March 26, 2021-On a warm night with the wind blowing out at Trusler it is safe to assume that teams will have to score in double figures to get a win. That was the case on Friday night as Rogers State came away with an 18-15 victory over Emporia State.
The Hillcats scored five runs in the top of the first capped by Mason Harvey's grand slam. The Hornets got two runs back on a
Brady Michel double in the bottom of the inning to make it 5-2. Brandon Bradshaw hit an RBI single to give RSU a 6-2 lead in the top of the second, but
Cooper Minnick tied things with a grand slam of his own in the bottom of the inning.
In the top of the third Rogers State went back on top with an unearned run.
Brigham Mooney got the Hornets back in front 8-7 with a two run homer in the bottom of the inning and went up 10-7 when Minnick reached on an error by Skyler Nelson at first base that allowed
Blake Carroll and
Jack Maki to score.
Drew Repp threw the only 1-2-3 inning of the game in the top of the fourth and
Sam Chaput made it 11-7 with an RBI triple in the bottom of the inning.
After the first three Hillcats reached base to start the fifth
Dale Miller relieved Repp and gave up three more hits with Prescott Horn's RBI single tying the game at 11-11.
Zachary Ebert took over for Miller and gave up a two run double to Nelson that gave Rogers State a 13-11 lead.
Javier Pena worked a bases loaded walk with two outs in the bottom of the fifth to pull the Hornets within 13-12 but would leave the bases loaded.
After Rogers went up 14-12 in the top of the sixth Minnick hit a sac fly to and Chandler Bloomer delivered an RBI single to tie the game at 14-14 in the bottom of the inning. Jonathan Soto hit a solo homer in the top of the seventh to make it 15-14 Hillcats.
Minnick came up with two outs in the bottom of the eighth and delivered a solo home run to left center that tied the game at 15-15.
Coleton Crisp, who had thrown 3.0 scoreless entering the ninth, gave up two walks around a strikeout before giving way to
Jarrett Seaton. Harvey greeted Seaton with his second home run of the game to give Rogers State an 18-15 lead.
Brady Michel singled to lead off the bottom of the ninth but would be the only hit of the inning as Jordan Ewig picked up his third save for Rogers State.
Cooper Minnick went four for five with six RBI, three runs scored and two home runs for the Hornets.
Brady Michel was three for six with two RBI, a double and a run scored while
Blake Carroll was three for five with three runs scored.
The Hornets and Hillcats will wrap up their three game series on Saturday afternoon with a double header starting at 12 noon on Glennen Field at the Trusler Sports Complex.
