"It just doesn't feel real": Murray State baseball coach talks Cinderalla run to Super Regionals

Murray State is headed to the super regionals of the NCAA Baseball Tournament for the first time in program history. Last night, the Racers outlasted Ole Miss 12-11 to clinch the Oxford regional, their third win over the Rebels, the No. 10 overall seed in the tournament, in four days. This weekend, they will look to continue their Cinderella story vs. Duke with a bandwagon full of Kentucky fans cheering them on.

Murray State head coach Dan Skirka called KSR this morning from the team bus on the way home from Oxford to talk about the Racers’ historic run. As you could imagine, he was still on cloud nine — and a little bit in disbelief.

“It was electric there last night,” Skirka said of the atmosphere at Ole Miss’ Swayze Field. “That environment there, I mean, they are very passionate fans, and it just doesn’t feel real, to be honest with you. Just so happy for our guys. You know, they performed all weekend — they performed all year — but to go in there and to do what they did, there were so many performances that are just — it was awesome. Awesome.”

On Friday, Murray State upset Ole Miss 9-6, its first NCAA Tournament win since 1979. On Saturday, the Racers beat Georgia Tech 13-11 but lost to Ole Miss 19-8 on Sunday night, setting up last night’s winner-takes-all showdown. The Racers got off to an impressive start, taking a 5-0 lead in the third inning and pushing it to 12-3 heading into the seventh inning stretch. The Rebels finally responded, scoring five runs in the bottom of the seventh and three in the eighth to come within one of the Racers. Ultimately, Murray State held them off to secure the 12-11 win and become just the tenth No. 4 seed in Division I baseball history to advance to the super regionals.

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“Once we stopped the bleeding there, I thought we would add on to our lead, but they got us for zeroes in the eighth and the ninth, and then it was up to our pitching and our defense,” Skirka said of Ole Miss’ late rally. “I did keep faith. I was confident in our closer there, Graham Kellham. I told him, “Slowest heartbeat in America.” You know, 12,000 people yelling, they’re playing their music as loud as they can, and he just kept filling it up. It was cool.”

Skirka said the crowd in Oxford was wild all weekend, joking that there was “some verbal and nonverbal communication” from their fans. Ultimately, he said the Rebels were very classy, even in defeat.

“They were awesome. We ran into them in some restaurants and the coffee shops in the morning, and even after the game, a lot of them saw us in between, in the tunnel, waiting around, and they were very, very congratulatory to us and what we did. Obviously, they’re rooting for Ole Miss, but you could tell that they knew what a special group we had that came in there. I think that’s icing on the cake.”

Now, Murray State heads to Durham to face Duke in a best-of-three super regional starting on Saturday. Big Blue Nation never needs an excuse to cheer against the Blue Devils, but with Kentucky’s run over, there’s even more reason to embrace the in-state Cinderella. Skirka encouraged BBN to hop on board the bandwagon.

“They’re a great group, so we’ll take all the fans we can get.”

Murray State vs. Duke – Durham Super Regional Schedule

• Game 1: Saturday, June 7 | 1 p.m. ET | ESPNU
• Game 2: Sunday, June 8 | 12 p.m. ET | TBD
• Game 3 (if necessary): Monday, June 9 | TBD