March 26, 2024 – Emporia State baseball fell behind early against Pittsburg State as the Hornets fell 13-6 on Tuesday afternoon in game two of their MIAA midweek series against the Gorillas.
In the first inning, Emporia State was unable to reach base as they were retired in order before Pittsburg State struck first in the bottom half. After a strikeout to open the inning, a double and a home run put the Gorillas ahead 2-0 through one frame. The Hornets got two baserunners in the second, as an error and a one-out single from
TJ Racherbaumer put runners on first and second, but Emporia State was held scoreless. Pittsburg State added to their lead in the bottom half, as they got five runs on five hits, including a three-run home from Austin Warkins as the Hornets trailed 7-0 heading to the third.
Both teams went scoreless in the third inning before the Gorillas added to their total in the fourth with two runs on two hits and one error as the Hornet trailed 9-0 heading to the fifth. In the fifth,
Jovanni Toledo drew a leadoff walk and came around to score on a two-out RBI single from
Logan Myers to get the Hornets on the board.
Brady Beverman took the mound in the bottom half of the fifth and stranded two runners to keep the score 9-1 heading to the sixth. Emporia State grabbed another run in the sixth, as
Kadyn Williams opened the inning with a leadoff single, and then advanced to second on a walk from
Patryk Hernandez. Following the walk, Williams came in to score on an RBI single from
Dom Oliverio as the Hornets made the score 9-2.
After a lone run in the bottom of the sixth for Pittsburg State, Emporia State put together a three-run seventh.
Logan Myers and
Mason Sturdy got the inning going with back-to-back one-out hits before Myers scored on a wild pitch. Following a walk from
Kadyn Williams,
Patryk Hernandez and
Dom Oliverio delivered back-to-back RBI single as the Hornet trimmed the deficit to 10-5. Emporia State was unable to push any more runs across as the Gorillas made a sliding catch in the outfield to take two more runs off the board.
Pittsburg State was able to score three runs in the bottom half of the seventh as they lead increased to 13-5. The Hornets got one more run in the eighth, as
Mason Sturdy drove in
Andrew Rantz with an RBI single, but Emporia State eventually fell 13-6 against the Gorillas on Tuesday.
At the plate,
Logan Myers went 3-5 with an RBI while
Mason Sturdy,
Dom Oliverio and
Andrew Rantz each had two hits of their own. Oliverio had two RBI while Sturdy and
TJ Racherbaumer also had one of their own. On the mound, the Hornets got two strikeouts from four different pitchers, including
Ryan Sauter and
Greg Ross over the final 1.2 innings.
Emporia State's road trip continues Thursday, March 28 as they begin a three-game series against Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Okla. First pitch for game one at Wendell Simmons Field is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
