#21 EMPORIA STATE BASEBALL PLAYS #4 MINNESOTA STATE FOR REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Baseball | 5/18/2014 12:56:00 AM

CAROLINA IN MY MIND
The #21 Hornets will play #4 Minnesota State for the right to represent the Central Region in the NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament in Cary, N.C. It is the second time the two have played for a regional title.

LAST AT BAT
For the seventh time this post season #21 Emporia State found a way to win, scoring three runs in the top of the ninth to defeat #30 Augustana 3-0. The Hornets scored the winning run on a bases loaded walk and then added two more on a wild pitch and error.
 
THE COACHES
Bob Fornelli is 445-193 in his 11th season at Emporia State and is 751-306 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.
Matt Magers is 259-75 in his sixth season at Minnesota State.

ABOUT THE HORNETS
Emporia State is 42-18 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 23 of their last 27 games since starting the season 19-14 and have won seven straight elimination games. They are batting .290, with a 4.00 ERA and a .965 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. Justin Harris has 44 stolen bases to rank fifth all-time at Emporia State.

SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS
Minnesota State-Mankato is 44-9 overall, went 28-4 in the NSIC, are ranked #4 in the nation and are seeded #3 in the Central Regional. They have a .324 team batting average, 3.08 team ERA and a .977 team fielding percentage. Jason Hoppe was the consensus Regional Pitcher of the Year. The Maverick pitching staff leads the nation in K/BB ratio. Stetson Olson was a consensus first-team All-Region selection at first base.

THE SERIES
This will be the fifth meeting between Emporia State and Minnesota State, with all five coming in NCAA Tournament play. The Hornets swept the Mavericks to win the regional title in Emporia during the 2006 season. The next year Emporia State eliminated Minnesota State from the regional in Warrensburg, Mo.

LAST TIME VS. MINNESOTA STATE
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.

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.  The Hornets have split a pair of games against teams ranked in the top ten to open the tourney and will be playing their third straight game against a team ranked in the top 30 nationally.

ON DECK
The Central Regional winner will take on the Atlantic Regional winner in the NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament, or World Series, in Cary, N.C. on May 25 at 12:00 p.m. (CT). 

HE'S A WINNER
Emporia State head baseball coach Bob Fornelli has 751 career wins and is 445-193 (.697) 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 (445) 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 52 and total stolen bases with 139 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 44 stolen bases in 50 attempts to rank sixth in the nation. He is fifth on the Hornets single season list.

MOUND PRESENCE
The Hornet pitching staff is fifth in the nation in strikeout to walk ratio with 420 K's and only 130 walks entering the regional. Shawn Talkington is 9-2 with a save, a 2.85 ERA and 76 strike outs and 17 walks in 82.0 innings and has moved to the closer role with an injury to Brenton Higgins.  The Hornets regular closer was 7-2 with 12 saves and a 1.44 ERA before aggravating an elbow injury in the first MIAA Championship game.  Higgins will not be able to pitch in the regional, but may be used in a pinch running situation if needed. Jarrod Miller is 7-6 with a 3.63 ERA and 77 strike outs 21 base on balls in 79.1 innings pitched. He took the loss in game one of the regional, only throwing 40 pitches in one plus inning. Dakota McKaskle is 8-2 with a 3.89 ERA and 55 strike outs in 85.2 innings. He threw 107 pitches in 7.0 innings in the win against Arkansas Tech. Travis Hendry is 2-1 with a 3.50 ERA with 44 strike outs and ten walks in 54.0 innings. He threw a career best 102 pitches in the Hornets win against Augustana.

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.
Emporia State and Minnesota State are the only NCAA Division II schools to have their baseball, softball and men's track & field teams all ranked in the top 25 of the national coaches rankings this week. They each had their football teams in the NCAA Playoffs and one of their basketball teams in the NCAA Tournament.