MURRAY, KY ? The Arkansas State baseball team posted its first shutout of the year as the Tribe downed regional rival Murray State, 11-0 on Wednesday afternoon at Reagan Field. The Indians' top four batters in the lineup drove in nine of the Tribe's 11 runs in the victory which improves ASU to 4-1 on the year.
Senior second baseman Brett Kinning tallied three of the Tribe's 12 hits in the victory as he drove in a pair of runs and scored a pair. Junior center fielder Hudson Smart notched his first home run of the year as he drove in three runs while junior designated hitter Josh Yates also picked up three RBIs in the victory.
The Tribe pitching staff was solid as four different pitchers combined for the three-hit shutout. Indian starter T. J. Brewer (1-0) picked up the victory in his first start at ASU as he tossed five strong innings of work. Brewer allowed just one hit while striking out seven batters. Doug Gunderson tossed two innings of one-hit relief while Ryan Duclos and Tim Egart each tallied an inning of relief.
The Indians led from the very beginning as the Tribe took advantage of a Murray State error to plate a run in the first inning against Thoroughbred starter Kalen Gibson. Smart reached on the error and was put into scoring position after a single by Kevin Kull Jr. Yates followed with a run scoring single that plated Smart with the first run of the afternoon.
The Tribe broke the game open in the top of the third inning as the Indians jumped all over Gibson for four runs. Michael Williams Jr. started things off as he reached on an error and came home on a Kinning double to left center field. Smart followed with a two-run home run over the left field wall to extend ASU's lead to four runs. Yates capped off the inning as he crushed a 3-1 pitch down the left field line to put the Tribe up, 5-0
The Indian attack was not done as it ran Gibson from the game in the fourth inning as the Tribe added four more runs. The Indians again took advantage of Murray State miscues as the ?Breds committed two more errors in the inning.
Sophomore catcher Drew Rogers open by being hit by a pitch and Williams reached on a bunt single. Kinning followed with another bunt single but the Murray State throw sailed wide of the bag and allowed Rogers to score. Smart picked up an RBI as he reached on the second error of the inning while Kull added a run scoring single. Yates picked up his third RBI of the afternoon as he drove in Smart to put ASU up, 9-0.
The Indians added single runs in the seventh and ninth innings to close out the scoring. The Tribe once again took advantage of Murray State errors in both innings to score the runs. In the ninth, Brandon Bennett and Jeremy Lyons each picked up their first career hits to score the Tribe's 11th run of the afternoon as Lyons capped the afternoon off with a run scoring single.
Gibson (0-1) only lasted four innings as he was charged with nine runs, five earned, as he allowed eight hits in the loss. Murray State drops to 0-1 on the season as it was playing its first game of the year.
The Indians are now 6-1 all-time against Murray State under Kessinger and are 13-2 against the ?Breds in the l
last 15 meetings between the regional rivals.
The Indians will be back in action this weekend as they take part in the Lamar Cardinal Classic in Beaumont, Texas. The Tribe will face off against Kentucky on Friday afternoon in the first game of the weekend.
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