and two hit batters.

It was much the same story in the third inning as the Aggies picked up three more free passes before a Wilbert Espinal double.

Richland countered with two tallies in the fourth and held a 7-6 cushion until a decisive seventh inning.

A two-out rally was once again the recipe as Ty Chaddrick and Trevin Pettigrew singled before a Gage Gilchrist free pass loaded the bases. Freshman Austin Haley then came through with a double to centerfield that drove in all three runs.

The pitching trio of Cooper Ewing, Kyndon Lovell and Nathan Darden then slammed the door on any Richland comeback hopes, combining for two innings of scoreless relief. In total, eight Aggies saw mound action with Ryan Dugas getting credited for the win with one full scoreless frame in the seventh.

Murray State made the most of five hits in the contest as Haley posted two of those and tallied five runs batted in. Espinal had one hit and two RBI, Chaddrick and Pettigrew also added one hit each.