FLORENCE, Ala. (February 26, 2024) – The University of North Alabama baseball team travels to Murray, Ky. on Tuesday to take on Murray State in just the second true road game of the season. The Lions are coming off a three-game series loss to Morehead State where the Lions dropped two of three over the weekend.
 
North Alabama at Murray State
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
3:00 p.m.
ESPN+ | Live Stats
  
NOTES
 
Weekend Recap: Following a Morehead State win in the series opener, the UNA bats went to work, tallying 18 runs in the remaining two games. UNA took home a 9-6 victory Saturday after leading from the second inning on before falling in a back and forth 13-9 slugfest in the series finale Sunday. UNA tallied 24 hits and scored 20 runs in the three-game set.
 
Moving up the Ranks:  With a six-strikeout performance against Morehead State on Saturday, Jacob James moved into fifth place all-time in career strikeouts at UNA with 195. The southpaw from Loretto, Tenn. sits 12 strikeouts away from tying recent UNA Hall of Fame inductee Trey Mitchell for fourth place and is just 16 strikeouts away from having sole possession of second place. 
 
The Bluegrass State: The Lions travel to Kentucky for the first out of state road trip of the season. UNA opened up the season with a three-game set in South Alabama before returning home for four games. The most recent series came against Kentucky foe Morehead State, in which the Lions went 1-2.
 
Notable Performances: Last week, Kyle Machado led the team in nearly every offensive category, putting together an impressive .400/.526/.867 slash line for a 1.393 OPS in four games.  The graduate first baseman from Punta Gorda, Fla. also slugged two home runs, a double and had six RBIs. Andrew Knight batted .364 while slugging .818 across his three starts, while Jonathan Lane tallied five hits, including three doubles and a homer. Jacob James and Dane Sykes each finished up their week with a 0.00 ERA. James went scoreless across six innings with a 1-0 record and six strikeouts, while Sykes threw three innings and earned a save. Brycen Parrish also made two appearances out of the bullpen, striking out a team-high seven batters in five innings with a 1.80 ERA.  
 
Home and Home: For the third consecutive season, UNA and Murray State will meet in a pair of home-and-home midweeks. Murray State is set to make the return trip to Florence on Wednesday, March 6. The Lions are 0-2 in games played in Murray and 1-1 in games played in Florence in the past two seasons. 
 
Series History: The two schools have met seven times before in program history, with five of those meetings coming since UNA's move to Division I in 2018. Murray State leads the all-time series 6-1 and has a 2-0 record over the Lions in games played in Murray. Murray State won both meetings last season, 9-6 and 8-7, respectively. 
 
Scouting the Racers: Murray State enters the game against UNA with a 5-2 record following a pair of series wins over Purdue Fort Wayne and UL Monroe to open their season. The Racers have put up 63 runs in seven games while only allowing 30 runs to opponents. Murray State is 3-0 in home games after a season-opening sweep of Purdue Fort Wayne. Southeast Missouri defeated the Racers 8-7 in the first midweek of the year. 
 
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