February 1, 2025 – Emporia State baseball rallied from a 4-0 deficit to defeat Southeastern Oklahoma 8-5 on Saturday night in day two of the Edmond First Pitch Classic.
The Hornets and Savage Storm both put runners on base in the first frame, but the score remained tied at 0-0 before Southeastern Oklahoma got on the board in the second inning. With two outs in the second, the Savage Storm put together four hits to push across three runs and take a 3-0 lead over the Hornets.
Emporia State put runners on base in both the second and third innings before Southeastern Oklahoma added to their total in the fourth with an RBI total as the Hornets trailed 4-0.
A trio of doubles in the bottom of the fourth helped the Hornets responded with three runs of their own.
Noah Steele doubled to lead off the inning and after the first out, scored on an RBI double from
Jovanni Toledo for the Hornets' first run. Later in the frame with two outs,
Andy Pacheco picked up his first two career RBI to trim the deficit to 4-3.
After a scoreless top of the fifth in relief by
Coby Rogers, the Hornets continued their momentum in the bottom half. Following a leadoff walk by
Elijah Reeves,
TJ Racherbaumer homered to give Emporia State a 5-4 advantage.
Noah Steele singled in the next at-bat and eventually scored on a wild pitch with two outs to make the lead 6-4.
The score remained 6-4 through the top of the eighth, before Emporia State was able to add two more runs in the bottom of the inning.
Elijah Reeves drove in
Dominic Felix with a sac bunt and
Peyton Lewis scored on a two-out error by the Savage Storm as the Hornets held an 8-4 lead heading to the ninth.
Southeastern Oklahoma hit a solo home run and drew a pair of walks to start the inning as they brought the tying run to the plate.
Ian Lanik took over on the mound for the Hornets and after a walk to load the bases, Lanik struck out the side to seal the 8-5 win and his second save of the season.
Seven different Hornets recorded a hit with
Noah Steele and
Andy Pacheco each tallying two of their own. Pacheco and
TJ Racherbaumer each had two RBI.
On the mound,
Eli Hernandez got the start and struck out five in four innings of work. The Hornet bullpen combined to allow just one run in 5.0 innings and recorded ten strikeouts.
Coby Rogers picked up the win and had four strikeouts in 2.0 innings while
Ian Lanik picked his second save.
Emporia State will wrap up the Edmond First Pitch Classic on Sunday, February 2 as they take on East Central at 3:30 p.m.
