EMPORIA STATE BASEBALL STARTS LOSER'S BRACKET AGAINST NORTHEASTERN STATE

Baseball | 5/8/2014 11:53:00 PM

Emporia State Hornets (36-17, 26-14 MIAA) 

vs. 

Northeastern State RiverHawks (26-27, 20-20 MIAA)

Friday, May 9 at 10:00 a.m. • Hammons Field • Springfield, Mo.
Radio: KVOE-AM 1400 Internet Audio: kvoe.com

Series Record: NSU leads 4-3  Last Meeting: NSU 6, at ESU 1(April 24, 2013)

Up Next: winner vs. Missouri Western or Central Oklahoma

Friday, May 9 at 5:00 p.m.

Hammons Field • Springfield, Mo.
 Live Stats

 

MIAA TOURNEY TIME

Emporia State faces Northeastern State in the first elimination game of the 2014 MIAA Championship Tournament.

LAST AT BAT

Emporia State battled back from a three run deficit to force extra innings before falling 9-8 to Central Oklahoma in ten innings at the MIAA Tournament in Springfield, Mo. The game was delayed four hours due to rains in the southwest Missouri area. Dean Long was three for five with two RBI and two runs scored while Wade Hanna went three for five for Emporia State.  Brenton Higgins went 3.0 innings and allowed the one run on four hits for his second loss of the year.

THE COACHES

Bob Fornelli is 440-193 in his 11th season at Emporia State and is 745-303 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 eight NCAA Tournaments. Fornelli has taken teams to the NCAA Tournament 13 times, and was the national runner-up in 2009 with Emporia State and in 2000 while at Ft. Hays State. 

Travis Janssen is 79-74 in his third season at Northeastern State.   

ABOUT THE HORNETS    

Emporia State is 36-17 overall and 26-14 in the MIAA. They had won 17 of their last 19 games entering the tournament. They are batting .295, with a 4.26 ERA and a .958 team fielding percentage. Emporia State pitchers lead the MIAA and are ranked in sixth nationally in K/BB ratio. At the plate the Hornets are sixth in the nation in home runs while they lead the MIAA and are ranked 11th nationally in stolen bases. Dean Long leads the MIAA in RBI with 55, Toby Cornejo has a league best 19 doubles and Justin Harris is tops in the MIAA with 39 stolen bases.
 

SCOUTING THE RIVERHAWKS

Central Oklahoma is 36-15 and went 26-14 in the MIAA. They have a .353 team batting average, 3.78 team ERA and a .962 team fielding percentage. They lead teh MIAA in batting average, slugging percentage, on base percentage, runs, and home runs.   Phillip Wilson leads the MIAA with a .453 average and 56 runs scored and is ranked fourth in the league with nine saves. Ricky Reeves has an MIAA best eight wins and 2.01 ERA.

THE SERIES 

Emporia State trails the all-time series 4-3 after splitting four games last season. They did not meet this season. The two had not met since 2003 prior to last season.

  

LAST TIME VS. NORTHEASTERN STATE 

Emporia State earned a split with Northeastern State at the Trusler Sports Complex winning game one 3-2 before falling 6-1 in game two. The Hornets got on the board first in the matinee when Aaron Rea doubled and Eric Dawson singled him home.  The RiverHawks answered with a run in the third to tie the score. Emporia State took the lead back in the fourth when Todd Schultz hit a sacrifice fly to score Todd Reller.  Blake Sturgeon led off the fifth with a double and would eventually come home on a squeeze bunt by Dawson. Northeastern got a run back in the top of the sixth to pull within 3-2 before Keith Picht came in to end the threat.  He worked a scoreless final 1.2 innings to pick up his fourth save of the year.
Dawson was one for two with two RBI while Sturgeon, Rea and Reller all scored runs for the Hornets.  Dakota McKaskle went 5.1 innings to get his sixth win, allowing two runs on six hits with four strikeouts. Emporia State scored in the first inning of game two when Dawson doubled in Rea but that would be the extent of their scoring. Northeastern State tied it in the top of the Second on the first of Kyle Singleton's three home runs.  He added a solo shot in the fifth and a two run homer in the seventh. Dawson was two for two with an RBI and reached base four times in the nightcap.
 

ON DECK

The winner will get the loser of the game between Central Oklahoma and Northastern State for the right to go to the MIAA Championship game.