March 12, 2017 - The #13 Emporia State baseball team improved to 15-4 on the season, 5-1 in the MIAA, after taking the three game series two games to one against Missouri Southern.
FINISH WHAT WE STARTED
After completing the first five innings of the second game on Saturday, March 11, weather postponed the last four innings for Sunday, March 12. At the end of five, the Hornets were trailing 3-1 to the Lions. Emporia State scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie it at three a piece and open up the day. Alex White singled to right field with two outs, bringing in Mason Brown and then Kaden Shaffer in after a Missouri Southern error. Both teams went scoreless through the next two innings, Nathan Gieber allowing only two runs in his three innings pitched. Layne Downing threw in the top of the ninth, allowing only one hit with one strikeout to keep the Lions from scoring. Shaffer crushed a walk-off home run to give Emporia State the 4-3 win. Shaffer went three for four with two runs and two RBI. White hit two for three. Downing picked up his first win of the season.
FALLING IN EXTRAS
The Hornets dropped the third and final game of the series 9-8 in 11 innings on Sunday to fall to 5-1 in the MIAA. Emporia State picked up where they left off in the first game, scoring a run in the first and two in the second. In the bottom of the second, Ryan McBroom singled through the right side to score BJ Dean followed by a Mack Gowing single up the middle to plate McBroom. Both runs in the second were on two outs. The Hornets kept a 3-0 lead before the Lions scored a run in the top of the fourth to close the gap 3-1. Emporia State answered with four runs on five hits in the bottom of the fourth to extend the lead 7-1. Dean led off the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run followed by a ground rule double from Wade Hanna. Hanna then scored on a sac fly from McBroom. Daniel LaMunyon singled to second base to plate Gowing. A pitching change did not slow down the hot bats as Mason Brown singled through the right side to bring in another run. Missouri Southern answered with four runs of their own in the top of the fifth to give Emporia State a 7-5 advantage. The Lions had another three runs in the top of the sixth to take a 8-7 lead. After a LaMunyon triple, Brown brought him home to tie the game at eight runs a piece. There were only a combined three hits through the rest of the regularly schedule games to send it into extra innings. Missouri Southern scored their winning run on a solo home run in the top of the 11th to take the game 9-8. Layne Downing picked up his first loss in the same day as his first win, going 1-1 on the afternoon. Dean hit three for six with two runs in the loss with three stolen bases. Gowing and LaMunyon both hit three for five, each scoring two runs. Levi Ashmore hit two for three.
NOTES
After the three game series, Wade Hanna now sits sixth all-time on the career runs scored list with 151 runs, passing Bob Hines. Hanna is also now tied for seventh on the all-time career doubles list with 37 doubles, tying Tod Schulz.
UP NEXT
The #13 Hornets will host Newman University for a mid-week non-conference game on Wednesday, March 15 at Glennen Field. First pitch will be thrown at 5:00 p.m.
