“Just hard work and the man above — that’s it.”
These are the two factors that St. Edward’s baseball outfielder Ty Murray attributes his early-season success to. The senior from Houston has emerged as the hottest bat for the St. Edward’s baseball team, who are off to a 10-12 start to the 2024 season.
“Coming into this year, I had the mentality of having ‘nothing to lose,’” Murray said. “It’s my last year, why not make it the best year?”
First-year Head Coach Ryan Femath commends Murray for making the most of the opportunities given and earning his spot in the starting lineup. Murray made three appearances in the first seven games of the season before starting his first game on Feb. 17 at West Texas A&M University. Murray went 2-2 with two doubles and drove in the only run of the game on a sacrifice fly for the Hilltoppers in a 2-1 loss, and he has not left the field since.
In the past 15 games, Murray has been scorching at the plate, hitting .339 with 15 RBIs, carrying seven multi-hit games in that time span. Not to mention driving in four runs plus delivering the walk-off two-run single in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Hilltoppers over the University of Texas Permian Basin in the series finale to clinch a split on March 10.
Despite the dream start to his senior campaign, Murray has continued to stay grounded and not let the success go to his head. His teammates say that he doesn’t like to speak or think about it.
Since his first season on the hilltop in 2021, Murray’s opportunities have been far in between. He played in only two games during his freshman year, but was named an opening-day starter at designated hitter in 2022 against Eastern New Mexico University, but struggled at the plate, striking out three times before he was pinch hit for in the bottom of the seventh inning. He would start only three more games the entire season.
A year later, Murray cracked the opening day lineup once more, going 1-4 with three strikeouts, but wouldn’t start another game the rest of the year, finishing up the season with 11 at-bats and a .091 batting average.
Those struggles in previous seasons prepared Murray for the success that he is enjoying this year, finding beauty in the struggle of his career and taking lessons from the peaks and valleys of his time at St. Edward’s. Despite his presence in varsity games, Murray has not forgotten about his days playing in the St. Edward’s developmental games (D-games).
“I’m forever humbled by everything that I went through and what it took to get to this point,” Murray said.
The varsity team competes in NCAA Division II as a member of the Lone Star Conference while the developmental team plays in an abbreviated schedule during the week against junior college squads throughout the state. Because of the team’s large roster, this gives backup players and younger guys opportunities to get game reps in and to show off their skills in front of the coaching staff to make the varsity traveling roster.
“The success that you get from baseball feels extremely good to me,” Murray said. “It’s just so much harder (than any other sport).”
The Hilltoppers will be counting on Murray to sustain his success at the plate as they continue their quest to build on back-to-back NCAA South-Central Regional appearances and to return to the Division II NCAA Baseball Championships in Cary, North Carolina, for the first time since 2013 — the only DII World Series appearance in program history.
“It’s been a blessing,” Murray said. “I’m so thankful for this opportunity. Just happy to be in the moment, and I’m soaking it all in.”
