Baseball rolls over Southern

Chris Hunter / The Bulletin

Senior pitcher Richard Timbrook delivers a pitch at a recent home game at Glennen Field.

The #5 Emporia State baseball team continued to roll as it swept Missouri Southern in a four game series over the weekend. The Hornets hit the road for the first game on Friday. The road trip was the first MIAA series for ESU since going to Missouri Western on March 22. The four wins stretch the winning streak to a MIAA record 29 games as senior left fielder Brian Majors extended his personal hitting streak to 29 games before going hitless in Sunday's game.

In game one ESU jumped out to 4-0 lead with all four early runs coming in the second inning which included a two run double by junior center fielder Conner Crumbliss. The Hornets then added another run in the third inning and two more in the sixth while holding Missouri Southern scoreless through seven innings. Missouri Southern picked up its first run in the eighth inning but it was not enough as the Hornets won 9-1.

ESU picked up 13 hits on the day while committing three errors. Senior Brock Nehls took the mound for the Hornets and put in eight innings of work. Nehls allowed six hits and only one run as he struck out seven.

Majors led the way for ESU with two RBI on three for five hitting including one homerun. Crumbliss went two for four with two RBI and two runs scored as senior right fielder Eric Shortell has two RBI on one for five hitting.

On Saturday the two teams played a double header of seven inning affairs. In the first game of the day, ESU once again took advantage early by scoring in the first three innings. The Hornets got four runs in the first inning with the help of lead off homerun by Crumbliss followed by a two run single by senior Nick Wolfe. ESU then added three runs in the second inning and two more in the third to build up a 9-0 lead going into the fourth inning. Missouri Southern got on the board in the fourth inning, but ESU matched the run in the following half inning to take a 10-1 lead. The Hornets added two more runs in the seventh inning and continued to blank Missouri Southern to win the game 12-1.

Junior Tyler Applehans picked up his eighth win of the season by pitching a complete game while allowing only one run on six hits and striking out seven.

Crumbliss led the way by going four for five with four runs scored and two RBI. Shortell went two for five with three RBI and two runs scored. The Hornets racked up 15 hits in the game and three stolen bases.

In game two of the day ESU found itself trailing 0-1 going into the third inning. The Hornets then responded by adding four runs in the inning to take a 4-1 lead. After starting pitcher Richard Timbrook shutdown Missouri Southern for two more innings, ESU added five more runs in the fifth inning and one more in the seventh. Missouri Southern tried to rally, but only got one run in the last inning as the Hornets held on to win 10-2.

Timbrook improved his record to 5-0 as he pitched six innings and allowed one run on eight hits and struck out four.

ESU had 10 hits in the game as Majors went three for four with one RBI and two runs scored. Senior catcher Keith Hernandez went two for four with three RBI and one run scored as Shortell added one RBI on two for four hitting.

The Hornets wrapped up the series with a single nine inning game. ESU once again used its bats to get an early lead as the Hornets scored four runs in the first inning. The scoring got started as Hernandez hit Shortell in on a single to right field. Freshman third baseman Kevin Wempe then added a two RBI single.

Missouri Southern answered with two runs in the second inning to tighten the game to 4-2, but ESU responded with a run in the third and three runs in the fourth before exploding for six runs in the fifth inning. The Hornets scored five of the six runs with two outs in the inning. The first run came as Majors had an RBI groundout to first to score senior shortstop Andy Anderson. Senior first baseman Nick Carlson also had a two RBI on a single to left field to wrap up the inning. ESU got five hits in the inning to score six.

The Hornets held on to win 15-2 in eight innings. ESU had a hot offensive game as the Hornets got 18 hits on the day. Junior Ryan Anthony got the start for ESU and pitched five innings while only giving up two runs on four hits. Anthony struck out three while picking up his third win of the season.