Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 By Kevin Farr
Murray State Sports Information
TONKAWA, Okla. – Although it was only the first conference baseball series of the season, Murray State faced a crucial test on the road Saturday after dropping the opening pair of the slate to 16^th ranked Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa.

Coach Sam Bjorling's Aggies responded in a big way, snapping the Mavericks' 17-game winning streak with pivotal 10-0 and 5-3 victories to split the four-game set while upping their overall record to 18-12 on the season.

Murray State returns home to The Ranch on Thursday with a 1 p.m. twinbill against Western Oklahoma State College for its next action.

In the opener, the Aggies rode a stellar mound effort from Austin Haley as the sophomore righthander fired a no hitter, struck out four and walked two in five innings of the run rule triumph.

The Aggies jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the opening stanza as Junho Son singled and Haley followed with a two-run homer to help his own cause.

A seven-run third inning put it completely on ice for Murray State as they sent 13 batters to the plate in the frame. The Aggies had seven singles in the stanza, two of which came from Michael Barham, who drove in a pair in the process. Son also chipped in two batted in with a hit and also tallied the final RBI in the fourth inning by drawing a bases loaded walk.

Barham posted three hits and drove in a pair to spur the offensive onslaught. Son and Haley each had two hits with Brady Taylor contributing a double. Brady Richardson, Tanner Norman and Kaden Monkerud tossed in one hit apiece.

The second game was knotted at 3-3 after six innings when the Aggies took control, pushing across single runs in the seventh and eighth for the win. The go-ahead score came on a Haley ground out that plated Son, who had tripled with one away. Brennan Morgan chipped in the final tally with a solo home run over the leftfield wall.

That was all the run support that Jakob Holzer needed as the Aggies' bullpen ace slammed the door on Tonkawa, firing four scoreless frames of relief in which he yielded just two hits and struck out seven. Carson Culbreath worked the first five innings, scattering three runs on four hits and struck out five.

Murray State took the early lead in the game with a pair of runs in the first on a Barham two-run blast and added another in the third when Son doubled and rode home on a Barham RBI single. The Mavericks however rallied to tie it again in the fourth.

The Aggies wrapped up with eight hits as Son, Haley, Barham and Morgan notched two each.