College World Series: Murray State clinches final spot in Omaha with 5-4 win over Duke

Luke Mistone’s leadoff home run in the eighth inning powered Murray State to a 5-4 win over Duke in the decisive Game 3 of their Super Regional series in Durham, North Carolina. The win clinched the final spot in the eight-team Men’s College World Series for the Racers.

Murray State jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a Jonathan Hogart leadoff homer and a Dom Decker RBI single following a Carson Garner double. Duke answered in the bottom half of the frame, cutting the deficit in half on Jake Hyde’s sacrifice fly that scored Wallace Clark.

Hyde then tied the score 2-2 with a third-inning homer off Murray State reliever Reese Oakley. The Blue Devils went on top one inning later with Jake Berger’s leadoff home run.

Duke looked as if it might add to its 3-2 lead in the fourth with a deep drive to right field by AJ Gracia. However, the ball stayed in the park, caught at the wall by Dustin Mercer. Oakley allowed another long fly ball to Clark in the sixth, but Hogart caught the ball at the warning track to keep the Racers within one run.

Two deep flies that were caught at the outfield wall and prevented Duke from taking the lead created an opportunity for Murray State to tie the game. Hogart did just that on a solo home run with one out in the seventh. That set up Mistone’s heroics in the following inning, chasing Duke reliever Reid Easterly from the game after three innings and two home runs allowed.

Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, James Tallon couldn’t shut down the Racers’ lineup from there. He hit Will Vierling with a pitch and then gave Murray State a 5-3 lead by serving up a double to Dan Tauken.

Tallon stayed in trouble by issuing consecutive walks to Nico Bermeo and Conner Cunningham to load the bases with no outs. However, he managed to keep the Racers from scoring any more by striking out Hogart, getting Mercer to hit into a force play at home and striking out Garner to end the inning.

Duke cut its deficit to 5-4 in the eighth on a two-out home run by Macon Winslow. Murray State reliever Graham Kelham then put the tying run on base by walking Noah Murray on five pitches. However, he struck Kyle Johnson out to maintain the lead.

In the bottom of the ninth, Kelham flirted with danger by hitting leadoff hitter Clark with a pitch. However, he recovered by getting Gracia to foul out to left field. Ben Miller then hit a ground ball to shortstop and reached on a fielder’s choice.

What would’ve been a game-ending double play was overturned on review when umpires ruled that Clark interfered with Decker by running into him at the bag. Coming back from a premature on-field celebration, the Racers finished the win and earned their first trip to the Men’s College World Series, with Kelham getting Hyde to ground out to first.

Murray State will face UCLA in its opening Men’s College World Series matchup. Game 1 in Omaha is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET Saturday.