March 10, 2024 – Emporia State baseball fell 11-8 in the series finale against #10 Missouri Southern on Sunday afternoon.
In the first, the Hornets and Lions both went down in order before the first hits of the game came from Emporia State in the second on a pair of singles from
Patryk Hernandez and
Dom Oliverio. The Hornets did not push a run across and Missouri Southern scored the opening run in the bottom half on an RBI groundout. Emporia State again went scoreless in the bottom half despite double from
Kadyn Williams and the Lions double their advantage in the bottom of the third on a solo home run from Henry Kusiak.
Emporia State evened the score in the fourth inning on solo home runs from
Dom Oliverio and
Joe Daneff. In the fifth, Missouri Southern retook the lead on an RBI single. After a scoreless top of the sixth for the Hornets, the Lions tallied four runs on five hits in the bottom half as the hosts led the Hornets 7-2 entering the late innings.
A two-out single in the seventh from
Kadyn Williams scored
Mason Sturdy and
Andrew Rantz as Emporia State trimmed the Missouri Southern lead to 7-4
. A leadoff walk and an RBI double by Wyatt Morgan pushed the Lions' lead to 8
-4 heading to the eighth.
The Hornets put together a rally in the eighth inning that was started by a leadoff single from
Patryk Hernandez and followed by a
Dom Oliverio single to put runners on first and third for
TJ Racherbaumer. Racherbaumer and
Joe Daneff ripped back-to-back singles as deficit was trimmed to 8-6 with no outs in the eighth. Following a double play, back-to-back walks from
Andrew Rantz and
Logan Myers brought
Kadyn Williams to the plate with the bases loaded. Behind in the count, Williams delivered a two RBI single into left field as the Hornets brought the game level at 8-8 heading into the bottom half.
Missouri Southern rallied in return, scoring three runs in the bottom of the eight to retake an 11-8 lead over the Hornets. Emporia State got a one-out single from
Dom Oliverio, completing his 5-5 afternoon, but the Hornets failed to rally as they dropped the series finale against the tenth-ranked Lions 11-8.
As a team, the Hornets recorded 15 hits, tying their second-highest mark of the season.
Dom Oliverio went 5-5 at the plate with a home run and two runs scored in his second multi-hit game of the season.
Kadyn Williams went 3-5 with four RBI, his third game this season with four or more runs batted in.
Patryk Hernandez and
Joe Daneff each had two hits while Daneff drove in two runs.
TJ Racherbaumer also recorded an RBI.
Emporia State will return home for a midweek MIAA matchup against Pittsburg State on Tuesday, March 12 at Trusler Sports Complex. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
