DRAFFENVILLE— Since about mid-May, life has been moving at warp speed for Murray State Head Baseball Coach Dan Skirka.
That was about the time his Racers began really showing signs that a truly incredible run was forming. First, they won their first-ever Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title, though they had to split it with Missouri State. A week later, they proved who was the best in The Valley by winning the conference tournament, going perfect in four games.
About a month later, they had reached Omaha and the College World Series for the first time in school history, with a school-record 44 wins. The stay ended after only two games but the Racers’ run had captured the attention of the entire nation … and in a situation like this, one never knows who is watching.
Major League Baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals were and decided to bring Skirka to Busch Stadium a few weeks ago to perform a time-honored duty — throwing out the ceremonial first pitch for the Cardinals’ game with Pittsburgh on the evening of Aug. 25. And yet another treasured moment went into the already-full Skirka’s memory bank.
“I was pretty excited when they started lining it up and figuring out all of the details. This was something I’d never done before, so I thought it was pretty cool,” Skirka said Saturday as he oversaw his 2026 team participate in the Miracle League of Western Kentucky’s Opening Day of its fall baseball season at Mike Miller County Park in neighboring Marshall County.
Skirka, wearing one of the Cardinals’ red home alternative jerseys — specially designed with his Murray State number, 9, and name on the back — took his place on the mound at Busch. Waiting for his pitch was Cardinals pitcher Matt Svanson.
“Now, I had gotten a lot of trash talk about this,” Skirka said, snickering as he recalled the many text messages he received ahead of this big moment. “Yeah, they were telling me that I had better throw a strike and I couldn’t just lob it in there.
“So I made sure that when I got up (on the mound), I took a little deep breathe and delivered it.”
Skirka found the target, to the delight of the fans, Cardinals mascot Fredbird and, of course, along with wife Kesley, his biggest fan in the world, 9-year-old son, Keegan, who was on the field with Skirka for the pitch and met his father with a high five.
“We’ve been blessed. We’ve gotten to do some pretty cool things and spend some quality time together, and I’m fortunate to be able to do that and I hope he realizes how lucky he is,” Dan said. “Not a whole lot of nine-year-olds get to do some of the things he’s been able to do.”
Skirka also remarked how this was yet another moment in the spotlight for his place of employment, which received massive attention on a national scale for being a “small school” to reach the CWS. For his efforts, Skirka was given a four-year contract extension that makes him the highest-paid head coach in the Valley, one of the most respected mid-major baseball leagues in the college game.
“Murray State … that’s what we are, right? We’re visible,” he said. “Now, we’re not more important than any other team or program on campus (the baseball team’s run was part of a huge 2025 for Racer Athletics with two other conference titles — women’s basketball and rifle in the Ohio Valley Conference — and an individual golf title for men’s player Trey Wall) but we’re trying to do our part and show people how great Murray State is.”