April 18, 2025 – Emporia State picked up the doubleheader sweep over Northeastern State on Friday, securing the series sweep with an 18-5 game one win and a 20-4 win in game two.
Game 1 (ESU 18, NSU 5)
Emporia State took a first inning lead over the Riverhawks in game one, as the Hornets got three hits and RBI from
Cooper Schwindt and
TJ Racherbaumer to take a 3-0 advantage.
Hornet starter
Seth Stover stranded two runners in the bottom of the first, and Emporia State doubled their total with three more runs in the second. An RBI double by
Logan Myers followed by a single from
Peyton Lewis made the score 5-0. The Hornets loaded the bases before
TJ Racherbaumer drew a walk to make the score 6-0.
Following another scoreless frame by Stover, the Hornets piled on seven more runs, including home runs from
TJ Racherbaumer and
Konner Hatfield to make the score 13-0. In the fifth, Emporia State added four more runs, including the second homer of the game by Racherbaumer to take a 17-0 lead.
Northeastern State got on the board in the bottom of the fifth, pushing across four runs and the Hornets and Riverhawks traded runs over the next two innings as Emporia State sealed the 18-5 run-rule win to begin the doubleheader.
Emporia State tallied 18 hits with five Hornets posting multi-hit games.
Logan Myers went 5-6 with three RBI while
TJ Racherbaumer drove in five with two home runs and reaching base three times.
On the mound,
Seth Stover picked up his fourth win of the season with 4.2 innings pitched.
Eli Hernandez struck out three across 2.1 relief innings.
Game 2 (ESU 20, NSU 4)
For the first time in the series, Emporia State was kept off the board in the first inning, and Northeastern State took their first lead of the series with two runs in the bottom half. The Hornets quickly retook the lead in the second inning with five runs of their own as Emporia State got RBI from Racherbaumer, Myers and Lewis to take a 5-2 lead.
The Hornets scored single runs in the third and fourth frames to build a 7-2 advantage, and in the fifth, Emporia State put together a nine-run inning to take a 16-2 lead. In the sixth, the Hornets would add their final four runs of the game, with the inning beginning with Hornet history made by
TJ Racherbaumer in the frame.
Racherbaumer drove in the first of four runs in the inning with a single to right field to increase the lead to 17-4, and with the single, Racherbaumer completed the cycle, becoming the second Hornet to complete the cycle in the NCAA era.
RBI from
Brady Unrein,
Sammy Padilla and
Logan Myers completed the scoring, as Emporia State's scoring was capped at 20 runs in game two. The score remained 20-4 through the seventh, as Emporia State secured the series sweep over the Riverhawks.
Game two featured 15 hits by the Hornets, with
TJ Racherbaumer going 4-4 with four RBI and reaching base all five times.
Logan Myers drove in five of his own while
Peyton Lewis,
Noah Steele and
Elijah Reeves each had two RBI in the game.
On the mound,
Cade Barton started the game and allowed two runs over 4.0 innings with four strikeouts and no walks.
Ryan Sauter and
Ian Lanik pitched the final three innings in relief and combined for eight strikeouts, with Sauter striking out the side in his 2.0 innings of work.
Emporia State will be back in action on Tuesday, April 22 as they travel to Fort Hays State for the midweek series finale against the Tigers. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
NOTES:
TJ Racherbaumer homered three times in the doubleheader, pushing his career total to 27, which passed Brad Bascue for eighth-most in Emporia State baseball history.
Racherbaumer's cycle is the second by a Hornet in the NCAA era, joining Christian Roduner who achieved it against Fort Hays State on May 1, 2021.
