HORNETS AND BRONCHOS SPLIT DOUBLE HEADER TO OPEN SERIES

March 11, 2021-Emporia State split their double header with Central Oklahoma on Thursday, winning the first game before falling in the nightcap.
 
Game 1
Jake Barton did not allow an earned run in 7.0 innings and the Bronchos committed seven errors as the Hornets won 5-1 in the opening game of the series. 
Emporia State got on the board in the bottom of the third when Brigham Mooney walked and went to third on a failed pickoff.  Blake Carroll singled him in to put the Hornets up 1-0.
Emporia State got a pair of runs in the fourth to go up 3-0.  Chandler Bloomer led off with a double and went to third on Brady Michel's single.  With one out Quinn Cherry singled in Bloomer to make it 2-0.  Michel would score to make it 3-0 when Noah Geekie reached on an error by the Broncho shortstop.
The Hornets got another unearned run in the bottom of the fifth. With one out Cooper Minnick reached second on a throwing error and went to third on a ground out. Michel was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners. Sam Chaput then hit a sky high popup. No infielder was able to get underneath it cleanly with the third baseman trying to make a play half way up the first base line and over ran it allowing Minnick to score.
The Bronchos scored thanks to two errors in the top of the seventh but Barton got a strikeout to end the inning.  Mooney got a sac fly to score Jack Maki to end the scoring for the Hornets in the bottom of the eighth.
Barton went 7.0 innings allowing just the one unearned run on two hits while striking out eight with three walks.  Alex DeBey tossed 1.2 scoreless innings, but was removed with an apparent injury before he could finish it. Coleton Crisp came in with two outs and two on to get a strikeout and record the save.
Michel was two for three with a run scored and was the only Hornet with more than one hit.  Carroll, Cherry and Mooney all had an RBI.
 
Game2
The Bronchos scored six runs in the first inning on the way to an 11-5 win in game two.
The first six Central Oklahoma batters reached base to start the game as the Bronchos scored six runs on four hits with a pair of Hornet errors in the first inning.
Emporia State would not get on the board until the fourth inning.  Chandler Bloomer led off with a single and went to second on Brady Michel's single to right center and both of them moved up a base on a wild pitch. Sam Chaput and Quinn Cherry followed with a pair of RBI ground outs to make it 6-2 after four innings.
The Bronchos got a sac fly in the top of the fifth to go up 7-2.  The Hornets loaded the bases with no one out in the bottom of the inning. Cooper Minnick hit a grounder to third that forced Noah Geekie at home.  Bloomer then worked a walk to bring Brigham Mooney home and bring the tying run to the plate, but the Hornets could not convert and went to the sixth trailing 7-3.
Mooney delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth with two out to pull Emporia State within three runs, but UCO got the run back in the top of the seventh and added another in the top of the eighth.   
Cherry manufactured a run on his own in the bottom of the eighth when he laid down a bunt and went to second on a throwing error by the pitcher.  He then scored on a failed pickoff attempt to get Emporia State to within 9-5.  UCO would go up 11-5 thanks to an error and a wild pitch in the top of the ninth for the final score.
Bloomer and Mooney were both two for four with a run and an RBI.  Cherry was one for three with a walk and two runs scored.  Jared Kengott gave up six runs, only two of them earned, all in the first inning to take the loss.  After allowing four hits and two walks in the first, he did not allow a run and only gave up two hits in the next three innings.
 
The rubber game of the series will be played on Friday with a tentative first pitch of 1:00 p.m.  That time could be adjusted depending on the weather.