March 19, 2023 - Emporia State baseball split Sunday's doubleheader against Northwest Missouri as the Hornets took game one 8-2 before falling 10-9 in game two against the Bearcats.
Game One
Northwest Missouri jumped out to an early lead over Emporia State as they used a leadoff double to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
Following a scoreless second and third innings for the Hornets, the Bearcats doubled their lead with another run in the bottom of the third.
Both teams were held scoreless in the fourth and fifth inning before Emporia State broke through in the top of the sixth.
With one out,
Chandler Bloomer doubled to center field before scoring on an RBI single from
Palmer Hutchison as the Hornets cut the deficit in half.
Ian Lanik held the Bearcats scoreless in the bottom of the sixth inning before Emporia State took their first lead of the game in the seventh.
Back-to-back singles from
Noah Geekie and
Brenden Tauber started the inning for Emporia State. Geekie and Tauber both scored on a two RBI triple by
Kadyn Williams to give the Hornets a 3-2 lead. Following the Williams triple,
Chandler Bloomer singled to score Williams and double the Emporia State advantage to 4-2.
In the eighth inning, the Hornets recreated the previous inning as
Kadyn Williams recorded another two RBI triple to give Emporia State a 6-2 lead before
Chandler Bloomer drove in Williams for a second time as Emporia State built a 7-2 lead over Northwest Missouri.
The Hornets would add a final run in the top of the ninth inning to solidify an 8-2 lead over the Bearcats. With two outs,
Jake Daneff doubled to right field and was driven in by
Noah Geekie who tripled into the left center gap.
Will Hann, who pitched the final three innings, completed the three-inning save as the Hornets took game one 8-2 over the Bearcats.
Chandler Bloomer and
Noah Geekie both recorded three hits while
Kadyn Williams went 2-5 with two triples, four RBI and two runs scored.
Ian Lanik tallied his fourth win of the season on the mound while
Will Hann recorded his first save.
Game Two
Both teams were held without a run through the first two innings before Emporia State took the lead over Northwest Missouri in the top of the third.
The Hornets put together a five-run third inning that was started by an RBI single from
TJ Racherbaumer to put Emporia State ahead by one. The next four runs for the Hornets came from a pair of two RBI doubles, one from
Noah Geekie and the other from
Kase Johnson.
Northwest Missouri was able to respond in the bottom half of the third inning as they scored four runs, highlighted by a three-run home run, as Emporia State led by just one, 5-4, through three innings.
Following another pair of scoreless innings for both the Hornets and the Bearcats, Northwest Missouri took their first lead of the game with three runs in the bottom of the sixth as Emporia State trailed 7-5.
In the top of the seventh inning,
Noah Geekie picked up his third RBI of the game with a single to right field that trimmed the deficit in half to 7-6.
The Hornets were unable to score in the eighth inning and came to bat in the ninth still trailing by one run. After a pair of outs to begin the top of the ninth, Emporia State was able to rally and retake the lead over the Bearcats.
TJ Racherbaumer and
Jake Bucovetsky drew back-to-back walks which brought
Noah Geekie to the plate. Geekie grounded to the left side which resulted in an error that allowed
Drew Jennings, who pinch ran for Racherbaumer, to score and tie the game 7-7. Following the error, a second error in the inning allowed the Hornets to score a pair of runs as they took a 9-7 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Bearcats rallied behind three walks, a hit by pitch and a pair of hits to take a walk-off 10-9 win over Emporia State in game two of the doubleheader.
Five different Hornets recorded two hits in game two including
Noah Geekie and
Kase Johnson who recorded three and two RBI respectively.
Emporia State returns to action on Monday, March 20 against Northwest Missouri for the rubber match. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
