MURRAY, Ky. – After waiting out a four-hour weather delay before the game, Murray State pulled even with Missouri State in the Missouri Valley Conference standings Thursday evening with a 16-5, seven-inning victory in the series opener at Johnny Reagan Field.
 
The Bears (27-23, 17-8 MVC) and Racers (35-13, 17-8) will decide who gets at least a co-championship at noon Friday. Missouri State needs to win both Friday and Saturday's 1 p.m. finale to earn the top seed at the conference tournament, while Murray State needs just one victory to be the top seed with a series win over the Bears serving as a tie-break should the teams split the remaining games.
 
Murray State hit a leadoff home run in the first inning and never looked back, adding three more in the opening frame, a two-run homer in the second and scoring 10 in the third, the most against the Bears since 2022, for a 16-1 lead.
 
Taeg Gollert's 21^st double of the year made it 6-1 in the third, and Jake McCutcheon hit a two-run homer in the fifth after Nick Rodriguez extended his hitting streak to 37 games with a single.
 
Freshman Logan Fyffe drove in a run with his first career triple in the sixth and scored on a William Zareh ground out for the final margin.
 
Charlie Spoonhour had the best outing of his MSU career, tossing three shutout innings and striking out four in relief.