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The 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship got underway with an elimination game on Tuesday night. The game saw No. 7 Murray State top No. 8 Eastern Illinois 15-5.
This season marks the 40th time the event has been held and the second-straight year the event has been held at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Alabama. The venue is run by the Oxford Parks & Recreation Department which oversaw the completion of the 370-acre sports complex which includes baseball, soccer, softball and track & field/cross country facilities. The first major event hosted at the complex was the 2016 OVC Softball Championship.
Tickets, which can be purchased in person at the park, will be $10 per day or $25 for an all-session pass (up to 14 total games). There is also an $5 a day rate for college students with ID as well as children 6-12 years old (children 5 and under are free). All seats are general admission for the OVC Championship.
The entire tournament is being streamed live and free of charge on the
OVC Digital Network. The games are available in HD and available on any computer, tablet or smart phone, as well as Roku streaming devices. The games will air live and are immediately available on-demand.
Game 1: #7 Murray State 15, #8 Eastern Illinois 5
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#7 MURRAY STATE 15, #8 EASTERN ILLINOIS 5
OXFORD, Ala. - Murray State pounded out 16 hits and Trevor McMurray tied a career-high with six innings pitched as the No. 7 seed Racers opened OVC Tournament play with a 15-5 victory over eighth-seeded Eastern Illinois Tuesday night at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Ala.
The No. 7 seeded Racers (27-27) will move on to play No. 2 seed Southeast Missouri on Wednesday at approximately 4 p.m. The Panthers saw their season come to an end at 23-31.
Grant Wood, who earlier in the day was named the OVC Freshman of the Year, got the Racers out the gates quickly and they didn't look back as his two-run home run gave MSU an early 2-0 lead in the first. After EIU (23-31) got a run in the second inning to make it 2-1, the Racers opened up some breathing room by being patient at the plate with a four-run bottom half of the second.
Mike Farnell, Davis Sims and Wood all drew bases-loaded walks to push the score to 5-1. Brandon Gutzler finished off the scoring in the inning with an RBI single to center field to make it 6-1. In the fourth, a Farnell double to the gap scored Sims and MSU led 7-1.
In the fifth, the Panthers cut it to 7-2 before a Jaron Robinson RBI double and a Gavin Wehby RBI groundout put the lead back up to 9-2. A five-run sixth by the Racers put the game essentially out of reach at 14-2. Kyle Stevens and Wood both had RBI singles in the inning while Wehby had a three-run single that tallied a pair of RBIs. Robinson scored on an error on the play.
Wood drew another bases-loaded walk in the eighth to round-out the scoring for MSU and made it 15-2. EIU would score three runs in the top of the ninth to close out the contest.
Robinson led the Racers with a three-hit night while Farnell, Gutzler, Ryan Perkins, Stevens, Wehby and Wood all had two hits in the win. Wood led MSU with five RBI on the night while Scott scored a team-high three runs. MSU drew 11 walks on the night, including three each from Sims and Wood.
McMurray allowed just one earned run on four hits in his six innings of work and registered his fifth win of the year. McMurray also struck-out three batters. Connor Holden, Tyler Horsley and Jake Jones all pitched an inning each of relief.