MURRAY — Several years ago, top relief pitchers in the game of baseball came to be known by a name more associated with emergency services.
In fact, the top reliever in both the National and American leagues received an award that was sponsored by an antacid — the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year, with the trophy being in the form of a firefighter helmet.
So far, in this year’s NCAA Baseball Championship, Murray State has had a right hander that would be a great candidate for college baseball’s version of a reliever award for the postseason. Simply, Graham Kelham has been the ice to fire, earning four hard saves in helping the Racers go to their first-ever College World Series in Omaha.
“There’s no one we’d rather have out there than Graham,” said Racer first baseman Luke Mistone after Monday night’s 5-4 win over host Duke in the Durham Super Regional in North Carolina. Mistone was speaking only minutes after recording the final putout on a harmless bouncer off the bat of Duke cleanup hitter Jake Hyde, who had homered earlier in the game. “Graham did a great job shutting that thing down.”
Like a firefighter, Kelham has extinguished some pretty hot uprisings the past two weeks. While Monday night was very tricky — the Racers had to refocus after engaging in their traditional celebratory dogpile after it appeared they were being given a game-ending double play via runner’s interference, only for the call to be overturned after a video review — what Kelham faced exactly a week earlier in Mississippi was probably more dangerous.
In Durham, Murray State was not facing the most hostile home-field advantage in the world (a strong Racer Nation showing made this almost a neutral site). At Swayze Field in Oxford, against host Mississippi — with three players remaining from the Rebels’ 2022 CWS championship team — Kelham and the Racers were in what could best be described as a crucible. More than 12,000 fans — with probably 95% of them wearing Rebel colors — were down their throats after Ole Miss had cut a nine-run seventh-inning lead to only one.
And Kelham had just surrendered a three-run home run on a ball that seemed to get some help from a well-timed night breeze. The Racers needed to put this fire out before it exploded and Kelham delivered.
Two monster strikeouts got the Racers out of the jam and, most importantly, still in possession of a 12-11 lead after Ole Miss had scored eight times between the seventh and eighth frames.
Kelham, who had ended a bases-loaded threat in the ninth two nights earlier to save a 9-6 win over the Rebels in the first round of the regional, then put the fire out completely. He struck out the first two batters of the ninth, then induced a harmless flyout to center fielder Jonathan Hogart.
“I don’t know … I’ve put all of this work in during the offseason and it’s translated to this season,” Kelham said Tuesday afternoon after the Racers made what amounted to a touch-and-go return to Murray from Durham in front of twice the amount of fans that had welcomed them after the Oxford win. Wednesday afternoon, the Racers were right back on their bus to catch a flight for Omaha.
He also talked about Monday night and the challenge of having to reset after what appeared to be the final out.Kelham said his approach was simple.
“It was just the same kind of deal at the regional. I was playing catch with (catcher Will Vierling). So, it was about sticking to the roots and just thinking about making pitchers,” Kelham said as he signed his name to a baseball for one of the many young fans who came to Tuesday’s event. “Just trust the work I’ve put in.”
Perhaps appropriately, Wednesday’s sendoff from Roy Stewart Stadium featured the largest show of force so far of either a sendoff or return of the team from both the City of Murray Fire Department and Calloway County Fire-Rescue.
The Racers face UCLA in their first game of the CWS at 1 p.m. Saturday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha. For the second time in Racer baseball history, that game will be aired live on the main ESPN network.