Baseball 2/6/2025 8:22:00 PM

Late Connors rally costs Aggie baseballers

Box Score By Kevin Farr
Murray State Sports Information
WARNER, Okla. – The Murray State baseball team erupted for a season-high 16 hits but saw a late lead slip away in a wild 12-11 loss at perennial NJCAA Division 1 powerhouse Connors State College on Thursday.

Coach Sam Bjorling's club scored at least one run in six of the nine innings but went down in order in the final frame after the Cowboys had claimed its final lead with a four-run eighth stanza.

The Aggies slipped to 2-3 on the young season and will see Connors State once again on Saturday in Tishomingo for a twinbill starting at noon.

Connors struck first with four tallies in the opening inning before Murray State answered with single runs in both the second and third. A Brady Taylor double and Brennan Morgan single helped account for the initial Aggie score while Austin Haley and Michael Barham hits fueled the second charge.

Each team pushed across multiple runs over the following inning and a half with Murray State's three-run fourth briefly cutting the deficit to 6-5. Haley had the key blow with a two-run double after singles by Brady Richardson and Junho Son.

Trailing 8-5 in the sixth, the Aggies plated one spurred by hits from Nick Vickery and Marlon Moore. Another three-run flurry in the seventh put the visitors ahead as Morgan belted a game-tying two-run homer and Son picked up another RBI with a triple.

Murray State's final runs in the eighth stanza came via a two-out rally as Zach Makarewich doubled and Taylor followed with a home run.

Connors State capitalized on four walks and two hits in the bottom of the eighth in claiming the lead for good.

Haley and Son racked up three hits apiece in fueling the Aggie attack with Haley adding three RBI.

Taylor, Morgan and Vickery notched two hits each as Moore, Barham, Makarewich and Richardson all had one.

Conner Smeltzer had a rocky start yielding eight runs in three and two-third innings but Jakob Holzer followed with three and two-third scoreless frames of one-hit relief. Tayte Dome was tagged with the mound loss, allowing three runs on one hit in the eighth. Ty Frakes tossed in two-thirds of an inning in yielding one run on one hit.

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Players Mentioned

#5 Austin Haley: INF/RHP; Sophomore; R/R

#22 Jakob Holzer: LHP; Sophomore; L/L

#21 Brennan Morgan: INF/RHP; Sophomore; R/R

#2 Brady Richardson: MIF; Sophomore; R/R

#36 Conner Smeltzer: RHP; Sophomore; R/R

#13 Michael Barham: 1B/OF; Freshman; R/R

#14 Zach Makarewich: OF; Sophomore; R/R

#15 Ty Frakes: RHP; Sophomore; R/R

#1 Junho Son: UTL; Sophomore; L/R

#34 Tayte Dome: RHP; Freshman; R/R

Players Mentioned

#5 Austin Haley
: Sophomore; R/R
: INF/RHP

#22 Jakob Holzer
: Sophomore; L/L
: LHP

#21 Brennan Morgan
: Sophomore; R/R
: INF/RHP

#2 Brady Richardson
: Sophomore; R/R
: MIF

#36 Conner Smeltzer
: Sophomore; R/R
: RHP

#13 Michael Barham
: Freshman; R/R
: 1B/OF

#14 Zach Makarewich
: Sophomore; R/R
: OF

#15 Ty Frakes
: Sophomore; R/R
: RHP

#1 Junho Son
: Sophomore; L/R
: UTL

#34 Tayte Dome
: Freshman; R/R
: RHP