EMPORIA STATE SPLITS DOUBLE HEADER WITH ROGERS STATE IN BASEBALL ACTION

March 27, 2021-It was a tale of two games on Saturday at Glennen Field as Emporia State defeated Rogers State 10-0 in seven innings in the first game with the Hillcats winning 11-1 in seven innings in the second game.
 
Game One
Jake Barton tossed a four hit shutout and the Hornets scored ten runs on 11 hits to bounce back from their loss on Friday night. 
Brady Michel got things started with an RBI single in the third that plated Cooper Minnick.  Then with the bases loaded Brigham Mooney squeezed in Michel.  Noah Geekie followed with another bases loaded bunt and his sacrifice brought home Sam Chaput as Emporia State took a 3-0 lead after three innings. Mooney doubled the lead in the fifth with one swing of the bat as he hit a three run homer to left.  Later in the inning Blake Carroll hit an RBI single to score Geekie.  Minnick ended the scoring in the inning with a sac fly that drove in Jack Maki and made it 8-0 after five innings.  The Hornets ended the game in the seventh thanks to balk that scored Javier Pena followed by a Maki RBI that scored Mooney and gave ESU the 10-0 win.
Mooney was two for three with four RBI, two runs scored and a home run. Maki was three for four with a run and an RBI while Sam Chaput went two for four with two runs scored.  Barton went the distance allowing four hits, a walk and two hit batters while striking out nine in 7.0 innings for his second complete game shut out of the season.
 
Game Two
 After scoring 25 runs in their previous two games, the Hornets were held to one run on just five hits in the nightcap as Rogers State won 11-1 in seven innings.
Emporia State took an early lead thanks to a Brady Michel single, two walks and a wild pitch in the second.  Michel led off the inning with single through the left side and with two outs Brigham Mooney and Noah Geekie each worked a walk to load the bases. Michel then came home on a wild pitch that would be it for the scoring in the inning and in the game.
Jared Kengott, who missed his last start with an injury, made the one run hold up until the fourth inning. In the top of the fourth the first seven Hillcats reached base with the first out coming on a play at the plate when Christian Merriwether tried to bunt in Ethan Rivera.  Prescott Horn followed with a two run double to make it 6-1. Kengott struck out Skyler Nelson before being relieved by Hayden Schaeffer who hit a batter before ending the inning with a strikeout. Mason Harvey led off the fifth with a home run and Victor Ceniceros got an RBI ground out to give Rogers State an 8-1 lead. Harvey made it 10-1 with a two RBI double in the sixth off Malachi Crone before scoring on a Jonathan Soto single to put the Hillcats up 11-1.  Emporia State had two runners on with one out in the bottom of the sixth but could not score and then went down in order in the seventh to end the game.
Chandler Bloomer and Brady Michel each went two for three with Michel scoring the lone Hornet run.
 
Emporia State will travel to Pittsburg State on Tuesday for a non-conference game against the Gorillas.  First pitch from Al Ortolani Field is set for 6:00 p.m.