Murray State ready to start Cinderella run in College World Series

The underdog story at the 2025 College World Series is without a doubt the Murray State Racers

They are just the fourth team from the regionals to make it all the way to Omaha as a number four seed

This weekend, they'll take their swings against several traditional baseball powers. The school in Murray, Kentucky, with around 10,000 students, is known mostly for its basketball program

with 18 NCAA tournament appearances to its credit. This is the first trip to the College World Series for the baseball team

Impressive enough to earn a speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives

from Kentucky Congressman James Comer. This is a historic achievement for a small school

Murray State defied the odds in the era of NIL and big contracts and players getting paid

This is a group of baseball players that want to play ball. They play hard every game

They weren't highly recruited. and they win. They can also hit. They rank 11th in the nation in scoring and generated 70 runs in

the seven regional tournament games, beating traditional heavyweights Ole Miss and Duke

each twice during their run to Omaha. This post on X might sum it up best. The Racers Stadium

if you can call it that, seats just 800 fans, and coach Dan Skirka mows the grass himself

Coach and players like Jonathan Hoggart are embracing that underdog role. A lot goes into it. Like I said, we're trying to prepare to win baseball games, but at the same time, we're trying to prepare, you know, future husbands, dads, future bosses, right

And trying to do it the right way. And, you know, and a byproduct of that's winning some baseball games and getting to do something cool like this

We don want to buy into any of the hype or anything or underdog story We just want to stay focused on what we do best The community sports been phenomenal back in murray we come home there hundreds of people that are waiting on us i know my hometown personally is going crazy right now they

made drinks shirts all kinds of stuff a huge watch party saturday for us fresno state is the only

regional four seed to take a cinderella run all the way to the national championship the bulldogs

won it all in 2008. The last team to give it a shot, Oral Roberts in 2023. As for the rest of

the field, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, SEC Powers, Arkansas, and LSU are practically co-favorites

However, the favorite has won the tournament just once in the last 10 years. So keep an eye out for

a team like Coastal Carolina. This is their first trip back to the tournament since they won it all

in 2016. Head coach Kevin Schnall makes the case for the Chanticleers, who have quite the streak

going. So it's an honor to be back. This team deserves to be back. We're 53-11. We've won 23

straight games in a row. We're one of eight teams in the entire country still playing, and this team

again, deserves that opportunity. They've played so relentless and so consistent all year

There are three former Pac-12 teams to consider as well. UCLA and Arizona could make a run, but Oregon State, playing as an independent for the first time

are hoping to add to their three national titles. Going into the postseason, it's kind of just like, hey, we're going to leave it all out there

Win or lose, there's going to be no regrets. So I think when you play like that, it's easy to go out there, play free, and perform at your best

The 18-double elimination tournament runs for 10 days and begins Friday afternoon

as Arizona takes on Coastal Carolina. Cinderella-Murray State plays their first game Saturday against UCLA

For Straight Arrow News, I'm Chris Francis