Hornets add two more wins

Jordan Haiduk / The Bulletin

Freshman Kevin Wempe hits a grounder against the Tigers. The Hornets defeated Fort Hays State 5-0 on Monday.

The Emporia State baseball team used big run innings to break open two games and eventually add two more wins as ESU beat Fort Hays State University 14-8 and Upper Iowa 10-8 on Monday.

Against FHSU in game one for the Hornets, a quick lead was grabbed by ESU with the help of a three run first inning. After adding an additional run in the bottom of the second, FHSU answered with three runs in the top of the third to make it a 4-3 game.

ESU quickly answered as senior third-baseman Nick Carlson and freshman designated hitter Kyle Wempe each hit homeruns to give the Hornets a 6-3 lead.

With FHSU leading 7-6 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, ESU found itself trailing for the first time all game. Junior center fielder Caleb Williamson was able to get on base and steal second and third base before scoring on a sacrifice fly to tie the game up at seven.

FHSU broke the lead by scoring a single run in its half of the seventh. ESU went into its half of the inning trailing by one. The Hornets took advantage of FHSU’s pitching and tagged the Tigers for six runs in the bottom of the seventh.

“We knew we had to put some runs on the board to open it up a little bit,” Carlson said. “We had a good rhythm going and got some good at bats.”

After holding FHSU scoreless in the top of the eighth, ESU added one more run before finishing out the game with a 14-8 win. FHSU used eight pitchers in the game, five of which pitched less than a full inning.

Senior Daniel Waggoner picked up the win for the Hornets. Waggoner pitched 4.1 innings and had two strikeouts. ESU had 15 base runners left on in the game.

“We left so many guys on, we just had to battle through it and we came up with some clutch hits,” Head Coach Bob Fornelli said. “It was good win for us.”

Wempe went three for three in the game with one RBI, four runs scored and two walks. Carlson was two for three with three RBI and two runs scored. Senior first baseman Matt Marasco was two for three with one RBI and two runs scored.

In the second game of the night, ESU took on UIU for the second time this season. The Hornets beat the Peacocks on March 2 14-5 in Emporia. ESU came out on fire scoring 10 runs in the first inning.

Marasco sparked the big inning with an RBI and then shortstop Andy Anderson cleared the bases with a three run double.

Senior pitcher Richard Timbrook gave ESU a strong outing going six innings and giving up three runs on five hits. Timbrook struck out seven.

“Timbrook was unbelievable. He’s our closer, but since we played so many games in a row we had no more starters so we ran him out there,” Fornelli said. “He gave us six great innings and proved that he can do either.”

At the start of the top of the seventh ESU was up 10-3, but UIU rallied and scored five runs off of junior pitcher Brett McBride. Senior Aaron Burris came in and pitched the final 2.2 innings of the game and shut down UIU holding the Peacocks scoreless in the last two innings. Burris struck out three and gave up one hit.

Timbrook picked up the win as ESU held on to win 10-8. Senior right fielder Eric Shortell was three for four with two runs scored.

After playing seven games in the five days Wempe feels that playing that much in a short time will help the team get ready for the bulk of the season.

“This is great to lead into conference. It’s good for us to play a lot of games in a short amout of time like that to get our legs under us.

The Hornets will start conference play with a series against Truman starting on Friday.

“I don’t think there’s any question we’re as ready as we need to be,” Fornelli said. “The only thing we aren’t ready with is some of our injuries but if we can get guys healthy this week and getting back playing next week we should be ready for conference.”