February 6, 2025 – Emporia State baseball jumped in front of Henderson State with four first-inning runs and held off the Reddies in the late innings for a 7-4 win in the first of four games at the HSU Invitational.
The Hornets got off to a fast start, scoring four runs in the top of the first to grab an early lead over the Reddies.
Peyton Lewis started the game with a leadoff walk, before advancing to second on a sac bunt from
Logan Myers. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases and
Cooper Schwindt put the Hornets ahead 1-0.
Jovanni Toledo followed the sac fly with a two-out, three-run home run to extend the Emporia State lead to 4-0.
Graeme Rios got the start on the mound for the Hornets and despite a one-out double for the Reddies, tossed a scoreless first inning. Following a scoreless second frame for both teams, Henderson State finally got on the board in the bottom of the third an RBI single by Cal Jones.
The Hornets responded in the top of the fourth, as
Brady Unrein homered for the first time in his career to extend the lead to 5-1. Rios tossed a scoreless fourth, and the lead was extended to start the fifth, as
Peyton Lewis homered to make the score 6-1.
Henderson State rallied in the bottom of the fifth, putting together three runs and forcing the Hornets to go to the bullpen.
Grant Huffman entered with two outs and the tying run at the plate and ended the inning with a strikeout to maintain a 6-4 lead for Emporia State.
Both teams went scoreless in the sixth and the Reddies attempted to rally again in the bottom of the seventh. Henderson State loaded the bases against Huffman, who escaped the jam with another strikeout to keep the Hornets ahead by two.
Emporia State picked up an insurance run in the eighth as a two-out rally resulted in an RBI single from
Jovanni Toledo to make the score 7-4.
Ian Lanik took over on the mound in the eighth, and managed to complete the six-out save, which included a game-ending double play with the tying run at the plate in the ninth.
Jovanni Toledo and
Peyton Lewis each tallied two hits while Toledo had a home run and four RBI in the game. Lewis,
Cooper Schwindt and
Brady Unrein each had an RBI.
On the mound,
Graeme Rios made his first career start and with 4.2 innings allowing three earned runs with three strikeouts.
Grant Huffman picked up the win as he pitched 2.1 scoreless relief innings with three strikeouts.
Ian Lanik picked up his third save in four games as he recorded the final six outs with three strikeouts of his own.
Emporia State will be back in action tomorrow, Friday, February 7 as they take on Ouachita Baptist. First pitch between the Hornets and
