Emporia State senior Dillon Hazlett gets a hit against Nebraska-Omaha April 2 at Glennen Field. Kellen Jenkins/ The Bulletin

Every successful team has to have their player that can make good things come out of tight situations and bring out the

best in the ball club.

For the Emporia State baseball team, that player is Senior Centerfielder Dillon Hazlett. Hazlett is a native Kansan but went to North Carolina University for his first years of collegiate baseball before transferring to ESU.

“Baseball is a mental game, and he brings that to the table each and every day,” said Head Coach Bob Fornelli. “He can run, and he is a great offensive player. He does a lot of little things that make our team good.”

This season alone, Hazlett has earned the MIAA Hitter of the Week twice and has also been named the Regional and National Hitter of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Hazlett became the first player from the MIAA to earn either award.

“It is nice to (get the honors),” Hazlett said. “As long as we keep winning is the main thing. I can get all those, but if we don’t win then it’s not so fun.”

Hazlett earned the hitting accolades after a particularly spectacular game against Lincoln University. With the score tied in the fifth, Hazlett singled to get on base then stole second and advanced on a hit to third before stealing home to score the go-ahead run.

“He is the guy (who) when we need a big hit he comes up with it (or) when we need to get somebody on base,” said Third Baseman Kevin Wempe. “He is a complete package as a baseball player and a great teammate as well.”

Known for stealing bases, Hazlett is 36 for 36 in stolen base attempts thus far in the season. Also adding to his offensive power is his .437 batting average and a high on base percentage of .489. This, coupled with his foot speed, makes him a capable player to score once he is on base. His speed also lends itself to his abilities as an outfielder.

“He can really run and has great baseball instincts,” Fornelli said. “He is not afraid to fail. He just competes, makes up his mind and goes.”

As well as being an outstanding baseball player, Hazlett is also a leader by example on the team always having a great attitude and working hard to reach team goals.

“He’s got a great attitude each and every day,” Fornelli said. “A lot of times, when your best player is one of your hardest workers, you’re going to have a good team that year. He definitely brings that everyday, works hard, competes, and on top of that, he is probably our best athlete in our baseball program that Emporia State has ever had.”

Chris Dvorak

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The runs came early and often for the Emporia State Hornets on Sunday in their double header against the Blue Tigers of

Emporia State senior Jake Hosey takes an easy out against Lincoln Saturday afternoon at Glennen Field. Kellen Jenkins/ The Bulletin

Lincoln University. ESU defeated Lincoln 14-3 in the first of two games and responded with a 15-3 victory in the second.

The first game for ESU saw six runs in the third inning, opening up a 12-3 lead.

“We knew we had to come out, put up some runs early,” said Centerfielder Dillon Hazlett. “It’s big to get runs early, that way you can just put a team away (in) beating them three games in a row.”

First Baseman Travis Whipple would continue the onslaught for ESU with his lead off home run in the fourth inning. The Hornets added one more run to the score and won handily 14-3.

In the second game of the double header, ESU found ways to score despite being out hit 7-1 through three innings. Aggressiveness in stealing bases kept the game knotted at three runs.

“We want to be aggressive on the bases,” Whipple said. We want to put pressure on them, make them do stuff they’re not comfortable doing. Whenever you can get guys running and movement in the middle you open up gaps, open up holes.”

A lead off home run by Joe Kornbrust followed by a home run by Rudy Weiser sparked what became a five run fourth inning         for ESU, a run that cemented their lead for the game.

“People laid back, and we needed a little spark,” said Head Coach Bob Fornelli of the back to back home runs. “At that time, they had seven hits, and we had one hit.  Even though the score was three to three, we weren’t producing a whole lot, and I think that got everyone up.”

Hazlett would follow up with a two run home run in the fifth, and Shortstop Andy Cotton’s three-run homerun in the eighth inning would effectively end the game by run rule as ESU held a 15-3 lead.

The Hornets are now 33-4 overall and 29-4 in the MIAA. With the win, they clinch a spot in the upcoming MIAA tournament. ESU is currently ranked first in the conference and prepare for a four game series at second place Central Missouri this weekend.

“We’ve been pretty good on the road so far,” Fornelli said. “But we have our toughest weekend of the year next week. It’s up to us to compete, do the little things. No matter what we do, as long as we compete and play the game the right way, we can go out of there with our heads up.”

Brandon Schneeberger

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Holding their number one MIAA conference ranking, the #4 Emporia State University baseball team swept unranked

Emporia State senior J.D. Herman throws for an out at first base in the first game of a doubleheader against Missouri Western Tuesday afternoon at Glennen Field. Kellen Jenkins/ The Bulletin

Missouri Western State University on Tuesday, winning the double header, 5-2 and 11-7.

“They’re doing great. It’s an unbelievable club. I don’t know if we have the most talent in the country, but we’re finding ways to win,” said Head Coach Bob Fornelli. “They always believe they’re going to win games and then they do that.”

Winning game one smoothly, the first Hornet run was from a triple by senior Parker Amos. After that, the Hornets scored three runs in the third inning and one more in the sixth.

The Griffons attempted a comeback scoring one run in the seventh and loading the bases, but left each runner stranded at the end allowing the Hornets were able to come away with the win.

“At times, we may get laid back a little too much,” said Senior Outfielder Dillon Hazlett. “But we always rein it back in and get the job done.”

The second game was a little rockier, with the Griffons threatening from the first inning, making one run. The Hornets had a rough start with starting pitcher Derek Brooks throwing 38 pitches and the Hornets making two errors. The Hornets offense came out, however, and took the lead with two runs in the first.

“Whenever (Brooks) is not down in the zone, he struggles a little bit,” said Senior Catcher David Allbritton. “But when he is down in the zone, no one can hit him.”

Brooks improved his pitching for the next three innings only allowing two hits and shutting down the Griffon offense. ESU then went on a hitting drought for three innings, allowing the Griffons to tie the game.

“We’ve got to come out and do a better job of closing the game,” Allbritton said. “Instead of giving up a few runs… but we got lucky and had built up more runs on them.”

Hazlett opened up the Hornet scoring by hitting a double and stealing third before stealing home on a wild pitch. The Hornets then had a five run eighth inning that giving them a little cushion going into the ninth that the Griffons could not overcome.

“We found a way to battle through it,” Fornelli said. “It’s a big opportunity for us to win two games, and we were able to do it.”

Chris Dvorak

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With the wind playing a huge factor, the Emporia State baseball team finished a four game series against the Mavs of Nebraska-Omaha Sunday, defeating UNO 10-5. After falling behind 0-2 in the series, the Hornets rebounded winning the final two games.

“I think it’s a huge win for us this year,” said Head Coach Bob Fornelli. “Because it’s the first time we’ve lost two in a row. To come out today and compete and give ourselves a chance to win is huge for the rest of the year.”

Neither team wasted time getting on the board as the Mavs opened up with one run in the first inning followed by two Hornet runs off an unearned run by Kevin Wempe and a run by Andy Cotton off of an RBI from Joe Vaskas.

The Mavs responded again in the second inning on a sacrifice fly to tie the game up at two runs apiece before Vaskas struck again with the first homerun of the game giving ESU a 3-2 lead.     

“He threw me a breaking ball, and I put a good swing on it,” Vaskas said. “I knew the wind was carrying out well, so anything in the air had a chance to get out for anybody on the team.”

The Hornets added two more runs off a UNO error on what should have been a routine fly ball opportunity. ESU took the three run lead into the fourth and extended their lead to six runs after Dillon Hazlett’s homerun to right field brought Wempe home.

“When I hit it, right off the bat I was like, ‘that’s probably foul,’ and then I looked up and it was blowing back fair and it stayed straight… the wind helped me out on that one a little bit,” Hazlett said.

ESU added two more runs to the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Though the Mavs would respond with three runs in the top of the eighth, the Hornets held them off for the 10-5 victory.

For the series, the Hornets went 2-2 with the Mavs after dropping the first two games. ESU dropped the series opener on Friday 2-8 before splitting Saturday’s double-header. The Hornets lost the first game 2-5 but rebounded with an 8-6 victory in the second.

ESU is now 22-3 on the season and ranked first in the MIAA. They return to Glennen Field this weekend for another four game series against Missouri Southern. First pitch in the series is scheduled for 6 p.m. tomorrow.

Brandon Schneeberger

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Allbritton

Bringing experience, dedication and fun to the Emporia State baseball team, Senior Catcher David Allbritton is one of biggest leaders on the field for the Hornets this season. He transferred from Allen County Community College last season and is helping make the Hornets the MIAA Conference runner-up as well as into post-season regional play.

“He has really grown as a catcher,” said Head Coach Bob Fornelli. “He was second team All-American last year and hope he can provide that same type of effort this year. He can provide us some leadership and give us an opportunity to play in the offseason.”

Allbritton fulfills a number of roles on the team, one of which is being a team leader. Being the catcher he works with the pitcher to call the shots, and this carries over into the direction of the team as a whole on the field.

“We have a lot better chemistry this year,” Albritton said. “It’s a lot better team. We’re working together a lot more and playing harder.”

Although he has not been on the team for four years, he brings a positive influence to the field and is very integrated into the team strategy. The influence of his leadership abilities are not overlooked by his teammates.

“Dave is an interesting, goofy guy… but he is a good leader. He is a big part of what we are doing this year,” said Junior Pitcher Zach Dodson. “He is a captain out on the field, and he has power and is a great defensive catcher. He is a great guy to throw to.”

With the leadership on the field, Allbritton also brings his top game to practice every day by showing a great work ethic and keeping a positive attitude.

“(Allbritton) has a great attitude and great effort every day,” Fornelli said. “He comes to practice with a smile on his face and works hard.”

As well as being a motivational leader to the team Allbritton also brings tremendous playing abilities. Last season he was the leading hitter for the Hornets and had a .401 batting average at ACCC. So far this season, he is fourth on the team in batting average. Defensively he is also a great catcher and is able to guide the Hornets from behind the plate and has a .991 fielding average.

“He is solid all around. You really want a catcher as a pitcher that you are confident in he is not going to let a lot of balls pass,” Dodson said. “He is a good defensive catcher and has good batting power.”

After two years at ACCC and now in his second year with the Hornets, Allbritton is looking to take the team further than they went last year and finish with a strong senior season.

“This is my last year. I’m looking to put it all on the field,” Albritton said. “I’m looking to get to North Carolina, for the National Championships. Those are my goals.”

Chris Dvorak

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The Emporia State baseball team swept Pittsburg State in a four game series over the weekend.

In Saturday’s double header, Dillon Hazlett went two of four and scored two runs and Joe Vaskas went three of four an added two RBI’s in the first game.

In the second game the Hornets were out hit 14-10 but pulled off the win by stranding 11 runners.

Sunday concluded the series with a 5-1 ESU victory followed by a 13-6 victory. The Hornets scored all five of their runs in the fifth inning in the first game. Zach Carlson’s triple drove in two runs to get ESU Started.

In the second game Sunday, the Hornets scored nine runs in the third as they cruised to the 13-6 victory.

The Hornets are now 7-0 on the season, and are currently ranked fourth in the nation.

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The Emporia State baseball team took on the Ottawa Braves yesterday afternoon at Glennen Field in a game that was

Senior Andy Cotton throws to first base Wednesday afternoon at Glennen Field. The Hornets beat Ottawa 5-3. Jon Coffey/ The Bulletin

 scheduled earlier in the week due to lost games over the weekend. The Hornets were able to get runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings to earn a 5-3 victory.

            “We still don’t know a whole lot about our baseball team,” said Head Coach Bob Fornelli. “At least we got an opportunity to get out and play somebody else in a different uniform. Ottawa did a good job and came out here and played hard.”

            Things picked up for ESU (3-0) in the third inning as Senior Second Baseman Andy Cotton hit a home run off the first pitch of the inning to give the Hornets a one run lead. After stealing second, senior infielder Jacob White scored for the Hornets off a second double by Senior Shortstop Dillon Hazlett to center field.

            “That was a fastball,” Cotton said about the home-run. “I’m not a very big guy. I’m looking to go the other way up the middle… It got in on me a little bit. It was just one of those swings. I put a good swing on the ball, and it carried out for me.”

Hazlett himself scored in the inning off a David Albritton single up the middle.

            In the bottom of the fifth, Hazlett continued his good day with his third hit as he led off with a single. Hazlett was advanced to third off a line out to center by Travis Whipple. Albritton again brought Hazlett home with an RBI single up the middle to give the Hornets a 4-0 lead.

            Ottawa finally got on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth after a two-run home run by Right Fielder Dustin Balmer with two outs in the inning.

            In the bottom of the sixth, Joe Kornbrust reached base on a fielder’s choice. Kornbrust went on to steal second and third before being brought home off an RBI bunt by White giving ESU a 5-2 lead.

            The Hornets survived a scare in the eighth inning. With one out in the inning and two runners on base, ESU secured two outs off a fielder’s choice and a fly out to left field. The Hornets held on in the ninth, allowing only one more run to get their third win of the season.

            “We’ve played three games now in it seems like three, four weeks – a month,” Fornelli said. “This weekend’s going to be a big part to our season. Because we’re going to get an opportunity to play four games in a row, and it’s our job to out there and get better day in and day out.”

            The Hornets are finished with the non-conference season and will begin the conference season this weekend. A three-game series will be held March 4-6 at Pittsburg State.

Brandon Schneeberger

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It took until the bottom of the ninth but the Emporia State Hornet baseball team began the 2011 season with a victory

Third baseman Kevin Wempe slides into home Wednesday afternoon at Trusler Sports Complex. Wempe hit the gaming winning single ending the Hornets’ match up against Newman 6-5. Kellen Jenkins/ The Bulletin

 Wednesday against the Jets of Newman University. Infielder Zack Carlson scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth on a single by Kevin Wempe.

“It’s the first time we’ve been out, the first time we’ve really put our uniforms on to have an opportunity to play a game,” said Head Coach Bob Fornelli. “I felt like we kind of felt through the game instead of competed in the game. And that’s part of the early season baseball, and hopefully we can get better.”

The game was all Newman until the bottom of the third. After quickly loading the bases, Newman scored off a sacrifice fly to take the early 1-0 lead. A solo home run in the second and another score off of loaded bases in the third put the Hornets in an early 3-0 hole.

ESU showed their resiliency however as they would go on to score three runs in the bottom of the third, two of them coming off a double by Joe Vaskas.

“We started a little slow offensively,” Wempe said. “They came out of the gate and marked the first three innings. We put two big innings back to back, but we’d like to have more consistent offensive play and try to score every inning.”

In the bottom of the fourth, Carlson broke the 3-3 tie with his two-run home run.

“He gave me a first-pitch fastball, and I should have swung at that,” Carlson said. “I took that and was down 0-1, and then he just gave me a slider that came right to the zone, and I just connected with it.”

The Jets struck next in the top of the sixth inning after a walk and double led to two runs to tie the game up at five runs apiece.

The Hornets dug down defensively as they held on to hold Newman scoreless for the next three innings. Wempe then saw his opportunity in the bottom of the ninth as he followed up Carlson’s lead off triple.

“That situation with the infield in (you’re) just looking for something up in the zone you can hit out in the outfield,” Wempe said. “Carlson made it pretty easy. He hit a triple to lead it off. I just had to advance him one base.”

ESU begins the season at 1-0 after the win. They travel to Newman for the next game before returning home at 12 p.m. on Feb. 26 to take on Arkansas Tech.

Brandon Schneeberger

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Fornelli

How is the team preparing for the upcoming season?

I think they are doing a really good job preparing. Right now we don’t know when we are going to play because of the weather. They stay plugged in and doing the right thing. So I think we are heading in the right direction.

How helpful has the new indoor practice facility been during the winter training?

It’s a godsend to be able to go out each and every day to do what we need to do. It’s a great facility. We’ve been able to accomplish a lot, but we’ve got to get out on the field and get into baseball shape. We feel like a basketball team. We can run and do those things, but to get in baseball shape, we’ve got to get onto the field and get some things accomplished.

Are the freshman players meshing well with the team?

Our new guys are doing a good job, they are great teammates. The one thing about this team is that they are a good family. They work well together. They work hard together they believe in one another. That’s part of a good team is becoming a family. We haven’t faced a whole lot of adversity yet, but they’ve become a good family, and they work well together. They have the makings of a good team.

What about the veterans?

Those guys are doing well. We have some guys who have been here for awhile…. There are a lot of guys who had the opportunity to play in the national championship game a couple years ago. We feel like we weren’t as good as we needed to be last year. We hope we can overcome that and continue to get better and play better this year.

What do you think caused the postseason loss to UCM last year?

We just never clicked. We didn’t have enough chemistry last year. We weren’t what we needed to be. We built our program on tradition and guys that believe in one another and like I said become a family, and I don’t know if we ever became a good enough of a family to win what we needed to win last year. Hopefully we’ve solidified that with the guys that we’ve brought in and their persistence that they’ve had all year. Since the fall, they’ve worked hard together. I think if you work hard and believe in one another, we can accomplish a bunch.

Are you looking toward the MIAA championship?

We’re just looking to continue to play. It’s something we don’t talk about a lot. We have to get better each and every day. When we try to get better each and every day, we’re most the time successful. We’re not looking ahead, but ultimately our goal is to get to regionals. If you get to a regional you got a chance to accomplish the big goals to get on a plane and go to North Carolina…. In the big scheme of things that is probably our goal, but we’re not talking about it much yet.

Chris Dvorak

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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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