The Emporia State baseball team defeated Central Oklahoma 18-13 Tuesday in Edmund, Okla. Tuesday’s match up was an important game for the Hornets.

“Every game is a challenge,” said Head Coach Bob Fornelli. “We have been going on the road so much we have not had a chance to practice. We were fortunate enough to come out and play well and, in the end, win it.”

The Hornets took Oklahoma by surprise by accumulating a total of 10 runs in the eighth inning alone.

“Everybody played very well,” said Rudy Weiser, freshman catcher. “The whole team did a good job.”

Ryan Anthony, senior pither for the Hornets, pitched the first six innings and only allowed two hits in the beginning of the game.

“Ryan Anthony, for the first six innings, was very good and we are very excited about what he did today,” Fornelli said.

Anthony said he had one thing in mind prior to Tuesday’s game.

“I was just trying to go out and get a chance to win it,” Anthony said.

Kenney Burkhead, junior first baseman, had a total of six attempts at bat, five of which were hits. Of Burkhead’s five hits, four resulted in a run. Burkhead also batted in seven teammates, assisting the team in 11 overall scores.

Senior infielder Connor Crumbliss also contributed to the win. With a total of one hit, two runs and one teammate batted in, Crumbliss assisted the team in three runs.

“Connor is our best player,” Fornelli said. “We think he is going to be a guy that does good things for us and enables our offense to go.”

The Hornets had a total of 48 attempts at bat, 16 of which resulted in a hit. The 16 hits all resulted in either a run or runners batted in, which averaged to 17 RBI’s. Of the 18 runs scored by the Hornets, four were home runs.

“For the most part (the team) believe in themselves, they know we have a lot of work to get to where we would like to go,” Fornelli said.

With a long road ahead of them, the Hornets have a total of 51 games left and are preparing for the games to come.

“We are definitely not close to talking about the World Series yet,” Fornelli said. “Our goal is to get better each and every day and if we could do that we could be a tournament ready team in the end.”

The Hornets will spend a short time in Emporia in preparation for their upcoming games.

“We just have to go out and get a good practice Wednesday, get on the bus and get after it Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” Fornelli said. “I think were going to have a great weekend to get us on the right track for next week for when we open conference.”

Cody Grauberger/The Bulletin