Eastern Connecticut State University

Brian K. Murphy was a left-handed pitcher who rose from the baseball sub-varsity to stardom in two short years. After pitching exclusively on the sub-varsity level as a freshman and seeing limited varsity action as a sophomore, Murphy developed into the team’s stopper in his final two seasons. In his junior and senior seasons, the North Grosvenor Dale native won 20 of 25 decisions with 2.09 ERA in 176 2/3 innings, completed 14 of his 24 starts, and won all three of his decisions in NCAA regional tournament competition. In 39 career outings over three varsity seasons, Murphy was 24-8 with three saves and a 2.62 ERA in 209 2/3 innings. He completed more than half (15) of his 29 career starts with four shutouts, 178 strikeouts, and 81 walks. As a junior in 1978, Murphy led Division III with 12 victories and New England Division III with a 1.61 ERA (11^th nationally) on the way to third-team All-America accolades. In his career, Murphy had an 18-2 career record up north in the regular season and did not lose to a Division III opponents in his last two years. As both a junior and senior, Murphy started the team’s season and regional tournament openers and completed 14 of his 24 starts. He pitched a complete-game six-hitter in a 4-3 win that opened the 1978 regional tournament opener. In the 1979 regionals, he tossed a complete-game four-hitter in a 3-2 victory, then came back in relief the next day to gain a 4-2 win over Ithaca College in the losers’ bracket final.  Murphy won nearly one-quarter of Eastern’s 102 games in his three-year varsity career and led the Warriors to three NCAA Division III tournaments and an overall winning percentage of .739. Following his senior year, Murphy was drafted in the 23^rd round of the 1979 First-Year Player draft by the New York Yankees.