TURNPIKE TUSSLE TUESDAY FOR #14 HORNET BASEBALL IN TOPEKA

#14 Emporia State Hornets (27-8, 16-5 MIAA)
at
Washburn Ichabods (19-16, 11-13 MIAA)
Tuesday, April 12, 2017 at 5:00 p.m. • Falley Field • Topeka, Kan..
Series Record: ESU leads 170-74-1 Last Meeting: ESU 12, WU 4 (5/13/16) - MIAA Tourney  
Live Stats Complete Notes in pdf
 Up Next: at Northeastern State • April 13-15, 2017 • Rousey Field • Tahlequah, Okla.

MID-WEEK TURNPIKE TUSSLE
The #14 Hornets travel to Topeka for the first of three mid-week Turnpike Tussle games against Washburn.

LAST AT BAT
The then #17 Hornets clinched a series win against then #19 Central Missouri with their second come from behind walk-off win in three days on Sunday. The Hornets trailed 6-2 going into the bottom of the fifth when they started their comeback with three runs on just one hit to pull within 6-5.  The Mules added a run on a solo homer in the top of the sixth to go back up by two runs.  Emporia State got a single run in the bottom of the seventh only to see Central Missouri match them with a run in the top of the eighth.  Trailing 8-6 going to the bottom of the ninth, the first six Hornets reached base with Kaden Shaffer delivering a bases loaded single for the 9-6 win.

THE COACHES
Bob Fornelli is 550-237 in his 14th season at Emporia State and is 856-350 overall in his 21st year as a four year head coach. He is the fifth winningest active coach in NCAA Division II and is 14th in total victories. Fornelli is the winningest active MIAA coach. He has led Emporia State to two Division II World Series appearances in 11 trips to the NCAA Tournament. Fornelli has taken teams to the NCAA Tournament 16 times, and was the national runner-up in 2009 with Emporia State and in 2000 while at Ft. Hays State. He is 40-20 against the Ichabods.
Harley Douglas is 86-56 in his third year as head coach at Washburn. He is 4-7 against the Hornets.

ABOUT THE HORNETS
Emporia State is 27-8 on the season, 16-5 in the MIAA and are ranked 14th in the nation. Although no individual is ranked in the top ten nationally, offensively the Hornets are sixth in the nation in scoring, seventh in fielding percentage, ninth in stolen bases, and 12th in walks. Alex White is third in the MIAA with a .496 on base percentage while Levi Ashmore is fourth in runs scored in the league.
Emporia State's six shutouts are the fifth most in the nation. The Hornet pitching staff is fifth in Division II in walks allowed per nine innings. Seth Holman is second in the MIAA with six wins.

SCOUTING THE ICHABODS
Washburn is 19-16 on the season and 11-13 in the MIAA. The Ichabods are hitting .262 as a team and are third in the MIAA with 65 stolen bases.  Riley Krane is batting .338 with an MIAA leading with 11 home runs and 47 RBI. Washburn is third in the MIAA with a staff ERA of 4.46 with one shutout.

THE SERIES
This is the 246th meeting between the two and Emporia State leads the all-time series 170-74-1 against Washburn.

LAST TIME AGAINST WASHBURN
Emporia State exploded for seven runs in the top of the first on the way to a 12-4 win over Washburn in the second round of the MIAA Baseball Tournament. Daniel LaMunyon was four for four with four RBI and a run scored Garrett Brummett gave up two runs on five hits with a walk and eight strikeouts in 7.0 innings.

ON DECK
The #14 Hornets travel to Tahlequah, Okla. for a three game series at Northeastern State.  Games are scheduled to run Thursday through Saturday due to the Easter holiday.

HE'S A WINNER
Emporia State head baseball coach Bob Fornelli has 856 career wins and is 550-237 (.699) in his 14th season at Emporia State. Fornelli is the second winningest coach at Emporia State behind Dave Bingham who was 557-223 (.714) in 14 years from 1974-87. The Hornets have made 11 trips to the NCAA Tournament in his first 13 years and he has twice led Emporia State to the Division II World Series, in 2006 and 2009. He has taken teams to the NCAA Tournament in 16 of his 20 years as a collegiate coach and is the winningest active MIAA 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 five times.
He is the fifth winningest active coach in NCAA Division II and ranks 14th in career victories with an 856-350 (.710) record in his 21st season as a head coach.
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.
A native of Lenexa, Kan., he was an honorable mention All-CSIC catcher for the Hornets as a senior after transferring from Butler County CC. He is married to the former Jill Harris of Madison, Kan. The couple has three daughters - Emma, Rylie and Addison.

BEHIND AND AT THE PLATE
Catcher/DH Mason Brown (Jr./Littleton, Colo.) is fifth in the MIAA with a .474 on base percentage, is sixth with a .389 batting average, and is eighth with 51 hits. He has nine doubles, six home runs and 32 RBI on the year.
DH/catcher Taylor Sanagorski (Jr./Wichita, Kan.) is batting .250 with three home runs, three doubles, a triple and 20 RBI.  He had a pinch hit two RBI single that tied Friday's game with Central Missouri in the bottom of the ninth.

AROUND THE HORN
First baseman Kaden Shaffer (Jr./Ottawa, Kan.) is eighth in the MIAA with 23 walks,  and is tenth with a .453 on base percentage. He is batting .339 with six home runs and 34 RBI.
Second baseman Ryan McBroom (Sr./Wichita, Kan.) is fourth in the conference with four triples and ranks sixth with a .646 slugging percentage and ninth with 36 RBI. He is batting .345 on the year with six home runs and eight doubles.
Shortstop Levi Ashmore (Sr./Iola, Kan.) ranks fourth in the MIAA with 15 stolen bases and 40 runs. He is batting .349 with 11 doubles on the season.
Third baseman Alex White (Sr./Colorado Springs, Colo.) is third in the MIAA with a .496 on base percentage and comes in fifth with a .394 batting average. He has five doubles and 21 runs scored on the year.  He is currently on a 17 game hitting streak.

OUT IN THE FIELD
Outfielder Mack Gowing (Jr./Wichita, Kan.) is hitting .353 with five doubles, a triple, a home run and 19 RBI. He has six stolen bases and 26 runs scored. He has two outfield assists this year.
Outfielder BJ Dean (Sr./Pratt, Kan.) is fourth in the MIAA with nine home runs. He is batting .302 with six doubles, 29 RBI and 32 runs scored. He has three outfield assists on the season.
Outfielder Wade Hanna (Sr./Shawnee, Kan.) is batting .295 with eight doubles, three triples, a home run, 19 RBI and 27 runs scored. He has two assists from the outfield this season.

TIMELY HITTING
Infielder/DH Daniel LaMunyon (Sr./Leawood, Kan.) has two late inning, game winning home runs on the season. He is seventh in the MIAA with 12 stolen bases. He is batting .274 on the year with 20 RBI, 22 runs and five home runs. He has played in 26 games with 18 starts.
Infielder Tate Kastens (Jr./Denver, Colo.) is batting .480 with runners on base and .450 with runners in scoring position. In 19 games with ten starts he is batting .353 with three home runs and 18 RBI.    

IN A PINCH
Infielder Tucker Perkins (So./Belton, Mo.) has been the Hornets most used pinch hitter.  He is batting .357 in 14 pinch hit at bats. He is batting .333 on the season in 21 games with four starts.  He is hitting .400 with runners on base and .412 with runners in scoring position.  He was named to the All-Central Regional Tournament team last year as a freshman.
Outfielder Jonny Hodges (Jr./DeSoto, Kan.) is the second most used pinch hitter for the Hornets with nine pinch hit at bats. He is batting .258 on the season with a .361 on base percentage in 22 games with seven starts. He has also been used as a pinch runner six times with a stolen base and run scored in that role.
Outfielder David Oropeza (Jr./Nogales, Ariz.) has been used as a pinch runner 12 times this year and has scored half the time he has been used in that role.  He has four stolen bases as a pinch runner. He is batting .333 in 20 games with one start.

ON THE MOUND
Right-handed pitcher Seth Holman (Jr./Wichita, Kan.) is ranked second in the MIAA with six wins and 1.70 walks per nine innings. He is fourth in the league with a 3.91  strikeout to walk ratio. He is 6-2 with a 3.70 ERA and 43 strikeouts with just 11 walks on the season. He has pitched into the sixth in seven of his nine starts with one complete game shutout and two combined shutouts.
Right-handed pitcher Tanner Cairns (So./Wichita, Kan.) is 4-1 with a 3.42 ERA and 35 strikeouts in ten appearances with seven starts. He has gone at least 5.0 innings in all seven of his starts with a complete game, three-hit shut out against Neb.-Kearney.
Left-handed pitcher Jordan Plank (Sr./Wichita, Kan.) is fifth in the MIAA, allowing just ten walks in 37.0 innings pitched. Plank is 4-1 on the year with a 5.44 ERA and 38 strikeouts with just 13 walks.
Left-handed pitcher Nathan Gieber (Jr./Concordia, Kan.) 1-0 in 12 appearances with six starts. He has a 7.15 ERA and a 5.0 strikeout to walk ratio with 25 K's and only five walks.
Right-handed pitcher Matt Slauter (Sr./Olathe, Kan.) is 1-0 with a 3.95 ERA with a combined shutout in three starts and eight appearances. He has 12 strikeouts and three walks in 13.2 innings pitched.

IN THE BULLPEN
Right-handed pitcher Nathan Whitcomb (Sr./Humboldt, Kan.) is ranked fourth in the MIAA and 22nd in the nation with six saves on the year. He is 2-1 on the year with a 1.29 ERA, 14 strikeouts and one walk in 21.0 innings pitched. .
Right-handed pitcher Layne Downing (Jr./Hays, Kan.) is 3-3 with a 2.96 ERA in 14 appearances. He has 16 strikeouts in 27.1 innings pitched while allowing only six walks.
Right-handed pitcher Jacob Tetuan (Jr./Topeka, Kan.) is 1-0 with a 4.05 ERA in 11 appearances. He has seen 13.1 innings this season with 12 strikeouts and only three walks. Opponents are batting just .255 against him this year.
Right-handed pitcher Taylor Thompson (Jr./Cuba, Mo.) is 3-0 with a 4.66 ERA in 18 appearances. He has 17 strikeouts in 19.1 innings pitched with only four walks.
Left-handed pitcher Tyler Buss (Sr./Jay, Okla.) is 1-0 with a 8.56 ERA in nine games with two starts. Buss has 14 strikeouts in 13.2 innings pitched.

TRENDS
The Hornets are 15-1 when they score first and 11-1 when they score in the first.
The Hornets out-score their opponents 53-21 in the second and 24-5 in the ninth.
The Hornets are 12-0 when they hold their opponents to three runs or less.
The Hornets are 15-0 when scoring at least nine runs.
The Hornets are 4-1 when tied after the seventh inning.
The Hornets are ranked seventh in the nation with a .975 fielding percentage
Five of Emporia State's eight losses are by one run.
The Hornets are batting a collective .370 in 54 pinch hit at bats with nine batters recording at least one pinch hit.
Three Hornets have had a hitting streak of at least 15 games with Alex White currently on a 17 game hitting streak.

WALKING OFF
The Hornets have eight comeback wins this season, including two walk off wins against Central Missouri over the weekend. On February 18 Alex White had an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth of a 9-8 walk off win against Missouri S&T after trailing 8-6 through seven innings. In an extended game due to weather delay, Kaden Shaffer hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth for a 5-4 win against Missouri Southern after trailing 3-1 headed into the sixth inning. Against Newman on March 15, the Hornets trailed 6-2 after five innings before Daniel LaMunyon hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning for a 7-6 win. Against Neb.-Kearney on March 26, the Hornets came back from an 8-4 deficit going into the bottom of the seventh to win 9-8 with a walk-off single from Wade Hanna in the ninth inning. On April 7 Emporia State trailed 8-6 going into the bottom of the ninth against Central Missouri and scored three runs on one hit, winning 9-8 when Ryan McBroom scored on a wild pitch. Two days later the Hornets again trailed the Mules 8-6 going to the bottom of the ninth and won on Kaden Shaffer's RBI single with the bases loaded.

HISTORY
Emporia State advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year in the 2016 season and the 11th time in the last 13 seasons. The Hornets have finished second in MIAA regular season play for the past three seasons. Under Coach Fornelli, Emporia State won the MIAA Tournament in 2014 and 2007 and claimed the regular season title in 2011, 2009, 2008 and 2006.

RECORD BOOKS
In his fourth and final season with the Hornets, Wade Hanna looks to make an impact on the career batting recordings. Hanna currently sits third all-time with 673 at-bats and 208 hits. He is fourth all-time with 157 career runs scored. He now is sixth with 196 games played, 40 doubles and ten triples at Emporia State. He needs one more double to tie Mike Carlson for fifth and one triple to tie Mike Peterson for fifthon the Hornet career lists. He has 122 career RBI, needing 19 more to break into the Emporia State top ten.
Among active NCAA Division II players he ranks fourth in games played, tenth in at bats, 12th in runs and 25th in hits.

REGIONALLY SPEAKING
Emporia State was ranked third in the NCAA Central Region last year and was one of two MIAA teams in the regional tournament. The automatic qualifiers from the MIAA, Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and Great American Conference along with the next three highest ranked regional teams make up the NCAA Central Regional Tournament. The MIAA is the only conference among the three to have  winning record against non-conference opponents.  The  MIAA is 101-56-1 (.642) against outside competition while the Northern Sun is 52-69 (.430) and the GAC is 39-79-1 (.332) against outside foes. The MIAA is 11-4 (.733) against the Northern Sun and 26-13-1 (.663)against the GAC.

IN THE POLLS
There are several national rankings in NCAA Division II for baseball. Emporia State is ranked #14 in ABCA Collegiate Baseball Newspaper for the April 10 Poll. The Hornets are #13 in the April 11 D2 Baseball News National Rankings and the April 4 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Top 25. The Hornets are #13 in the latest HeroSports rankings and #14 in the Massey ratings.