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w w w. Racer Insider. c o m
April 29, 2015
Baseball
Inconsistent play highlights
Racers’ 2015 OVC season
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Will Aubrey
Racer Insider Senior Writer
The Murray State baseball team has had an up and down season so far. They started the year by
losing 10 of their first 13 games. Then they righted the ship, winning six out of seven at one point and
getting to 9-6 in OVC play. Unfortunately, that streak was followed by 13 consecutive defeats.
“We've obviously hit a really tough stretch here,” head coach Kevin Moulder said. “There for a while
we were playing a little over our heads and everything was going our way. We caught some breaks and
things were going about as well they could.
“Then we had some adversity with some injuries. We haven't been getting any breaks. And we're
on the flip side of that.”
The Racers' lead-off hitter and #1 starting pitcher, Brock Downey, has been out with a sprained left
wrist.
“That injury has been extremely costly for us,” Moulder said. “In addition to being our best pitcher
he had been batting lead-off for us and he plays a phenomenal right field. He's our best hitter. He's our
best pitcher. He's our leader and without him we've been lost. He tried to start this past weekend. He
has a big heart. But he wasn't healthy and that was obvious.”
Downey gave up five hits and six runs in a third of an inning against Southeast Missouri on Saturday.
“Cody Maerz broke his hand punching a wall against Southern Illinois-Carbondale,” Moulder said.
“That definitely set us back”
Maerz was 4-0 in 10 appearances for the Racers.
“Then we had to go about two weeks without Tyler Anderson,” Moulder continued. “He had been
one of our better relievers. He pitched Sunday for the first time in a couple of weeks.”
Anderson's 3.72 ERA is the best on the team as is his .260 batting average against.
“And now, we've been without Taylor Mathews, our starting centerfielder for the last couple of
weeks,” Moulder concluded. “So, it has been a rough go for us.”
Mathews is hitting .278 with a .356 on-base percentage and leads the team in triples.
“I think Taylor should be back by this weekend,” Moulder said. “He passed his concussion test a
couple of days ago. So it will be nice to have him back. I don't know about Brock. It's just a matter of
time. You can't pitch with a sprained wrist, though. We need to get him back because we don't have
any other options.
Photo Courtesy of Murray State Athletics
Catcher Tyler Lawrence is considered the leader of the offense, hitting .258 with a team-high 28 RBIs.
“We're hoping to have Cody back for the last weekend of the season. Again, the hand he broke is
the hand he throws with and it's hard to pitch with a broken hand.”
Meanwhile, Nick Moore and Tyler Lawrence have led the offense. Moore is hitting .272 with 26 RBIs
while Lawrence is hitting .258 with a team high 28 RBIs.
“Nick has really come on,” Moulder said. “He's a transfer from Missouri. He didn't play much for
them though, so this is his first full season of college baseball. He's gotten better and better as the
season has gone on. He hits in the middle of the lineup and he's not a prototypical 4 or 5 hole guy. But
he's done a great job with it.
“Tyler has done a good job too. He's kind of the focal point of our offense. This is his second year
and everyone knows who he is. He gets pitched a lot differently than he did last year. And he's done a
good job taking walks and hitting with some power. He's had a nice season for us without much support
around him.”
So what can be done to turn things around?
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April 29, 2015
w w w. Racer Insider. c o m
19
Cameron Payne
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At the end of the season he won the Ohio
Valley Conference's Player of the Year award and
the Lute Olsen National Player of the Year award.
He was also an Associated Press and CBS AllAmerican.
“I want to thank Cam and his family for the impact they've had on my life and on this program,”
Prohm said. “We wish him an enormous amount
of success going forward and we'll all be his
biggest fans. He has embodied what our program
is about both on and off the court. He led us to a
29-3 record in OVC play over the last two years.
And he was the third most efficient player in the
country this year.”
Payne is regarded as a lock for the first round
and has been listed as high as No. 12 in some of
the mock drafts, making him a potential lottery
pick.
NBA scouts rave about his court vision and
the way he distributes the ball. That's evidenced
by this obscure stat – 49.1 percent of his assists
this past season came in the first 10 seconds of
a Murray State possession. That's the highest in
the country and more than twice the rate of Delon
Wright (Utah), Isaiah Taylor (Texas), and Jerian
Grant (Notre Dame).
Yahoo Sports says, “Team executives who
expect to be picking in the late lottery range told
Yahoo Sports they expect Payne to be a prospect
they'll have to consider. Nevertheless, Payne is
believed to be solidified as a mid-first-round pick in
the June draft.
“Several NBA executives are comparing
his possible climb in the first round to Orlando
Magic guard Elfrid Payton, another smaller school
underclassman who rose all the way to the 10th
selection in the 2014 draft.”
Asked what he would say to other players who
are looking for a place to play in college, Payne
smiled.
“Coach Prohm produces good point guards,”
he said with a chuckle. “When you come here,
you're family. In a small community like this you
really get to know people. You get a foundation
here and you become a man. You learn through
faith because Coach Prohm loves God. They build
men here. If you play here you win games, you win
championships and you hang banners.”
The NBA draft will be held on Thursday,
June 25 in New York City. Payne is expected to
participate in the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago
May 12-17. In addition to interviews and various
drills the players will compete in five-on-five scrimmages for the first time since 2008.
Baseball
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“We need to get some better pitching,”
Moulder said with a chuckle. “But there's only
so much we can do. We don't have the type of
depth to deal with the kind of injuries we've had
and sustain any degree of success. It's going to
take someone coming out of the woodwork and
stepping up that we weren't counting on to be
good. We almost have to play a perfect game to
win now and that's tough to do.”
Photo Courtesy of MSU Athletics
(ABOVE) Sophomore Cameron Payne (left) is flanked by his head coach, Steve Prohm, during the press conference to announce his intentions to declare for the NBA Draft. (Below) Many members of the media, fans and
teammates gathered in the Murray Room for Payne’s press conference.