The Murray State Racers are on their way to the program’s first appearance in the College World Series after a series-deciding 5-4 victory over the Duke Blue Devils for the NCAA Durham Super Regional championship at Jack Coombs Field in Durham, North Carolina.

The Racers’ record 44^th win of the season sends them to Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska, where they will meet the ULCA Bruins on Saturday (June 14) at 1 p.m. Central Time.

Jonathan Hogart put the Racers on the board first again with his eighth lead-off home run of the season to make it 1-0 Racers in the first inning.

After the pair of runs they scored in the first, the Racers hit a cold stretch against Duke’s pitching and were 1-for-11 with one walk from the second through the six innings and trailed 3-2 after Duke’s Jake Berger put the Blue Devils in front with a solo home run in the fourth.

Reese Oakley came on to relieve starter Kane Elmy and set down seven straight and sent the game to the seventh with the Racers still down 3-2.

Hogart cracked his second homer of the game in the 7^th to tie the game 3-3, as he also tied MSU Hall of Famer Wes Cunningham for the season homer record for the Racers at 22. Cunningham hit his 22 home runs in the 2010 season.

The Racers took the lead for good 5-3 in the top of the eighth on a home run by Luke Mistone.

Graham Kelham came on to get the final eight outs to win the game 5-4.

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Game Notes

• The Racers (44-15)  are 6-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournament as they are making their fourth all-time appearance after playing in the event in 1975, 1979 and 2003.
• Duke won game-1 Saturday 7-4, but the Racers came back Sunday for a 19-9 win and took the best-two-of-three series today.
• The Racers are making their first-ever appearances in the CWS and are the first Missouri Valley Conference program to reach Omaha since Missouri State did so in 2003.
• Murray State is the 11th different MVC program to compete in the CWS since the Valley’s first showing in 1950, and it marks the 20th appearance overall.
• Since the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament was expanded to 64 teams in 1999, Murray State is just the fourth regional No. 4 seed to make it to Omaha.
• The Racers join Fresno State (2008), Stony Brook (2012), and most recently, Oral Roberts (2023).
• The Racers will begin its MCWS run on Saturday, June 14, at 1 p.m. CT against UCLA. The game will air nationally on ESPN with the winner taking on the winner of Arkansas/LSU on Monday at 6 p.m. CT.
• The MCWS features two double-elimination brackets with the two winners meeting in a best-of-three championship series.