April 16, 2024 – Emporia State rallied from a 6-4 deficit to take down Pittsburg State in the nonconference midweek matchup between the Hornets and Gorillas on Tuesday afternoon.
In the first frame, Emporia State wasted little time getting the scoring started, as the Hornets got two runners on with one out before
Dom Oliverio delivered his sixth home run of the season to put Emporia State ahead 3-0 against the Gorillas. Following the second out of the inning,
Jovanni Toledo drove the second pitch of his at-bat to left field for a solo blast to make the score 4-0.
Pittsburg State responded with three runs of their own in the bottom half, including two runs on a home run by Austin Warkins. The Hornets went down in order in the second, before the Gorillas took the lead on their second two-run homer, this time by Josh Holmes.
Both teams went scoreless in the third and Pittsburg State picked up another run in the fourth frame on their third home run of the game. The largest inning of the game for Emporia State came in the fifth as they added on five runs. With one out,
Dom Oliverio was hit and then stole second before scoring on an RBI single by
TJ Racherbaumer. After the Hornets loaded the bases,
Andrew Rantz was hit by a pitch to push across the tying run. Following a pitching change by the Gorillas, Emporia State tallied three more runs on a wild pitch, RBI groundout from
Drew Jennings and a passed ball to take a 9-6 lead.
Coby Rogers took over on the mound for Emporia State in the bottom of the fifth and retired the Gorillas in order with the help of a sliding catch in front of the dugout by
Jovanni Toledo for the third out. The Hornets were retired in order in the sixth inning and in the bottom half, Pittsburg State got a run back to close the Hornet lead to 9-7 heading into the final three innings.
Emporia State were able to advance two runners into scoring position in the seventh but were kept off the scoreboard.
Hayden Baumwart took the mound in the bottom half and despite a leadoff single by the Gorillas, he maintained the 9-7 lead for the Hornets as the game headed to the eighth. Emporia State was retired in order in the visiting half of the eighth and in the bottom half Baumwart again worked around a leadoff single to complete his two scoreless innings of relief.
The Hornets were able to get two runners on base in the top of the ninth, but again left both on base as the lead stuck at 9-7 heading to home half of the final frame.
Grant Huffman entered the game for the Hornets and was able to work around a one-out single to pick up his first career save as Emporia State clinched the 9-7 win.
At the plate, four Hornets tallied multiple hits including
Dom Oliverio who went 2-4 with a three-run home run.
TJ Racherbaumer,
Jovanni Toledo and
Konner Hatfield each had two hits of their own.
Coby Rogers picked up his first win of the season as he allowed one run in two innings of relief.
Grant Huffman picked up his first career save with a scoreless ninth inning.
Emporia State returns to action on Friday, April 19 as they begin a three-game series against Fort Hays State. First pitch for game one is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
