May 1, 2026 – Emporia State trailed 1-0 early against Northeastern State before picking up their offense with nine runs over their final four at-bats to clinch the series with a 10-1 win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Seth Stover, who made his 38th career start on the mound for Emporia State, worked around a leadoff single to force a double play and face the minimum in the top of the first.
Following the Hornets going down in order in the bottom half, Northeastern State scraped across a run in the second to take the early 1-0 lead.
Emporia State would find the answer in the third inning, as
Brady Unrein picked up the first hit of the afternoon with a leadoff double, then came around to score on an infield single by
Gus Keller to pull level.
Northeastern State threatened to retake the lead in the fourth, as they loaded the bases against Stover before the junior force popup to
Nathon Cruz at third to strand all three runners. Emporia State's big inning finally came in the fifth, as a Riverhawk error jump started the inning.
Gus Keller followed
Tyler Coffin who reached on the mistake with a single to put two runners on with no outs.
Logan Myers then delivered an RBI single to score Coffin and give the Hornets the 2-1 lead.
Evan Abbott then hit his eighth homer of the season to clear the bases and make the score 5-1.
In the sixth, the first two runners reached against Stover, but he worked around the trouble to cap his outing with one run allowed over 6.0 innings.
Nick Woodcock took over for Stover in the seventh and promptly struck out the side. In the bottom half,
Evan Abbott led of the frame with a single and then swiped second for his second steal of the day and sixth of the series. After the first out,
Noah Steele swapped places with Abbott, doubling down the left field line to make the score 6-1. Later in the inning with two outs, Unrein picked up his second hit with an RBI single up the middle to make the score 7-1.
Woodcock again faced the minimum in the eighth and the Hornets responded by adding three more to their tally.
Gus Keller reached on an error to open the frame and then came around to score on an RBI double by
Logan Myers. Abbott recorded his fourth RBI by scoring Myers on a sacrifice fly and then
Frankie Santiago capped the inning with a home run to right field, his 15th of the season.
Owen Ruge entered in the ninth and posted his fourth six straight relief appearance without allowing a run to seal the 10-1 win and the series victory over the Riverhawks.
A LOOK AT THE STATS
Emporia State scored ten runs on the afternoon, marking their 23rd game this season with double-digit runs.
Five Hornets tallied multi-hit games, including
Evan Abbott who went 3-4 with a home run and four RBI, his seventh game with four or more RBI this season.
Logan Myers recorded his 23rd multi-hit game of the season and drove in two runs of his own.
Seth Stover picked up his sixth win of the season, striking out four batters in 6.0 innings while allowing just one run.
Nick Woodcock struck out three in relief, the eighth outing this season with three or more strikeouts.
NOTES
Friday's win marks the 34 of the season for Emporia State, tying the most in a season since 2018.
Frankie Santiago hit his 15th home run of the season, which ties him for tenth-most in a single season in program history.
