Justin Murray does it all for UH baseball, whether on the mound, at the plate or in the field

On the next-to-last weekend of the regular season, Justin Murray went 4-for-4 and delivered an RBI single to spark an eighth-inning comeback against Tulane.

In most games, that would be enough for any player. Murray, the University of Houston’s two-way player, was just warming up.

Murray, who doubles as the Cougars’ closer when he’s not playing first base, followed with two shutout innings on the mound to complete the 5-4 victory.

A week later in a must-win game against Cincinnati, Murray delivered the tying run as part of a five-run, ninth-inning rally. The hard-throwing righthander closed the game with a season-high four shutout innings, striking out six as the Cougars prevailed 8-7 in 10.

“He’s had MVP-type numbers,” UH coach Todd Whitting said.

At the plate, Murray hit .365 during the regular season — one percentage point behind Wichita State’s Chuck Ingram for the American Athletic Conference’s regular-season batting title — with eight home runs. He finished among the league's top five in hits (72), RBIs (51) and stolen bases (18).

On the mound, Murray was 5-0 with a 2.80 ERA and nine saves.

During the final two weeks of the season, Murray was named the AAC player and pitcher of the week.

And on Monday, Murray was voted the league’s newcomer position player of the year.

“We knew we were getting a good player,” Whitting said. “We didn’t know we were getting a great player.”

As No. 2 seed UH opens the AAC tournament against seventh-seeded Tulane on Tuesday at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Fla., Murray will likely be called upon for double-duty again. The Cougars (33-21) must win the league’s automatic bid to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018.

Whitting admits he “didn’t have big intentions” for Murray on the mound this season, more than happy to pencil his name into the lineup at first base in the heart of the batting order. But an experienced and deep pitching staff suffered key losses, forcing Murray to step in for injured closer José Torrealba just a few weeks into the season.

Suddenly, Murray, a transfer from Dartmouth, was called upon to play first base and pitch out of the bullpen.

“It’s definitely a lot of work,” Murray said. “I’ve been doing it my whole life, so I’ve kind of figured out how to balance that. I really like doing both because it allows me to separate, mentally, both sides of the game.

“I know if I’m not having a great hitting game, I still have to be ready to pitch on the mound and help the team out that way. Or vice versa. If I’m not pitching great, I still have at-bats coming up where I can help the team that way.”

Two-way players are common in college baseball, and the John Olerud award — named after the former Washington State All-America pitcher and first baseman — has been presented since 2010. The “two-way player” became an official MLB roster classification in 2020, a year before Shohei Ohtani’s historic season (with 100 mph fastballs and tape-measure home runs) made him a worldwide sensation.

Murray, a first-team Ivy League pick as a utility man and second-team selection as a pitcher in 2022, is an advocate for two-way players.

“You just see a lot more guys in college doing both,” Murray said. “I think that’s good for the game versus trying to specialize in one. You might be a great pitcher in high school, and people take the bat out of your hands. But you could’ve been a tremendous hitter and you just never know. I think doing both is good for the game.”

It's certainly paid off for the Cougars.

Murray has been one of UH’s most consistent bats all season with a 16-game hitting streak, and he's reached base in 34 straight games overall. With a fastball that sits between 90-92 mph and tough off-speed stuff, he had a win and save in a three-game series to begin conference play against eventual champion East Carolina, had saves in back-to-back games against Wichita State in early May, and a win and save in series against UCF and Tulane.

What has been the secret to Murray’s dual success?

“Focusing on what I’m doing at that exact moment, whether hitting or pitching or being in the field,” he said. “In the moment, you are just trying to think of one thing at a time and staying in that moment — to either be the best pitcher you can be or the best hitter you can be.”

Whitting said Murray has the advantage of “already being engaged in the game” when he shifts from first base to the mound.

“There’s no nervousness or anything like that,” Whitting said. “He’s fully invested in the game because he’s been in the game for seven innings. It's not a big deal for him to come in. Where guys that come off the bench after sitting for three hours, sometimes you’ve got to wake back up, get your blood flowing and amped up to go in and do something. That part of it I think is an advantage for him, or it seems to be.”