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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Murray State spoiled Eastern Illinois home opener on Saturday afternoon as the Racers jumped on top with nine runs in the first inning as they won 18-7 in the first game of the weekend Ohio Valley Conference series at Coaches Stadium.
 
EIU fell to 0-18 overall, 0-7 in the OVC.  Murray State improved to 9-17 overall, 5-5 in the OVC.  The two schools will wrap up the weekend series with a doubleheader on Sunday at 12 p.m.
 
Murray State did all of its damage in the first inning with two outs as EIU starter Garrison Stenger (0-6) struck out the first batter and then John Devito threw out Matthew Johnson attempting to steal for the second out.  The next nine Racers batters all reached base with three walks and seven hits.  Taylor Matthews drove home the first two runs with a bases loaded single to right.  Murray State's third run came on a double steal as Derek Yoder stole home.  Kipp Moore and Johnson both added two run homers in the inning.
 
EIU put together a small rally of its own in the bottom of the first.  Brant Valach doubled home Cale Hennemann for the Panthers first run.  Jason Scholl added an RBI single to right. 
 
Murray State responded with four runs in the second as the Panthers bullpen used three pitchers in the first two innings and seven pitchers for the day.  Anthony Bayus led off the inning with a solo home run while Nick Moore added a three run shot.  The Racers finished the game with six home runs.
 
"It was a rough start for our home opener.  Our starting pitching was not sharp today and put us in an early hole," said EIU head coach Jim Schmitz.  "I did like how we battled back and I thought Andrew Grahn was good out of the bullpen.  Starting pitching is the key and we didn't have that today."
 
Grahn pitched three scoreless innings for EIU allowing one hit while striking out three batters.  Brock Downey (4-3) picked up the win for Murray State working five innings.  Tanner Edge got his first save of the season working the final four innings.
 
EIU scored single runs in the third and fourth innings as Valach hit a solo home run in the third and Joseph Duncan had an RBI double to left center in the fourth.  Valach was 3-for-5 while Duncan was 2-for-4 to lead EIU.
 
Murray State added five more runs in the sixth inning as Pokey Harris had a three run home run.  Harris was one of four Murray State players with multiple hits in the game going 2-for-6 with four RBI.  Bayus led the Racers at the plate going 3-for-5.
 
Freshman Bobby Wenthe hit a two run home run in the bottom of the eighth and Alex Cain had an RBI single in the ninth.