Spring is on the horizon, and baseball is in full-swing at multiple levels. The Emporia State Hornets are in the middle of their season, and this past weekend saw them play their toughest opponent on the schedule in Pittsburg State, who are ranked third in the country.
To start the three-game series, junior Seth Stover got the nod against a formidable opponent. It was not the cleanest start to the game for him as the Gorillas opened with an RBI groundout to give them an early lead. In the bottom of the first inning, a trend began for the Hornet bats as junior Frankie Santiago gave the Hornets the lead off a two-run home run to give the Hornets a lead they would not relinquish.
Stover went back out and got a clean second inning of work before the Hornet bats came alive, once again. Juniors Dylan Brisbois and Logan Myers both hit home runs, Brisbois a solo shot and Myers a two-run shot, to extend the Hornets’ lead to 5-1. In the top of the third, Stover allowed his second run of the game to the Gorillas, but after that, he settled in. He would end the day by going six innings, allowing five hits, two runs, walking two, and striking out six Gorillas.
While Stover was keeping the Gorilla bats quiet, the Hornets continued their barrage. In the bottom of the third, Santiago double-dipped for his second home run of the day and sophomore Brady Unrein added another run via a groundout. In the fourth, junior Noah Steele hit a three-run home run to give the Hornets a 10-2 lead. The Hornets added two more in the fifth, and three more in the sixth, one of those being another Steele home run, to give them a 14-2 victory in seven innings.
“The gameplan stays the same, no matter who we are playing or what the weathers doing. We are going to hit the ball hard, and we are going to come at out and we are not going to stop until you’re down,” Steele said. “That is a good team over there. It is just like every other week; it is another opponent on the other side [of the field]. We are going to go out and fight until the end, no matter if they are in last or first.”
Game two was not as high scoring as the Hornets sent out their ace in sophomore Colby Deaver. Both teams got clean innings from their starters, and Deaver kept the Gorillas scoreless in the second. In the bottom of the second, Steele continued the barrage from the opener with another solo shot to give the Hornets an early lead. Deaver continued to keep the Gorillas at bay, and the Hornets rewarded his efforts with another run in the bottom of the third as junior Nathon Cruz had an RBI double to make it 2-0 after three innings.
After that, however, the Gorillas finally broke through against Deaver, putting three runs on the board in the top of the fourth. Two of those runs would be earned runs, which would be some of the first earned runs given up by Deaver this season. The Hornet offense went quiet the rest of the game, and the Gorillas added three more runs to take game two 6-2.
In the rubber match, the Hornets sent out freshman Quinton Chindamo to try to secure the series victory. The Gorillas got out to a quick start as they plated two runs in the first inning. Chindamo settled in after that inning by pitching two scoreless innings in the second and third innings. During that stretch, the Hornet bats tied the game as Unrein doubled in one, and Myers scored on a caught stealing.
The fourth inning would be a key one as the Gorillas sent Chindamo packing, as they scored three runs to make it 5-2. The Hornet bats went quiet throughout the middle part of the game as they went scoreless from the fourth through the sixth. The Gorillas, on the other hand, scored seven runs through that stretch of innings, as in the sixth, they tacked on four to make it a 9-2 game to begin the final stretch of play.
Needing to score, the Hornets got back in the saddle and got to work as freshman Evan Abbott drove in a run on a double to hopefully spark a comeback. Senior Grant Huffman gave the Hornets two scoreless innings to keep them in the game as well. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Hornets added four as Brisbois walked in a run before freshman Tyler Coffin cleared the bases with a three-RBI double to make it 9-7.
Huffman came back out for the top of the ninth, hoping to continue stifling the Gorilla bats, but they got two more insurance runs to make it 11-7 heading into the bottom of the inning. The Hornets got stifled in their final chance and lost the game and series against the third-best team in the country.
With the series concluded, the Hornets moved to 14-5 on the season and 5-4 in MIAA play. They will travel out to Edmond, Okla., this weekend to face off against Central Oklahoma for another three-game series in MIAA play.