#21 EMPORIA STATE BASEBALL TO PLAY #6 ARKANSAS TECH IN NCAA TOURNEY

Baseball | 5/16/2014 12:11:00 AM

DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN
For the second straight week the Hornets will have to battle all the way through the losers bracket to win a tournament. It will be the third week in a row the Hornets will play a win or end the season scenario.

LAST AT BAT
The #21 Hornets scored five runs off regional pitcher of the year Jason Hoppe, but Minnesota State scored 11 runs on four Hornet pitchers in an 11-5 win by the Mavericks in the first round of the NCAA Central Region Tournament.
 
THE COACHES
Bob Fornelli is 443-193 in his 11th season at Emporia State and is 749-306 overall in his 18th year overall. He is the fifth winningest active coach in NCAA Division II and is 19th in total victories. He has led Emporia State to two Division II World Series appearances in nine NCAA Tournaments. Fornelli has taken teams to the NCAA Tournament 14 times, and was the national runner-up in 2009 with Emporia State and in 2000 while at Ft. Hays State.
Dave Dawson is 168-96 in his fifth season at Ark. Tech and 211-190 in nine seasons as a head coach.

ABOUT THE HORNETS
Emporia State is 40-18 overall, went 26-14 in the MIAA regular season, won the MIAA Tournament championship, are ranked #21 in the nation and seeded 4th in the Central Regional. They have won 21 of their last 25 games since starting the season 19-14. They are batting .294, with a 4.12 ERA and a .964 team fielding percentage. Emporia State pitchers lead the MIAA and are ranked in fifth nationally in K/BB ratio. At the plate the Hornets are fifth in the nation in home runs and stolen bases. Nine Hornets were named All-MIAA with Shawn Talkington, Brenton Higgins and Levi Parker earning first-team honors.

SCOUTING THE WONDER BOYS
Arkansas Tech is 43-10 overall, went 25-5 in the NSIC, are ranked #6 in the nation and are top seeds and hosts at the Central Regional. They have a .295 team batting average, 3.82 team ERA and a .971 team fielding percentage. This is their first trip to the NCAA Tournament. They have set a school record for wins and earlier this year had a 22 game winning streak.  Randy Vallejo is leading the nation with 17 saves on the season.

THE SERIES
This will be the sixth meeting between Emporia State and Arkansas Tech with the Hornets leading 4-1 all-time.

LAST TIME VS. ARKANSAS TECH
The #40 Emporia State baseball dropped their third game of the Astros In Action Division II Invitational 12-4 to Arkansas Tech on Feb. 4, 2013 at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Andrew Polly took the loss for Emporia State giving up five runs on six hits in 1.1 innings.  Keith Picht had four strike outs in 2.0 innings but gave up the final three runs of the game in the ninth. Eric Dawson and Luke Slagle both went two for four as Dawson scored a run and Slagle had an RBI.  Aaron Rea was one for four with an RBI and run scored while Ashton McCoy went one for four with an RBI.

HOW TOUGH?
Five of the six teams in the Central Regional are nationally ranked in the top 30.  This is the only region in D-II in which four teams have at least 40 wins.  

ON DECK
With a win Emporia State will advance to an elimination game on Saturday against either Ark.-Monticello or Augustana. First pitch for that game is set for 3:30 p.m. With a loss the Hornets will end their season at 40-20. 

HE'S A WINNER
Emporia State head baseball coach Bob Fornelli has 749 career wins and is 443-193 (.698) at Emporia State. Fornelli is the second winningest coach by percentage at Emporia State behind Dave Bingham (557-223, .714 in 14 years) and the third winningest coach at by victories (444) behind Bingham and Brian Embery (458-320, .589 in 15 years). This is the Hornets ninth trip to the NCAA Tournament in his 11 years and he has twice led Emporia State to the National Championship game, in 2006 and 2009. He has taken teams to the NCAA Tournament in 14 of his 18 years as a collegiate coach.
Fornelli, a 1991 graduate of Emporia State, spent seven years at Ft. Hays State where he compiled a 306-113 record and led the Tigers to the NCAA Division II national championship game in 2000 and was in the NCAA regional tournament six times.
Prior to his time in Hays, Fornelli was the pitching coach at Butler County Community College in El Dorado, Kan., from 1991 until 1996. During his tenure the Grizzlies were 195-86 and finished third in the NJCAA World Series in 1994.
Fornelli, a native of Lenexa, Kan., was an honorable mention All-Central States Intercollegiate Conference catcher for the Hornets as a senior after transferring from BCCC. He is married to the former Jill Harris of Madison, Kan. The couple has three daughters - Emma, Rylie and Addison.

POWER AND LIGHT DISTRICT
Emporia State is ranked fifth in the nation in both total home runs with 57 and total stolen bases with 133 and are the only team in the nation with at least 50 homers and 100 stolen bases. Dean Long has 14 home runs to rank seventh in the nation. He is tied for tenth on the Emporia State single season list. Justin Harris has 42 stolen bases in 50 attempts to rank sixth in the nation. He is seventh on the Hornets single season list.

MOUND PRESENCE
The Hornet pitching staff is fifth in the nation in strikeout to walk ratio with 395 K's and only 124 walks entering the regional.  Jarrod Miller was 7-5 with a 2.99 ERA and 75 strike outs in 78.1 innings pitched entering the regional. Dakota McKaskle is 8-2 with a 3.95 ERA and 51 strike outs in 79.2 innings. Shawn Talkington is 7-2 with a save, a 3.05 ERA and 69 strike outs in 76.2 innings.  Talkington may move to the closer role with an injury to Brenton Higgins.  The Hornets closer was 7-2 with 12 saves and a 1.44 ERA before aggravating an elbow injury in the first MIAA Championship game.  His status is doubtful for the regional.

WHERE WINNERS PLAY
This school year Emporia State has sent teams to the NCAA post season in football, women's basketball, women's tennis, softball and baseball. Both the men's and women's track teams had a competitor at the indoor national championships and they have combined to send 13 athletes to the outdoor national championships.  
The Lady Hornets won the women's basketball tournament championship while the Hornets took the baseball tournament championship.  Emporia State won at least one contest in six of the eight league tournaments they took part in, the most of any school in the league.