A Cinderella run for the books: Murray State's road to Omaha - ESPN

OMAHA, Neb. — Dan Tauken doesn't have any NIL deals, and didn't expect many perks playing baseball for Murray State. The Racers outfielder yearned for just one thing: cup holders.

Murray State bused everywhere from its campus in Kentucky during the 2025 regular season, including a nearly seven-hour one-way trip to Valparaiso in Indiana. The team is constantly on the go, eating a lot of Jimmy John's and Panda Express in the bus with nowhere to put their drinks.

Until now. On Wednesday, Tauken and his teammates awoke to a surprise — a private jet was whisking them to Omaha for the mid-major program's first trip to the Men's College World Series. The players had their own aisles to spread out on, Tauken said, and snacks were doled out every 30 minutes. Best of all, every seat had a cup holder.

«It was awesome,» Tauken said. «We finally felt like people are acknowledging the work we've been putting in, and it feels good.»

Murray State's improbable postseason run continues when it plays No. 15 UCLA on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET (ESPN) in the first round of the MCWS. The Racers are just the fourth regional 4-seed to make it to Omaha since the postseason field expanded in 1999 — it's the equivalent of a 13-to-16-seed reaching the Elite Eight of the NCAA basketball tournament.

The Racers are the epitome of the have-nots of college baseball. Murray State plays in an 800-seat stadium with giant holes in the outfield walls and a washed-out old scoreboard, and there's a Lowe's sitting in the backdrop.

The players are in charge of tarp duty. Some days, they have to lay the tarp down and roll it up multiple times.

«When we take the tarp off, it's always a river in right field,» Tauken said. «And during the season against Southern Illinois,