The first month of the college baseball season has come and gone, and the Emporia State Hornets got off to a scorching start. With that start, they did not drop a series in the first month until they welcomed the Bearcats of Northwest Missouri to Trusler Sports Complex.
In the home opening game of the series, the Hornets sent junior Seth Stover to the bump to start the game. He set the early tone by holding the Bearcats scoreless in the first two innings. The Hornet bats then got the scoring going in the bottom of the second as sophomore Brady Unrein doubled in junior Noah Steele to give the Hornets an early lead. Stover then got back to work, holding the Bearcats scoreless through four innings of work.
The bottom of the fourth saw the bats put together their best inning of the game, and it started with senior Frankie Santiago hitting a ground-rule double, Steele walking, then junior Nathon Cruz laid down a sac bunt to put the two in scoring position. Santiago then scored on a passed ball before Unrein unleashed a two-run home run to put the Hornets up 4-0. Stover followed that up with another scoreless inning, but it was a stressful one as the Bearcats loaded the bases before Stover got the final out via a strikeout.
The Hornets repaid the effort from Stover by adding another run in the bottom of the fifth inning off a Santiago RBI double to make it 5-0 through five innings. Stover came back out for the top of the sixth, but wouldn’t record an out after walking the first two batters. Junior Jake Khasaempanth took over for Stover, but could not work out of the jam, leading to the Bearcats scoring five runs in the inning. That inning set the tone for the latter half of the game.
The Bearcats’ pitching started to quell the Hornet bats, holding them scoreless for the rest of the game, while the usually reliable Hornet bullpen struggled to keep the Bearcats silent. The Bearcats’ offense then added six more runs in the final three innings to take game one of the series 11-5. Unrein and Santiago led the offense as Unrein had three RBIs and hits while Santiago went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Stover went five innings, allowing two runs on five hits, four walks, and striking out two Bearcats to close out the Friday game.
On Saturday, the Hornets started the doubleheader by sending out sophomore sensation Colby Deaver, who has been untouchable this season. He continued that status against the Bearcats, tossing eight scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out six batters. Deaver extends his streak of innings pitched with no earned runs to 31 innings with the outing.
In the batter’s box, the Hornets had three total hits, all of which were of the long ball variety. Junior Dylan Brisbois smacked a three-run shot in the bottom of the second, and senior Cooper Schwindt had two solo home runs to give the Hornets a 5-0 victory to tie the series.
In the rubber match, the Hornets sent freshman Quinton Chindamo to the mound to start the game, and he got through the first inning unscathed. The Hornet bats opened the scoring as Santiago opened it with the solo shot. Then, in the top of the second, Chindamo struggled a little bit, an error from Cruz started the inning, a hit batsman followed, then a two-RBI double followed. The Bearcats tacked on another run via an RBI triple to take a 3-1 lead early.
Unrein added the Hornets’ second run of the game through a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to one. After that second inning, Chindamo settled in and finished with six innings of work, allowing six hits, three runs, two unearned, while striking out three Bearcats. Junior Nick Woodcock took over for Chindamo. The scoring came at a premium in the rubber match, and the final runs of the game were saved for the last inning.
The Bearcats got an insurance run off Woodcock on an RBI single to make it 4-2 heading into the Hornets’ side of the inning. In the final chance to win it or send it to extra innings, the Hornets got the first two batters on base to start a potential rally. A fielder’s choice moved a runner to third base before sophomore Gus Keller drove in a runner on a groundout. With a runner on second base and Brisbois up at the plate, they had a chance to tie it, but Brisbois grounded out to first base to end the game 4-3 in favor of the Bearcats.
In a series that was back-and-forth, the Hornets were on the wrong side of the runs and fell to the Bearcats with a series score of 2-1. It was the first series loss of the season for the Hornets, and moved to 13-3 on the season. Their next series, they will stay at home to face off against Pittsburg State starting on March 6.