Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 By Kevin Farr
Murray State Sports Information
A pair of high-scoring conference shootouts on Thursday afternoon ended as a split for the Murray State baseball team in a home twinbill with Western State College at The Ranch.

The Aggies scored three times in their final at bat to claim the opener, 9-8, but weren't able to repeat that in the nightcap for an 11-9 loss to the Pioneers to move their overall record to 19-13 while leveling their league mark at 3-3. Western is now 3-3 in league and 19-10 for the season.

The same two squads are slated to close out the Region 2 series on Saturday for a 1 p.m. doubleheader in Altus.

In the opener it was a back-and-forth battle throughout as the Aggies were playing catch up until shutting out the Pioneers for the first time in the game in the top of the sixth inning. Caden Allen struck out a pair en route to tossing up the first zero of the game.

Murray State then answered in the bottom of the stanza by plating three runs while erasing the 8-6 deficit. Brennan Morgan doubled with one out and a walk and single by Nick Vickery loaded the bases. Marlon Moore followed with a two-run single to knot the score and Juhno Son was intentionally walked after already homering twice in the contest.

Austin Haley picked up the go-ahead RBI on a ground out moments later and was enough for Jakob Holzer to slam the door for the save, working around a pair of walks for a scoreless seventh.

Both of Son's hits went for homers as he was the lone Aggie with more than one hit. Haley, Michael Barham, Morgan, Tanner Norman, Moore and Vickery all finished with a hit. Barham and Norman each belted a home run with Norman driving in three.

Morgan and Barham each put on a home run derby in the second contest, blasting a pair apiece to spearhead another offensive showcase. Each homered along with one from Son in a five-run second inning eruption that rallied the Aggies from a 6-1 deficit.

Murray State took a brief lead in the third after tossing a rare scoreless frame against the Western offense when Morgan homered for the second straight inning.

Western pushed across solo runs in the fourth and fifth stanzas and never trailed again despite a late flurry by the Aggies.

Murray State ended with 11 hits in the game led by two each from Haley, Barham, Morgan and Moore. Son, Norman and Brady Taylor posted one hit apiece.

After yielding 11 runs on 15 hits through the first six and two-third innings, the Aggie pitching staff righted the ship late to give them a chance at a comeback as Ty Frakes twirled two and one-third frames of scoreless, no-hit relief in which he fanned two.