The Murray State baseball team tied a program record that has stood for 66 years on Saturday, as the Racers defeated Eastern Illinois 31-11 at Reagan Field. The 31 runs ties the program record set against Lipscomb back in 1950. MSU's 28 hits in the game also ties a program record, and Tyler Dixon's four home runs ties the OVC and MSU records for most single-game home runs.
The Racers (14-16, 5-6 OVC) did set a new school record on Saturday with their 31 RBIs, breaking the old mark of 28 set against Iowa back in 1986. In all, MSU had 11 extra-base hits in the win, including five home runs. Ramsey Scott hit the other blast for the Racers, his team-high eighth of the season.
Dixon led the MSU offense's stellar day by going 5-for-6 at the plate with six RBIs and five runs scored. Three of Dixon's four blasts were to right center field and were solo shots. His fourth homer went to left center in the eighth inning. Dixon's first home run of the day was a two-run shot and came in the first inning.
TYLER DIXON ties the OVC and program record with his fourth home run of the game!! MSU leads 31-11.
— Racer Baseball (@RacersBaseball) April 2, 2016
Tyler Lawrence and Scott each added four hits in the win and also collected seven and six RBIs, respectively. Lawrence also tied a career-high with five runs in the game.
Cody Gilbert and Nick Moore chipped in with three hits and four runs each. Adam Bauer also had a multi-hit day as he went 2-for-5 at the dish with three runs. In all, 10 Racers got a hit in the win and MSU scored a run in seven of the eight innings it hit in.
MSU wasted little time going to work in this one, scoring six runs on eight hits in the bottom of the first inning to take a quick 6-0 lead. The Racers followed that with an even better second inning, scoring 10 runs on seven hits and drawing four walks in the inning. MSU went on to score two runs in each of the third and fourth innings and led 20-1 after four complete.
EIU (4-22, 0-8 OVC) showed some fight with a four-run fifth inning, making it 20-5. But, MSU responded with a four-run sixth and then a six-run seventh before tacking on one more in the bottom of the eighth. The Panthers would score four in the seventh and two in the eighth.
Caleb Hicks was 3-for-7 with a run scored and four RBIs in the win. He also tallied a pair of doubles in the win. Kipp Moore went 2-for-6 with two runs, three ribbies, a double and a triple. Lawrence and Scott added the other two doubles for the Racers on the day.
The Racers and Panthers close their three-game series Sunday afternoon at Reagan Field. First pitch is at 1 p.m.
