Murray State Racers Took a Wild Ride to Get to Omaha, But Don’t Call Them Underdogs

There are 44 reasons for Murray State to feel like anything other than the Cinderella story, that’s at least how the Racers see it. And how can you blame them? They took the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title and conference tournament title. They then ran through the Mississippi regional, finishing off Ole Miss in front of 12,000 adversaries with the “if necessary” game to spare.

Advancing out of the regional as the four seed earned Dan Skirka’s team the opportunity to head out to Durham, where they won two-straight elimination games, dominating game two 19-9 before a suspenseful 5-4 win in the rubber match to go to Omaha for the first time in program history.

“Top to bottom, just a group that is special,” Skirka said. “They just compete. They play the game the right way. I think that just speaks volumes.”

Teams throughout the Missouri Valley Conference would tell you the conference has gotten stronger and its collective 17-9 record in regionals since 2021 would support that notion. That said, it would be difficult to call a team from the conference reaching Omaha anything but improbable.

Murray State is the first Missouri Valley Conference team to reach the College World Series since Missouri State did it in 2003. Even more remarkable, Murray State accomplished the feat in their third year after taking the step up from the Ohio Valley Conference which has never sent a team to Omaha.

Since the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1999, only three other regional No. 4 seeds have made it to Omaha.

“We don’t really want to think about it as an underdog story,” Redshirt Senior Jonathan Hogart said. “We just want to enjoy the moment, be where our feet are, and play the best baseball we can.”

Individual Adversity

Hogart leads the team in most offensive categories, most notably his 22 home runs, two of which came in the Super Regional final. And while Hogart will be pitched to as carefully as any player remaining in the tournament, his individual path to this point came with no shortage of question marks on the way.

Referring to himself as a “JuCo product” Hogart enjoyed two productive seasons in the outfield at Wabash Valley College before transferring to Louisiana Tech where an injury had him thinking he was done with baseball.

“[Coach Skirka] called at probably the most perfect time because if he didn’t call then, I was heavily debating on just packing up the cleats and never touching them again,” Hogart said.

His Redshirt Senior teammate Dustin Mercer–the Most Outstanding Player of the Oxford Regional–found himself in a similar position before Skirka gave him a call. Mercer started his college career at Virginia Tech, but never saw the field for the Hokies, dealing with several injuries.

“I was also really close to hanging it up when Skirk gave me a call,” the outfielder said.

The injury bug unfortunately bit him once again in his first year at Murray State as a broken wrist wiped out his season, but it was Coach Skirka who did what he could to prevent the doubt from creeping back into Mercer’s mind.

“Once the season started the next year, he put me in the two hole and he’s never taken me out. And I’ve had some pretty bad tears before,” Mercer said. Just having faith knowing no matter if I’m 4-for-4 or 0-for-12 with 11 strikeouts, he has that faith that I’ll get it done when it matters.”

Dating back to the start of the conference tournament (12 games), Mercer is hitting .481/.547/.731 with 11 extra base hits and 12 RBI. Batting one spot ahead of him is Hogart who has launched nine homers in that span.

While the offense is the leading force behind the Racers, the trio of hitters at the press conference table and their head coach were quick to praise junior closer Graham Kellon, an NAIA transfer who opened the season with an ERA north of 12.00 through his first seven appearances before pitching to a 1.72 ERA from April 1 onward on his way to the school’s single season save record of nine.

“It’s absolutely incredible what he’s been able to do against some of the top talent in the country,” Mercer said of his teammate. “12,000 on their feet and he just makes pitches and comes back to the dugout…and just acts like we are playing at Johnny Reagan in front of 72 people. He’s one of one.”

It’s no secret that Murray State lacks the pitching firepower that the other seven teams in the field possess. That tends to be the biggest gap between the power four teams and everybody else. The Racers pitching staff’s average fastball velocity is more than two ticks lower than any of the other teams in Omaha.

But thanks to the explosive offense of the Racers, they never feel like their out of a game and having a guy who is capable of getting the most difficult of the 27 outs has been enough to push the team over the top of late.

“He was made for this role,” Skirka said. “He has the slowest heart beat in America.”

As for Skirka himself, he’s no different than the players he recruits. He doesn’t shy away from his “humble beginnings” and feels as though sharing his journey and experiences with his players is an important component into not only building them into great baseball players, but great men as well.

“It hits home more now with my son being nine and wanting to be the type of coach that I want him to get to play for,” Skirka explained.

Born in Coldwater, Michigan, Skirka played his college ball at Kellogg Community College before transferring to Grand Valley State. He wasted no time jumping into the coaching ranks after his playing days were over, joining Grand Rapids Community College as an assistant for one year, followed by a one year stint at Ouachita Baptist University for the next season.

He was brought onto the Murray State staff as an assistant from 2010 to 2014 prior to becoming the recruiting coordinator for Walters State Community College from 2015 to 2018. Skirka returned to Murray State in 2019, but this time as the head coach.

While a dream gig for Skirka, his program was not necessarily starting on third base, even compared to many other schools outside of the power four. Most Missouri Valley Conference team’s would likely point towards Reagan Field and the Murray State facilities as leaving the most to be desired.

Johnny Reagan Field did not even have lights or grandstand seating until 2014. Even with the upgrades, the field only seats 800 people.

The team is “just shy” of 11.7 scholarships and he teaches a class “Coaching Baseball 2” as part of his duties. Skirka downplays the perceived disadvantage. He made it a point to clarify that he does not have to teach a course and he definitely does not cut the grass of Reagan Field, despite that rumor being circulated all over the internet.

In fact, other coaches from the Missouri Valley Conference have been quicker to vocalize the need for upgrades at Murray State. After the challenges to get the field up to par due to inclement weather in the season finale which resulted in the games being cancelled and Missouri State sharing the league title with Murray State, Bears head coach Joey Hawkins shared his thoughts.

This would be my pitch to get Dan Skirka a better field because he deserves it,” Hawkins said before the MVC Tournament. “He does a good job at Murray, and he doesn’t get a ton of resources there.”

No matter what happens with Murray State in Omaha, Skirka’s program has likely earned the additional resources it deserves. But to this team, it seems like those are just bells and whistles. Whether the stadium seats 800 or 24,000 like Charles Schwab Field, it doesn’t seem to matter to the Racers.

As long as the bases are still 90 feet apart and the mound 60 feet six inches away, Skirka’s team does not want to hear about an underdog story.