DURHAM, N.C. — Murray State athletics has crossed into about the most uncharted territory imaginable tonight.
For the first time in school history, the Racer baseball program has punched a ticket to the ultimate destination for every college team in America — the College World Series in Omaha. It happened because the Racers pulled their second upset of the NCAA Baseball Championship, this time upending Atlantic Coast Conference power Duke on its home turf at Jack Coombs Field in Durham, North Carolina.
It was not easy. In fact, for a time it appeared to be a setup for heartbreak after the Racers celebrated what they believed to be was the final out on a double play sparked by runner’s interference at second base.
Alas, the play underwent video review and was, in fact, overturned … after the Racers had broken into yet another dogpile at the pitcher’s mound, the third such occurrence of the postseason. And with the dangerous Blue Devils still with life — along with the motivation of seeking their first visit to Omaha since 1961— the Racers had to refocus, something that can be very hard to do after such a moment.
However, refocus they did with right-handed relief pitcher Graham Kelham getting Duke cleanup hitter Jake Hyde to hit a harmless grounder to first baseman Luke Mistone for the final out — for real, this time — to seal a 5-4 win in the deciding Game 3 of the Durham Super Regional.
“God is great! God is great!” said Murray State Head Coach Dan Skirka during a live interview with ESPN after the game. Tonight is believed to be the first time that a Murray State baseball game has been televised by ESPN’s main network after the first two games of the series were aired by ESPNU.
“You know, I watched some of those games last night with (North Carolina Head Coach Scott Forbes, whose team lost its Super Regional series to Arizona) and (Louisville Head Coach Dan McDonnell, whose team earned its sixth CWS visit by defeating Miami), in victory and in loss, just praising and pointing everyone to the word and that’s what we try to do, to lead these guys through this great game.
“We try to be the example and lead them and it’s such a great group (one that continues its season with the best record in Racer history — now 44-15). We’re so blessed.”
Seconds later, Skirka was being chased by those players who eventually nailed him with multiple jugs of sports drink, constituting the most historic shower in Murray State history.
It was the perfect culmination of a crazy night of baseball, one that started with outfielder Jonathan Hogart adding to his national lead by slugging his eighth leadoff home run of the season, one day after he managed that feat in igniting the Racers’ 19-9 runaway win over the Blue Devils (41-21) that tied the series.
However, Hogart was not finished and when he ripped his second no-doubt tater of the night to almost the same location well beyond the left-field fence in the top of the seventh inning, he had tied the game at 3-3. This came after Duke had taken a 3-2 lead in the fourth on Jake Berger’s solo homer after second baseman Dom Decker’s RBI single had extended the Racer lead to 2-0 in the first.
However, the homers were not ending and it would be Mistone to supply the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth by leading off with a solo laser to left for a 4-3 lead. Outfielder Dan Tauken, the Racers’ RBI leader from the 7 hole in the batting order but who had struggled tonight up to that point, burned the Duke outfield with a long triple to right field that plated catcher Will Vierling, who had walked for a 5-3 lead, sending a very strong Racer Nation contingent at Jack Coombs into a frenzy.
“The support was just unbelievable. Racer Nation really showed out,” said Hogart, who ended 2-for-5 at the plate to help drive an offense that outhit the Devils for the third straight time, 10-6.
However, there was still work to do and the Racers were reminded that in the bottom of the eighth when Duke catcher Mason Winslow hit his second homer in as many days over the left-field fence to cut the lead to one run. That came off Kelham, who has faced every rough moments during the Racers’ postseason run head on. He had three gutty saves in the Oxford Regional in Mississippi, including having to extinguish a rally from host and 2022 CWS champion Mississippi a week ago tonight, after the Rebels had seemed poised to pull a miraculous comeback from a nine-run deficit in the seventh.
Tonight, Kelham took the mound in the seventh and his only blemishes were Winslow’s homer, a walk and a hit-by-pitch that led off the ninth. He followed that by retiring dangerous Duke outfielder A.J. Gracia on a foul ball to left that was caught after a long run by Tauken. One out down, he faced hometown hero Ben Miller, who bounced a weak grounder toward Racer shortstop Conner Cunningham, who flipped the ball to Decker, who then was clipped by the sliding Wallace Clark, triggering the interference call and starting a celebration for the Racers … that lasted all of 10 seconds.
The replay overturned the call and gave cleanup hitter Jake Hyde the chance to steal a journey to Omaha from the Racers. Instead, Kelham, calm and cool, induced Hyde into a bouncer right to Mistone, who only had a few steps to quickly take before placing his foot on the bag, this time for the actual final out.
“The first one was special,” Mistone said. “Then, we had to get it again and kind of reset. We all went for a mound visit and reminded ourselves that we’ve got this.
“And there is no one we would rather have for this than Graham.”
“We have all of the emotions let loose, then have to turn around and do it again,” said third baseman Carson Garner, who had two hits tonight after collecting three on Sunday. “Graham did a great job shutting that thing down.
“Then, we got to celebrate again.”
“I’m not surprised, right?” Skirka said of the most unusual circumstance in which his team found itself. “We talk about being tough and that’s another example. Another team could’ve melted … could’ve folded … lost focus. I’m not surprised they handled that like they’ve handled everything else.
“I mean, our backs were against the wall (in Oxford). It was winner take all (after the Racers led, 12-3, and had to withstand a tremendous comeback attempt from Ole Miss before emerging with a nerve-racking 12-11 win). Tonight, it was winner take all. Yesterday, we had to win to force tonight. I don’t know … there’s something about those situations that brings out the best in those guys.”
Decker concluded a wonderful super regional in which he went 8-for-14 (.571) at the plate with seven RBIs. He was 2-for-4 tonight with an RBI.
The Racer defense also helped make all of this possible by not committing a single error in this series, continuing its at-times stupendous glove work. This included outfielder Dustin Mercer, who had the two most memorable plays of the series with an incredible tumbling catch over the right-field bullpen pitching mound in Saturday’s 7-4 loss to the Devils and tonight’s leaping catch above the right-field fence to rob Gracia of what would have been a two-run tater and a 4-3 Duke lead.
“No, it has not set in … and it never will,” Hogart said after being asked about the thought of Murray State actually going to Omaha. “Man! This is surreal. This is baseball paradise. We get to go do this on the biggest stage.”