March 22, 2023 - Emporia State jumped in front early as they scored in five separate innings, including seven in the seventh to take down Northwestern Oklahoma 13-4 in a midweek matchup on Wednesday afternoon from Glennen Field.
Emporia State starting pitcher
Brayden Tower held the Rangers scoreless in the opening frame before the Hornets took a 1-0 lead in the bottom half with a solo home run to right center to leadoff the inning.
In the second inning, Northwestern Oklahoma tied the game 1-1 with a solo home run of their own before Emporia State retook the lead with a trio of runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Andrew Rantz broke the deadlock with a sacrifice fly to score
Noah Geekie before
Kadyn Williams gave the Hornets a 4-1 lead with two-out, two RBI single.
Brayden Tower finished his third inning of work with a three-up, three-down third inning before the Hornets tallied their fifth run of the game. With two outs in the bottom of the third,
Quinton Carlberg homered to left field on the first pitch to make the score 5-1.
The scoring continued in the fourth inning as the Rangers scored on a back-to-back sacrifice flyouts to cut the Emporia State lead in half, but the Hornets bolstered their lead back to three runs as
Andrew Rantz homered to make the score 6-3 through four innings.
Both teams were held scoreless in the fourth and fifth inning before the Rangers pushed across their final run of the game in the top of the seventh with a two-out RBI single to trim the Emporia State lead to 6-4.
In the bottom half of the seventh, the Hornets put together a seven-run inning, their fifth inning of seven or more runs this season as they built a 13-4 lead over the Rangers.
The inning was highlighted by RBI from
TJ Racherbaumer,
Noah Geekie,
Quinton Carlberg, and
Andrew Rantz in addition to a pair of Ranger wild pitches.
Kayden Beauregard and
Grant Huffman pitched the final two innings for Emporia State and held Northwestern Oklahoma scoreless as the Hornets the 13-4 midweek victory over the Rangers.
Andrew Rantz went 3-3 with three RBI and two runs scored while
Kadyn Williams and
Quinton Carlberg each recorded two hits. Williams drove in three runs and scored one while Carlberg drove in two and scored three of his own.
Noah Geekie and
TJ Racherbaumer both recorded an RBI in the game.
On the mound, the Hornets used seven pitchers and allowed just six hits.
Brayden Tower pitched 3.0 innings allowing just one run on three hits to earn his first win of the season.
Emporia State will return to action on Friday, March 25 when they begin a three-game series against Missouri Southern in Joplin, Mo. First pitch in the series opener is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. from Warren Turner Field in Joplin.
