The 13th-ranked Hornet baseball team improved to 15-4 on the season after taking two of three games from Missouri Southern in last weekend’s series at the Trusler Sports Complex.

Emporia State defeated Missouri Southern 2-0 last Friday, scoring their only two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.

The Hornets started the bottom of the eighth with a walk from senior infielder Wade Hanna. Levi Ashmore, senior outfielder, bunted Hannah over to give ESU a man on second with one out. Hanna advanced to third on a Southern error and Ryan McBroom, senior infielder, safely reached first. Junior outfielder Mack Gowing hit a sac fly to left field to give the Hornets the first run of the game, and Johnny Hodges, junior outfielder, singled to shortstop to plate McBroom and cap the game’s scoring heading into the ninth.

In game two of the series, the Lions scored a run in the top of the first off of two singles and an error. The Hornets answered with an infield single that scored Gowing. Both teams were scoreless during the second and third inning. In the top of the fourth, Missouri Southern plated two more runs to give them a 3-1 advantage before the game was delayed due to snow. The game resumed Sunday afternoon.

Emporia State opened up the day scoring two runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 3-3. Kaden Shaffer, junior infielder, ended the game with a walk-off homerun to give the Hornets a 4-3 victory in game two.

The Hornets dropped the third and final game of the series 9-8 in 11 innings. Emporia State started with one run in the first inning and two in the second. Southern scored their first run in the top of the fourth to close the gap to 3-1, but the Hornets answered with four more runs in the bottom half to give them a 7-1 lead.

The Lions scored four more runs in the fifth and three in the sixth to take the lead at 8-7. Mason Brown, junior catcher, was brought home on a triple to tie the game at 8-8 in the next half inning.The Lions would score the winning run on a solo homerun in the top of the 11th to take the game 9-8.

The Hornets will travel to Fort Hays for a three-game series against the Tigers beginning this Friday at 5 p.m.

Statistical information provided by Emporia State Athletics.