February 25, 2024 – Emporia State baseball outlasted Northwest Missouri in the rubber match of their MIAA opening series as the Hornets took home a 14-10 win in game three Sunday and a 2-1 series win against the Bearcats.
After a scoreless first frame from both the Hornets and Bearcats, Emporia State got the scoring started in the second. A solo home run from
Patryk Hernandez and an RBI groundout from
Andrew Rantz put the Hornets ahead 2-0 heading into the bottom half.
Northwest Missouri responded with three runs in the bottom of the second with a three-run home run as the hosts retook a 3-2 lead.
Emporia State came back in the top of the third and retook the lead for the final time as an RBI groundout from
TJ Racherbaumer and an RBI single from
Dom Oliverio gave the Hornets a 4-3 advantage.
Emporia State starter
Greg Ross kept the Bearcats off the board in the bottom half before the Hornets continued their scoring run with three more runs in the top of the fourth.
A single from
Andrew Rantz followed by a walk from
Logan Myers set up
Kadyn Williams who delivered a three-run home run to extend the Emporia State lead to 7-3. Northwest Missouri was able to grab a run back in the bottom of the fourth, cutting the Hornet lead down to 7-4 before Emporia State would add five more runs to their total in the fifth.
With two outs in the top of the fifth, the Hornets loaded the bases for
Austin Hamm who drew a walk to bring up
Patryk Hernandez with the lead at 8-4. Hernandez followed Hamm with his second home run of the game, a grand slam, to swell the Emporia State lead to 12-4 at the halfway point in the game.
Tanner Dawe took over in relief of
Greg Ross in the bottom of the fifth and allowed just one hit through the next two innings as the Hornets maintained their 12-4 lead heading into the seventh inning.
Following a scoreless top half from the Hornets, the Bearcats rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh to cut the lead in half to 12-8 heading to the eighth.
Emporia State and Northwest Missouri each scored two runs over the final two frames with
Kadyn Williams providing an RBI single in the eighth and
Patryk Hernandez scoring on a wild pitch in the ninth. The Bearcats scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth and brought the tying run into the on-deck circle, but were kept from inching any closer as the Hornets clinched the 14-10 win to win the series 2-1 over the Bearcats.
Patryk Hernandez,
Kadyn Williams and
TJ Racherbaumer each had three-hit games while Hernandez had five RBI and Williams added four RBI of his own. Racherbaumer along with
Austin Hamm,
Andrew Rantz and
Dom Oliverio each had an RBI.
On the mound,
Tanner Dawe picked up the win with 2.1 relief innings while allowing three runs on three hits.
Greg Ross got the no decision pitching the first four innings for the Hornets.
Emporia State returns to the action on March 1-3 as they host the Turnpike Tussle against Washburn from Glennen Field. Game one of the three-game series is scheduled for 3:00 on Friday, March 1.
