MURRAY— Murray State baseball hits the road for E.S. Rose Park to face the Belmont Bruins in Nashville in the second to last series in the 2025 Missouri Valley Conference regular season and the weekend finds the Racers in the hunt for a championship.

The Racers ((32-12) enter the series in second place in The Valley at 14-7, one game behind Missouri State. The Bears host Indiana State this weekend. The Bruins (23-26) are 12-9 in the league, tied for the 4th and and final first-round bye, and have won a season-best seven in a row. The Racers have won five straight series in The Valley against Bradley, Illinois-Chicago, Valparaiso, Indiana State and Southern Illinois.

The series starts today at 4 p.m. with the other games being played at 2 p.m. both on Saturday and Sunday. Those games can be seen on ESPN+.

The last time the Racers visited Rose Park in 2023, they won the series by taking the final two games of the three-game set. This is as Belmont has swept the Racers in the last two series in Murray.

After a 2-4 start to league play, the Racers have gone 12-3.

Heading into the weekend, the RPI rankings of the teams in The Valley include: SIU (82), Murray State (124), Illinois State (156), Indiana State (161), Missouri State (180), UIC (188), Bradley (228), Belmont (229), Evansville (274), Valparaiso (294).

The Racers are 12-5 away from home this season.

In his seventh season at Murray State, Head Coach Dan Skirka is 197-147 overall and 45-30 in The Valley.

With another three victories, Skirka will become the fourth MSU head coach to win 200 career games, following Johnny Reagan (776, 1968-93), Rob McDonald (247, 2004-14) and Mike Thieke (231, 1994-03).

MSU’s second baseman, Dom Decker, enters the weekend with an on-base streak of 27 games, longest of the season for MSU.

MSU’s top starters, Nic Schutte and Isaac Silva look to stay effective this weekend against the Bruins.

This duo combined for two wins in the SIU series last weekend on 13.2IP, 5R, 9H, 6BB, 11SO, 3.40 Earned Run Average.

In Valley ERA, Schutte is No. 2 at 3.34 and Silva is No. 3 at 3.36.