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3
Western Illinois WIU 0-6
4
Winner Murray State MUR 4-3
Western Illinois WIU
0-6
3
Final
4
Murray State MUR
4-3
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Western Illinois WIU 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 7 0
Murray State MUR 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 4 11 1

W: COOK, Braydon (1-0) L: Minella, Pete (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Bullpen Battles in Walk-Off Decision

Western dropped a heartbreaking 4-3 walk-off decision at Murray State.

MURRAY, Ky. – A half-inning away from its first win of the 2018 season, Western Illinois baseball dropped a heartbreaking 4-3 walk-off decision at Murray State Monday afternoon.
 
The Leathernecks maintained a 3-2 lead through four innings before surrendering a 2-RBI double in the bottom of the ninth. Twelve Western pitchers made an appearance in the series finale, and Pete Minella (0-1) was credited with the loss.

"We squeezed every ounce out of the game today," said head coach Ryan Brownlee. "I am going to frame the box score because I have never been part of a game where 12 pitchers were used. We even lost the DH at the end to go to more of a defensive unit.

"We will need everybody throughout the season, and didn't want to go two weekends not seeing what we have. We talked about not chasing results yesterday. Our effort and energy today were closer to where it needs to be, but still not close to where we are going to be and that is an exciting thing. A game like that is a reminder of why you play."
 
At the end of the second inning, things were tied at 1-1. Grant Hannant grounded out to second base, but put enough on the attempt to score Drue Galassi, before Grant Wood's RBI-single evened the score.
 
The Racers added another run in the fourth, but quickly saw themselves in a hole at the top of the fifth after Steve McShane scored on a wild pitch and Galassi sent an RBI-sacrifice fly to center field.
 
There were several calls to the bullpen at Reagan Field, and Carter Poiry, Alex Dorethy, Dave Dobrinich, Jimmy Perkins, J.T. Baksha, and Connor Rektorski responded well by pitching 3.0 innings of scoreless baseball. Murray State pressured, loading the bases in the sixth and eighth innings, but came away empty handed each time.
 
Wood finished the day 4-for-4 at the plate and doubled to center field to conclude the game.
 
Western heads to 'The Hoosier State' for its next three series against Evansville (March 2-4), Indiana State (March 10-12) and Indiana (March 13-14).
 
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