Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 By Kevin Farr
Murray State Sports Information
EL DORADO, Ark. – In their final non-conference series of the season, the Murray State Aggie baseball team split the first two games of a set with defending Region 2 champ South Arkansas College on the road Friday.

The Aggies won the opener of the two-game slugfest by a 14-6 margin before suffering a 12-10 defeat in the nightcap which moved their record to 15-9 for the season. The two squads are slated to wrap up the series with a doubleheader starting at noon on Saturday.

Murray State trailed through the early stages of the opener, managing only a single second-inning run on a Tanner Norman solo homer as the hosts Stars built a 4-1 advantage. The Aggie offense however erupted for five runs in the top of the fourth to claim the lead for good, keyed by run-scoring hits from Brady Taylor and Zach Makarewich.

After South Ark rallied to narrow the gap to just 6-5, the Aggies responded with a Taylor three-run home run over the rightfield wall and then added five more tallies in the seventh just for good measure. Michael Barham tossed in a two-run homer and Junho Son and Brady Richardson tacked on RBI singles after five straight Aggies reached base to start the uprising.

Cash Kuiper earned the pitching victory, scattering five runs (three earned) on eight hits and struck out five over four innings. Jakob Holzer tossed three final three stanzas, allowing one run on two and fanned five for the save.

Taylor ended with three hits and drove in four runs to pace the Murray attack. Austin Haley, Barham and Norman posted two hits with Son, Brennan Morgan and Makarewich all providing one.

Game two was a definitive slugfest in windy conditions as a six-run Murray State rally in the ninth inning came up just short.

The Stars held a 2-0 edge through four innings when the Aggies got on the board with four runs in the fifth on a Morgan grand slam homer.

South Ark looked on the verge of putting the game away as the hosts scored 10 runs over the next four innings before Murray State found a spark in the ninth thanks to long balls from Barham, Taylor and Norman. Nick Vickery singled and Grayson Doggett doubled to bring the tying run to the plate but that was as close as the Aggies would come.

They tallied 13 more hits in the game, led by three from Haley. Son and Barham posted two hits with Richardson, Taylor, Morgan, Norman, Vickery and Doggett all responsible for one.

Tatye Dome struck out 12 in five innings on the mound but also yielded six runs on six hits. Kyndon Lovell gave up two runs on three hits and fanned a pair in two innings of relief while Heath Graf tossed the final stanza and allowed four runs (two earned) on three hits.