May 8, 2026 – Emporia State baseball jumped out in front of Missouri Western in the first and never looked back, as they rolled to a 14-1 win in seven innings over the Griffons, advancing to the MIAA Championship Game.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Missouri Western picked up the first hit of the game, leading off with a single against
Seth Stover, but a strikeout followed by a double play ended the frame. In the bottom half, Emporia State drew three walks and tallied two hits to jump in front 3-0 with
Noah Steele,
Nathon Cruz and
Dylan Brisbois all picking up an RBI.
Stover's second inning was nearly identical to the first, with the Griffons opening with a single before the junior forced a 4-6-3 double play followed by a strikeout to face the minimum.
Gus Keller and
Logan Myers led off the bottom of the second with consecutive walks and Keller eventually scored on an RBI groundout by
Frankie Santiago to extend the advantage to 4-0. Stover continued his strong outing with scoreless third and fourth frames, which included two strikeouts in the third and third double play of the game in the fourth.
In the bottom half of the fourth, Emporia State put together another big inning on their way to doubling the lead.
Evan Abbott doubled down the right field line with one out, before scoring two batters later as
Noah Steele swapped places with a double of his own to make the score 5-0.
Nathon Cruz then singled to put runners on the corners with two outs, forcing a pitching change by the Griffons.
Brady Unrein then welcomed the replacement with a two-run triple to extend the lead to 7-0.
Dylan Brisbois then drove in Unrein with a single up the middle for his second RBI of the game to cap the four-run frame.
Missouri Western finally broke through with a single run in the top of the fifth, but the Hornets quickly answered with another three-run inning in the bottom half. Following consecutive singles by
Logan Myers and
Evan Abbott,
Frankie Santiago launched his 16th home run of the season to put the Hornets ahead 11-1.
Stover quickly returned to work in the sixth by needing just eight pitches to retire the Griffons in order, and after three more runs by Emporia State in the bottom half, returned to the mound in the seventh to cap off the complete game.
A LOOK AT THE STATS
Four Hornets posted multi-hit games, including
Evan Abbott who went 4-5 with two RBI and three runs scored. Abbott's four hits marks the third game with four hits this season.
Frankie Santiago drove in four runs, highlighted by his fifth inning home run. Santiago tallied his fifth game with four or more RBI this season.
Seth Stover pitched a complete game, needing just 76 pitches to go 7.0 innings while allowing just one run on five hits while recording five strikeouts. The outing is Stover's second complete game this season.
UP NEXT
Emporia State will take on top-seeded Pittsburg State on Saturday, May 9 in the MIAA Championship Game. First pitch between the Hornets and Gorillas is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
NOTES
Stover's start on Friday is the 39th of his career, tying Ben Bounous for seventh-most in program history.
Logan Myers is up to 194 hits in his Hornet career, moving into sixth in program history.
Emporia State returns to the MIAA Championship game for the first time since 2018.
