Murray State Looks To Continue Improbable College World Series Run Against Arkansas
Image credit: (Photo by Eddie Kelly / ProLook)
By every reasonable metric, Monday should be the end of Murray State’s magical College World Series story.
The Racers will march back into Charles Schwab Field this afternoon carrying the weight of a 6-4 loss to UCLA and facing a win-or-go-home matchup against Arkansas—the betting favorite to win it all, the sledgehammer waiting for Cinderella when midnight finally strikes.
And yet, if there’s one thing this postseason has made clear, it’s that math and matchups don’t mean much when Murray State shows up.
The Racers are 43-16 and became just the fourth four-seed in the super regional era to reach Omaha. They beat Ole Miss twice in Oxford, including a 12-11 thriller in Game 7. They dropped the first game of the Durham Super Regional, then stormed back to knock out Duke. Along the way, they’ve toppled Georgia Tech and stunned a nation that expected their season to last a weekend, not three.
“Good,” said Murray State’s fiery leadoff hitter Jonathan Hogart when asked how he’d respond to being overlooked. “We love it. Our back’s been against the wall the entire run. Nobody thought we’d beat Ole Miss or Georgia Tech or Duke.”
And yet, they did. Not just with timely hits or lucky breaks, but with a brand of baseball that’s hard to quantify—resilient, connected, stubborn in all the right ways.
Hogart sets the tone at the top of the order, leading the nation in leadoff home runs. Behind him is a lineup that can flash power, yes, but one that also thrives on pressure by working counts, stringing together contact and forcing mistakes. It’s not a style that fits a scouting model, but it wins.
Then there’s the pitching staff that features less velocity than grit, less flash than fire. Nic Schutte, the senior righty who’s carried the Racers through the postseason, doesn’t light up a radar gun. Neither does star closer Graham Kelham, who now holds the program record for single-season saves after recording four so far in the tournament. But they keep showing up, again and again, throwing when their tank says empty and competing like it’s their last inning on earth.
“The guy’s on fumes,” head coach Dan Skirka said of Schutte. “I know he’s not going to admit it. But look at the work load that guy has done.”
In Saturday’s loss to UCLA, Schutte gave the Racers everything he had, then handed it off to Dylan Zentko and Reese Oakley, who kept the Bruins within reach. And Murray State, as always, made a push. A bounce here or there—one ball that drops, one swing squared—and the result could have been different. It wasn’t. But the belief remains.
“There’s a lot of confidence going into Monday,” Skirka said. “We’ve got an off day. A full bullpen. This group—they play their best when their backs are against the wall.”
That’s not just coachspeak. That’s their story.
This is the first College World Series in school history for Murray State. It’s also the most improbable. There are no former blue-chip recruits here. No projected first-round picks. No gaudy NIL deals. In fact, Skirka on Thursday revealed the Racers don’t even fund 11.7 scholarships.
What they do have, though, is tougher to define. It’s a shared purpose, a belief in each other and a season’s worth of evidence that, when the lights are brightest, they don’t blink.
“It’s fun,” Hogart said. “Those are really good programs with a lot of talent. But we are, too.”
That sentence lands heavier than it reads. Because for most of college baseball’s power brokers, Murray State isn’t supposed to be here. It doesn’t recruit nationally. It doesn’t get into hosting conversations. Respectfully, it’s not a brand.
But none of that matters when you’re still standing in Omaha while most of the blue bloods are sitting at home.
And it’s not just the team that showed up.
“We don’t even charge admission at our games,” Skirka said. “And now for these people to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to just drive all the way here, get hotels, get tickets, buying all the gear. They’ve got all the funny t-shirts going on. That kind of cracked me up this morning. Just to see some of the faces, some guys drove in from Florida and from Michigan, and just all over.
“It just speaks how inspirational this game can be and fighting, for not just an underdog or a Cinderella, but for a great group of guys that have shown toughness.”
Dustin Mercer sees it too. The senior outfielder walked twice against UCLA and barreled up a couple of tough-luck outs. But in the postgame presser, he couldn’t stop smiling.
“I never felt famous before until I got here,” he said. “Those kids don’t care whether I’m going to the big leagues or I’m done in two weeks. They just want to talk to me. That’s a really awesome experience.”
Maybe Monday is the end. Maybe the Razorbacks flex their depth, arms and payroll to remind everyone why they were the favorites in the first place.
Or maybe not.
Because the moment the world says Murray State can’t, the Racers usually do.
“When everybody doubts them and they’re out,” Skirka said, “they come back throwing haymakers.”
