MURRAY, Ky. – The Illinois State baseball program dropped the series opener with the Racers, 6-1, on Saturday afternoon at Johnny Reagan Field. With the defeat, the Redbirds drop to 22-15 overall in 2026 and fall to 6-7 in Missouri Valley Conference play.
The contest opened on Friday evening, but a power outage at Johnny Reagan Field forced a postponement of action, which forced the game to be resumed on Saturday afternoon.
The Racers opened scoring in the contest after a walk, and a pair of stolen bases put a runner on third to set up an RBI single to give Murray State a 1-0 advantage.
Following back-to-back scoreless frames, Illinois State put two runners on with a pair of singles by Redshirt Sophomore Brayden Bakes and Junior Graham Mastros in the top of the fourth. Moments later, the Redbirds executed a double steal to place both runners into scoring position, but Murray State was able to work out of the jam to maintain its lead at 1-0.
The Racers extended their lead in the bottom of the fifth after a single drove in a run to move the score to 2-0. In the sixth, following a leadoff walk, Murray State capitalized on a Redbird error to place a runner on third to set up an RBI sacrifice bunt to push the Racers' advantage to 3-0. Murray State continued to grow its lead with an RBI double, RBI sacrifice fly, and an RBI single to score an additional three runs in the sixth move the score to 6-0 before the contest's postponement in the top of the eighth.
As action resumed on Saturday, Mastros recorded his ninth home run of the season, a solo shot in the ninth inning, to make the score 6-1. With a run on the board, Illinois State looked to rally further with singles from Junior Luke Stulga and Graduate Camden Karczewski, but fell short as the Racers recorded the final out to secure the series-opening victory.
NOTES
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Graduate Camden Karczewski tallied his 15th multi-hit performance of the season with three hits. Karczewski becomes the fourth Redbird this season to tally 15th or more multi-hit games and his second contest with three hits in 2026.
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Junior Graham Mastros tallied his ninth homer of the season with a solo shot in the ninth inning of the contest.
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Junior Michael Addari tallied his seventh straight start with 5.0 innings pitched and two or fewer earned runs allowed. In five of his last six starts, Addari has totaled five or more strikeouts.
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