Emporia State's first baseman Kenny Burkhead eye's in a throw from the pitcher to get the second out of the inning against Wayne State Tuesday. The Hornets fell to Wildcats 3-7. Kenny Thompson/The Bulletin

A rough outing on the mound for the Emporia State baseball team led to a 7-3 loss to the Wildcats of Wayne State last Tuesday. The loss marks the Hornets’ second of the season.

Coach Bob Fornelli said he was unhappy with his team’s lack of competitiveness on the field.

“We didn’t throw strikes, we didn’t compete at the plate, we had one miscue defensively that really cost us,” Fornelli said. “Again, we’ve got to play every day, the right way, and that’s to compete and play hard. We’ve played nine games now…and I don’t know if we’ve done all that stuff. It’s my job to figure out how to get them to compete, and I promise you before it’s all said and done we are going to compete.”

Junior pitcher Spencer Blades got the start for the Hornets on the mound. Blades had a fairly productive day, pitching four innings while allowing no runs, two hits and striking out four batters.

While Blades had a productive outing, several other Hornets pitchers did not take part in similar success. Junior pitcher Keith Spreckles followed Blades’ performance with three earned runs and no strikeouts in two thirds of an inning.

Senior pitcher Brett Mize relieved Spreckles of his duties but did not fare much better. Mize allowed three runs to score with no strikeouts in one third of an inning.

Blades believed that walks might have been the major problem in the outing.

“We had a lot of walks today,” Blades said. “I think that was the biggest part to them scoring all of their runs”

The Hornets also struggled mightily at the plate. Junior infielder Kevin Wempe scored twice for ESU on a 1-3 day, while senior outfielder Jeremy Francis scored once on a 0-4 performance.

In fact, only two Hornets connected with multiple fair balls the entire game. One of whom, junior outfielder Travis Whipple, was frustrated with his team’s inability to play to their own strengths.

“I think we underachieved a lot today,” Whipple said. “We have to come out early and put pressure on guys. Everybody’s coming out to give us their best, for sure, because of our ranking. Right now we’re not playing up to our capabilities.”

The most evident point of the game which showed how much the Hornets were truly struggling came in the top of the fifth inning. A fly ball was hit directly above Wempe near third base, and while junior infielder Andy Cotton came to Wempe’s aid, neither of the players caught the ball as it hit the ground untouched. The play resulted in an easy on-base for the Wayne State batter.

“I think Wempe lost control maybe a little bit, and Cotton gave up because he thought Wempe was going to catch it,” Fornelli said. “We’ve made too many miscues in the infield. No excuses – we’ve got to get better.”

The Hornets will next face Ft. Hays State on the road. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. on March 5 in Hays.

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The Emporia State baseball team is looking to take conference in a doubleheader against Southwest Baptist Friday and Saturday at the Trusler Complex.

If the Hornets win one game this weekend, they will be the MIAA regular season champion and will be the first seed in the conference tournament.

“We have four games with SBU left and we have an opportunity to win the conference and hopefully the rain will stay away,” said Head Coach Bob Fornelli.

Currently, ESU is second in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional and is eighth in the nation in the American Baseball Coaches Association top 30 poll.

“It’s a big weekend knowing that we have a lot of work to do with the conference tournament the following weekend and hopefully a regional after that,” Fornelli said.

Because this weekend’s series concludes the regular season for the Hornets, the win at home is all the more important, especially to the senior members of the team.

“Having a chance to play at home in front of our fans will be pretty fun,” said senior outfielder Conner Crumbliss. “It has been a lot of fun here, it will great to have one last game out there and one last chance to play in front of our good fans.”

Senior Hornets Brody McCullough, Conner Crumbliss, Anthony Dreiling, Kellen Lane, Brendan Higgins, Caleb Williamson, Brett McBride, Diego Soto, Mike Sharp, Tyler Applehans, Abe Steinbach, Lucas Fornelli and Ryan Anthony will all be recognized at the start of game two on Saturday.

Although the Hornets went 1-3 in their last series on the road against Missouri Southern, Fornelli said the team is still finishing the season strong.

“We have had 48 games this season so to only lose a couple in the year which is pretty good so hopefully we’ll come out and continue to battle an do some good things,” he said.

Coming into this game, Crumbliss is hitting .403 this season and is has 43 RBI. He leads the Hornets in steals with 25 stolen bases, is second in the nation in runs scored per game and holds the ESU record in runs scored.

Sharp is currently leading the MIAA in home runs and is second in runs driven in per game. He is hitting .400 on the year and is leading the team with 12 home runs and is second in RBI with 52 on the year.

With weather less than cooperative this week, the Hornets have had a lack of field practice.

“It is hard to prepare when you can’t go outside and practice,” Fornelli said. “We will do everything we can to come out and have a good weekend and we’ll see what happens.”

The Hornets will hit off game one at 4 p.m. this Friday.

Doug Irby/The Bulletin

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PHOTO BY KELLEN JENKINS

The Emporia State baseball team batted their way to a run rule in the seventh inning against Sterling College Tuesday night, winning the game 15-3.

The Hornets scored nine runs in the first inning to set the pace for the remainder of the game.

“We had a big first inning which helped,” said Head Coach Bob Fornelli. “We played hard, did the right things and will have a couple good practices before the big weekend.”

ESU showed offensive dominance with 18 hits on the night.

Conner Crumbliss went 3-3 at bat with three runners batted in. Jeremy Francis hit 3-4 with two RBI. Kevin Wempe went 3-2 with two RBI and Mike Sharp went 2-2 with two RBI and hit the only home run for the Hornets. Jacob White finished with three runs scored.

“They kept throwing a lot of fast balls over the plate and if you do that to our team we are going to get a lot of hits,” Crumbliss said. “If they throw it over the plate, we are going to hit it.”

The Hornets held their own on defense, with five different pitchers getting 13 strike outs.

On the mound for ESU, Tyler Applehans struck out all six batters in the first and second innings to get his seventh win. Ben Graham, Colby Killian, Cole Moore and Diego Soto all got time on the mound.

“We had not played since last weekend so we wanted to run guys out there we know are going to pitch this weekend,” Fornelli said.

With the win, the Hornets are now 38-6 overall and are 24-3 in the MIAA.

“I think we have it locked already for first place but we need to just keep winning so we can host the regional here,” Francis said.

The Hornets prepare now for a three game series against 19-9 Missouri Southern.

“We have a big weekend against a good Missouri Southern and if we don’t play well we will come home with a broken heart,” Fornelli said. “We need to play hard, play fast and do the little things to be successful.”

ESU will play the first game at 6 p.m. April 24 at Joplin, Mo.

Doug Irby/The Bulletin

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Short Stop Kevin Wempe hits a single Wednesday afternoon against Pittsburg State on Glenne Field. The Hornets won the double header 14-2 and 14-10. PHOTO BY KELLEN JENKINS

The Emporia State baseball team played a doubleheader against the Pittsburg State Gorillas last night, winning the first game in a blowout 14-2 and the second game 14-10.

Junior right handed pitcher Ben Graham went five innings and allowed one run on 5 hits to get the win.

Senior infielder Connor Crumbliss got the leadoff single in the bottom of the first inning but the Hornets failed to drive in a run in the first inning.

Graham and the Hornets’ defense did not allow a run for three innings. After a Gorilla run in the fourth inning, Graham held the Gorillas to one run less in the fifth inning.

Following the fifth inning, the Hornets made a pitching change and brought in senior left hander Brett McBride. McBride pitched one inning and gave up one run on two hits.

The Hornets made another pitching change in the seventh inning to freshman right hander Justin Maxson who did not allow a hit, sealing the victory for the Hornets.

The Hornets scored their 14 runs on 18 hits. The Gorillas scored their two runs on 7 hits.

Both junior outfielder Chris Dobler and sophomore third baseman Kevin Wempe hit a homerun for the Hornets.

“It felt good to contribute to the win,” Wempe said. “I wanted to score some runs.”

The Hornets won the second game 14-10.

“It was two different ball games,” Wempe said. “Both teams got into the bullpen early and from there it was who could outscore who.”

The Gorillas scored 4 runs in the first inning on a grand slam hit off of Brett Mize. Mize struck the first batter but walked the next three and Jason Murphy hit the ball out of the park.

“(Mize) struggled a little bit,” Dobler said. “He is a good pitcher he just struggled and he will bounce back.”

Following the grand slam, the Hornets brought in right handed pitcher Dominic King, who pitched two innings and allowed five runs on five hits.

The Hornets answered with their own grand slam in the bottom of the first. Mitch Cooper walked the first three Hornets and Dobler blasted one out of the park to tie the game.

“It was a pretty good feeling,” Dobler said. “I got down two strikes and I was just trying to put the ball in play and it came off the bat pretty good.”

The Gorillas scored one run in the second inning to take the lead 5-4. The Hornets managed to get two men on base but failed to drive them in.

The Gorillas scored four more runs in the top of the fourth inning on a two run homerun to increase their lead to three runs. Once again, the Hornets answered with four of their own runs.

The Hornets took the lead in the sixth inning on two consecutive doubles that scored two runs, increasing the score to 11-9.

The Hornets shut out the Gorillas in five of the final six innings behind the arm of junior right hander Austin Anderson to complete the sweep of the Gorillas.

“He was the story of this game,” said head coach Bob Fornelli. “He came in and threw up a bunch of zeros and got us back in the game.”

The Hornets are now 30-6 and 19-3 in the MIAA. They will play Truman at 1 p.m. April 10 in Kirksville, Mo.

Matthew Pierce/The Bulletin

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Catcher Mike Sharp hits a single against Missouri Western Sunday afternoon on Glennen Field at Trusler Sports Complex. ESU split the double header losing 2-9 in the first game and winning 9-5 in the second. The Hornets will face the Griffons at home in a double header at 1 p.m. today./PHOTO BY KELLEN JENKINS

The Emporia State baseball team went 1-1 in a double-header Sunday in a series against Missouri Western University.

ESU lost the first game 9-2 and won the second game 9-5.

“The first game was not a good game and we had to get over it and move on and I thought we did a good job in the second game of doing that,” said Head Coach Bob Fornelli.

According to Fornelli, strong and cold wind played a large factor in both teams’ performances.

“We had to get them to hit the ball to the right field and stay on top of it,” Fornelli said. “That is what they did a good job of in the first game by hitting it over the right field wall and we kept flying out or striking out.”

Senior outfielder Conner Crumbliss said the wind affected the team because of the way they hit.

“It usually blows out to the left and we usually take advantage of it when it does because it is a lot easier to hit,” Crumbliss said. “But when it blows out right it is hard because we have a lot of right handed hitters.”

According to junior outfielder Jeremy Francis, the weather conditions made it hard for both teams to make plays in the outfield.

“It is not an excuse but it was the wind,” Francis said. “The wind is hard to judge when the ball is in the air but they played in the same conditions we did and they made the catches.”

Playing in bad weather was also mentally demanding.

“No one really wanted to physically be here but at the same time you have to show up,” Francis said. “Of course this would be a different game if we had good weather but at same time you have to face that and play through it.”

In the second game, Francis hit a drive to right field which allowed all three runners to score and put the Hornets in the lead at the bottom of the 5^th inning.

“It was a weird swing,” Francis said. “I check swung and it just went of the bat and the ball hoped over his glove and coach kept swinging me so I just took off as fast as I could.”

Crumbliss said the run created a momentum change for the Hornets.

“That was huge because we finally got the lead,” Crumbliss said. “We had been getting beat all day and it was nice to finally get ahead.”

The Hornets would maintain the lead for the rest of the game, holding the Griffons to five runs.

“Coach got onto us between games to try and get the ball on the ground a little better,” Crumbliss said. “Because we were hitting a lot of fly balls so we just had to focus more. We just have to show up and play hard. If we play hard we should not lose to anybody.”

The Hornets will play NWMU today in another double-header to finish the series.

“We have a huge week,” Fornelli said. “In the next six days we have eight more games. We have got to continue to play hard, continue to do the little things and continue to find a way to win.”

Both teams will continue play tomorrow at 1 p.m. from Glennen Field in Emporia, Kan.

Doug Irby/The Bulletin

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Senior infielder Anthony Dreiling dives back to first base Wednesday night at Glennen Field. The Hornets beat the Bethany Swedes 12-9 and will face Missouri Western at St. Joseph, Mo./PHOTO BY KELLEN JENKINS

The Emporia State baseball team beat Bethany College 12-9 at home last night.

The Hornets have led the series with the Swedes 20-0. The last meeting resulted in a double header sweep by the Hornets.

The Hornets had an 8-0 lead heading into the fourth inning. Bethany College answered with two three-run homers, along with one more run, cutting the Hornets’ lead to one.

The Hornets brought out freshman pitcher Justin Maxson to finish the top of the fourth.

“Coming out of the bullpen, it is kind of hard when the other team is making a run,” Maxson said.  “(We) just got to try to shut them down and do everything we can to stop that momentum.”

Sophomore left outfielder Anthony Markowitz contributed a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth. “He got an opportunity and took advantage of it,” said Head Coach Bob Fornelli.

The homerun swung the momentum back the Hornets’ way.

“Markowitz’s two run homer was a big help,” Maxson said. “It gave me a lot of confidence to go back out there.”

The following three innings, the Swedes went three and out.

“(We) just got back in the grove,” said senior left fielder Conner Crumbliss. “(We) just kind of got our focus back on the field.”

The Hornets never looked back, matching the two runs by Bethany College to maintain a three point lead. Markowitz said batting was the key point to winning the game.

“I thought we hit the ball pretty well,” Markowitz said.

According to Fornelli, being able to adjust has been a work in progress for the team.

“In the first six innings we scored,” Fornelli said. “We have talked about (it) all year long; finding ways to score.”

Fornelli said the Hornets’ win was a team effort.

“No one had a great night, but everyone found a way to contribute,” he said.

With only four home games left, the Hornets do not seem too worried about playing on the road.

“We have done a pretty good job on the road,” Fornelli said. “We have got some pretty tough tests ahead.”

With more than half their season out of the way, the Hornets have a shot at regional competition.

The Hornets will play at Missouri Western in their next game at 6 p.m. this Friday, April 3.

Matthew Pierce/The Bulletin

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Senior Lucas Fornelli pitches against a Butler Community College hitter during a JV game Wednesday afternoon at the Trusler Sports Complex. ESU will host Northwest Missouri at 1 p.m. for a double header this Saturday./PHOTO BY KELLEN JENKINS

The Emporia state baseball team played their first home game of the season last Tuesday against the Newman Jets. The Hornets won 20-9.

“It is good to be home,” said Sophmore infielder Kevin Wempe. “We had been on the road for a couple of weeks.”

Before Tuesday’s game, the team had yet to experience the new turf in the infield section of Glennan Field.

“This was the first time we played a game on the turf,” said senior infielder Connor Crumbliss. “The turf is going to play well for us.”

The Hornets started the bottom of the first inning with a homerun by Crumbliss.

“It was a fastball over the plate and I just hit it,” Crumbliss said. “We hit well tonight but our team is going to rely on singles and doubles.”

The Hornets had 21 hits compared to the Jets’ 17.

“We swung the bat well tonight and we just played well,” said junior infielder Kenny Burkhead. “The guys that threw for them seemed like they were not throwing very hard and we adjusted pretty well.”

The Hornets’ defense shutout the Jets in three innings before giving up a run. The Jets scored five runs in the top of the fourth inning to pull within four runs of the Hornets’ lead. The Hornets responded by adding 11 more runs in five innings and holding the Jets to just four runs over that span.

Both teams hit five homeruns in the game and combined for 29 runs.

“Our offense performed really well tonight,” Wempe said. “We hit the ball all over the field.”

Throughout the game, there were nine pitching changes made between both teams.

“We have to throw more strikes, change speeds and work ahead in the count,” said Head Coach Bob Fornelli. “Every pitcher who went out on the mound tonight has an opportunity to help us but right now they’re not pitching like it.”

Freshman Dominic King was the winning pitcher for the Hornets. He went two innings and had eight hits and four runs against him.

The Hornets improve to 8-2 on the season and will play four games at home before heading out on the road again.

The Hornets will play against Northwest Missouri in a double header at 1 p.m. next Saturday at Glennen Field.

Matt Pierce/The Bulletin

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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

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The Emporia State men’s baseball team played their first game of the season Feb. 10 against Southwestern Oklahoma State. The Hornets won 19-9.

The Hornets were at bat 44 times and had a total of 20 hits, 19 of which resulted in a point. Of the Hornets’ 19 points, 15 were runners batted in, or RBI’s.

In his 18 years as a coach, Bob Fornelli has coached for Butler County Community College and Fort Hays State and is now in his sixth season as head coach for the Hornets. Fornelli finished out the last season 50-10 and has an overall record of 522-202.

Two of this year’s seniors, Connor Crumbliss and Anthony Drieling, helped bring the Hornets to victory.

“Connor Crumbliss, Anthony Drieling and Kevin Wempe are pretty much everyday guys and guys that are definitely going to help us,” Fornelli said.

Connor Crumbliss batted five times with a total of four hits and four runs. Crumbliss helped bring in additional points with two RBI’s. Crumbliss currently has a batting average of .800

Anthony Drieling also batted five times with a total of three hits and three runs, one of which was a home run. Drieling had a total of five RBI’s and has a current batting average of .600.

The team had not practiced much outside due to the Trusler Sports Complex being under construction, but they have been training hard toward this year’s season.

“We are not going to use excuses,” Fornelli said. “We are going to go out and compete and hopefully we come out on top.”

The Hornets started practicing as early as last August.

“We practice pretty much year round… but our field is not done yet so we have only had a couple practices on a baseball field,” Fornelli said. “We have pretty much been down in the gym doing batting practice in the batting cages… doing whatever we can to be prepared.”

The Hornets lost several seniors last year, some of which played a key role in last season’s wins, but Fornelli is confident that the team will be successful.

“We lost a lot last year… three all Americans, a bunch of great seniors that helped us win 50 games, but we bring back a good number of guys that were here last year,” Fornelli said.

This season, the younger players have had the opportunity to step up to bat. The Hornets have a total of eight freshman, six sophomores, 16 juniors and 10 seniors this season. With so many younger players, the Hornets look forward to a promising season and many returning athletes.

“I thought we did a lot of things good for the first time out,” Fornelli said. “We had some quality at batting, we need to work on our concentration a little bit. There were a couple of lapses in concentration, probably pitching wise and one lapse defensively but I thought we played pretty well considering we have not practiced a whole bunch.”

Cody Grauberger/The Bulletin

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