May 6, 2018- Emporia State baseball won game three of the weekend series 14-7 over Lindenwood on Sunday. The Hornets used 17 hits to get the win.
After exchanging outs in the first inning the Hornets got on the board first with two runs in the top of the second. Kaden Shaffer led off for the Hornets with a walk and advanced to second on a single from Trevor Turner. Kyle Lopez grounded out to the first baseman to advance the runners to second and third. Tate Kastens drove in the two runners with a double down the left field line to put the Hornets up 2-0. The Lions answered in the bottom of the second with two runs of their own to tie the game at 2-2 heading to the third inning.
Teams exchanged outs in the third inning before the Hornets took the lead again with one run in the top of the fourth. Shaffer led off the inning with a walk for the Hornets and stole second before advancing to third on a ground out from Turner. Lopez drove in the run with an RBI double down the left field line to give the Hornets the 3-2 lead. The Lions tied the game in the bottom half of the inning with one run on two hits.
In the top of the fifth the Hornets took the lead with two runs on three hits. Mack Gowing singled to right field and advanced to second on a single through the right side from Bryce Fischer. Mason Brown drove in Gowing and Fischer with a double to give the Hornets the 5-3 lead. In the bottom half of the inning the Lions scored one run on two hits to close the gap to 5-4.
The Hornets extended their lead with five runs on three hits and two Lions errors in the top of the sixth inning. Lopez led off with a single to center field for the Hornets and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Tate Kastens walked and advanced to second as Brandon Bachar reached on a fielder's choice with Lopez out at third. Brian Grove reached on a fielder's choice which advanced Bachar on an error by the second baseman and Kastens to third. Gowing hit a two RBI single to left field scoring Kastens and Bachar. Grove was tagged out at second for the second out of the inning. Gowing stole second and Fischer was walked. Brown hit an RBI single to left field that scored Gowing. Brown advanced to second and Fischer advanced to third on the throw. Both Brown and Fischer scored on an error by the pitcher to extend the Hornets lead to 10-4. In the bottom of the inning the Lions scored on run on three hits to close the gap to 10-5.
Turner led off the top of the seventh for the Hornets with a walk and stole second. Turner advanced to third when Lopez grounded out to second base. Kastens doubled to left center field to drive home Turner and extend the lead to 11-5. Kastens scored on a single from Bachar up the middle. Bachar advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a single from Grove. Gowing hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Bachar and give the Hornets the 13-5 lead.
In the top of the eighth inning the Hornets extended their lead to 14-5 with one run on two hits. Shaffer led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second as Turner grounded out to third base. Tanner Arst pinch it for Kastens and singled to right field to drive home Shaffer for the Hornets final run. The Lions closed the gap in the bottom of the ninth with two runs on three hits with one Hornet error.
The Hornets had 17 hits in the game with nine different players with at least one hit. Brian Grove, Mack Gowing, Bryce Fischer, Mason Brown, Trevor Turner, Kyle Lopez, Tate Kastens and Brandon Bachar each had two hits while Tanner Arst added one for the Hornets.
Max Simpson started on the mound for the Hornets pitching 3.0 innings and allowing two runs on four hits with three K's before being replaced by Adam Thies. Thies pitched 1.0 innings allowing one run on two hits before Layne Downing took over. Downing pitched 2.1 innings allowing two runs on five hits. Brendan Janes pitched 0.2 innings and allowed no hits before Trey Taylor came in to replace him. Taylor pitched 1.0 innings allowing no runs and no hits before being replaced by Drew Scrimsher. Scrimsher pitched the final inning for the Hornets allowing two runs on three hits.
With the Hornets win, head coach Bob Fornelli reached his 900
th career win in 21 years as a head coach at a four-year level. Fornelli won 306 games as head coach at Fort Hays State and now has 594 wins as head coach at Emporia State.
With the win today, Emporia State clinched the number seven seed in the MIAA Tournament. The Hornets will be back in action on Thursday, May 10 as they take on Northwest Missouri in the first round. First pitch is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. in Warrensburg, Mo.
