April 1, 2025 – Emporia State baseball falls on the road against Missouri Western 5-4 in ten innings on Tuesday.
Both the Hornets and Griffons were held scoreless in the first two innings as Emporia State starter
Gerardo Grijalva struck out two in the first two frames.
Missouri Western went ahead in the third, getting an RBI groundout to take a 1-0 lead into the fourth inning. In the fourth, Emporia State responded with two runs of their own to take a 2-1 lead. The Griffons wasted little time responding, as the hosts added two runs in the bottom of the fourth, retaking a 3-2 advantage over the Hornets.
The Griffons added to their total in the sixth, as a steal of home gave Missouri Western a 4-2 lead. In the top of the seventh, a one-out double from
Noah Steele and a sac fly from
Cooper Schwindt pulled Emporia State level 4-4.
In the bottom half, the Griffons threatened to retake the lead as they put two on with two outs before the Hornets brought in
Ryan Sauter from the bullpen. Following a double steal, Emporia State put the batter on first to load the bases and Sauter picked up the strikeout to strand the bases loaded and maintain the score at 4-4.
Over the next two innings, Emporia State had runners on base in both the eighth and ninth but were unable to convert and Sauter helped keep the score deadlocked as the game headed to the tenth.
The Hornets put a runner in scoring position in the top of the inning but were unable to score and in the bottom half, the Griffons reached with one out on an error and eventually brought the runner around to score on a walk-off single as Emporia State fell 5-4 in ten innings.
Emporia State had just seven hits with
Cooper Schwindt driving in two runs and
Noah Steele picking up an RBI of his own.
Gerardo Grijalva struck out three in 4.0 innings of work and the Hornet bullpen allowed just one earned run in 5.2 innings of work.
Ryan Sauter struck out three in 3.0 innings, allowing just one hit.
The Hornets wrap up their road trip this weekend as they travel to Warrensburg, Mo. for a three-game slate against #1 Central Missouri. First pitch in game one on Friday, April 4 is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
