Baseball | 4/18/2012 5:21:00 PM
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
The Hornets play five straight on the road before returning home for six of their last eight games at Glennen Field in the Trusler Sports Complex.
LAST AT BAT
MSSU jumped on top in the bottom of the third, but ESU answered in the top of the fourth to tie the game 1-1. MSSU would take the lead back in the bottom half of the inning at 2-1 before ESU answered again in the top of the fifth for a 2-2 tie. The Lions would then push across two runs in the bottom of the fifth to pull out a 4-2 victory. At the plate Dric Dawson went two for four as did Joe Vaskas who added an RBI. Ashton McCoy was one for three with a run scored and a run batted in. Blake Brisson also went one for four with a run scored. On the mound Keith Picht fell to 3-7 going 4.1 innings and striking out two.
THE COACHES
Bob Fornelli is 371-147 in his ninth season at ESU and is 676-257 in his 16th year overall. He has led ESU to eight straight NCAA South Central Regionals. He led ESU to MIAA Championships in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2011. A 1991 graduate of ESU, Fornelli has taken teams to the NCAA Tournament 12 times, and was the national runner-up in 2009 with ESU and in 2000 while at FHSU.
Jim Dapkus is 124-269 in his seventh season with the Blue Tigers.
THE SERIES
This will be the 16th and 17th meeting between the two teams with ESU holding an 8-7 overall advantage. The Hornets trailed 7-4 before taking all four meetings last season.
LAST TIME VS. LINCOLN
Andy Cotton, Joe Vaskas and Dillon Hazlett all hit home runs as ESU rolled to a 15-4 victory at home on Apri. 18, 2011. Joe Kornburst was two for four with two runs scored and two runs batted in. Rudy Weiser went three for three with three runs scored and an RBI. Spencer Blades hit pitched five innings to earn his second win of the season.
SCOUTING THE BLUE TIGERS
Lincoln is 4-31 and 4-23 in the MIAA this season. At the plate they are led by Andrew St. Pierre who is hitting .322 with nine runs batted in. Chris Pfau is hitting .315 with 15 RBI and leading the team on the mound at 3-6 with a 5.51 earned run average. Blake Jones has LU’s other win on the mound going 1-6 with a 7.28 ERA this season.
ON DECK
The Hornets will travel to Newman on April 27 for a 6 p.m. first pitch before returning home to face Central Missouri in a weekend series.
