Emporia State baseball hosted the Northeastern State Riverhawks on March 22 and March 23 at Trusler Sports Complex. Friday started out with a doubleheader between the No. 9 MIAA ranked Riverhawks and the No. 10 ranked Hornets.
The first game of the day would start even with neither team scoring until the bottom of the fourth inning where Dom Oliverio of ESU hit a triple down right field.
NSU did not have a response until the top of the sixth inning. The Riverhawks scored one run off of an RBI double to right field, evening the score 1-1 going into the seventh.
Neither team scored by the bottom of the ninth, and in an extra tenth inning, the Riverhakws would break the tie with an RBI double to left field. The Hornets were unable to respond, ending with a final score of 2-1 in favor of NSU.
During the second game of the day, the Hornets came out strong in the bottom of the first inning. The Hornets scored five runs after scoring on a RBI triple to right field, single to right field, a single to left field, and a score off of a wild pitch.
ESU went on to score four more runs in the bottom of the fourth and one in the seventh. NSU was unable to rally back which led to a final score of 10-0 favoring the Hornets and evening out the series one game wins.
In the third and deciding game of the series, Northeastern State would start things off with two runs right off of the bat in the top of the first inning. They would go on to score another two runs in the top of the second with a homerun and a fielder’s choice. NSU captured another two runs in the top of the fourth, but the Hornets rallied back with their first two points of the game in the bottom of the fourth.
Going into the top of the fifth inning, NSU would lead 6-2 and would extend their lead 9-2 after three runs in the fifth. Both NSU and ESU scored one point in the eighth inning, but the Hornets were unable to battle back to the Riverhawks early lead. NSU would end up taking the third game and series-defining victory over the Hornets.
The Hornets are now 15-17 on the season and have officially entered the seven away game stretch of the season. ESU will start out playing in a three game series against No. 4 MIAA ranked Central Oklahoma who are 24-7 on the season.
ESU will then travel to Omaha, Neb. to play a single non-conference game against Upper Iowa who currently sits at 6-17 on the season. ESU will finish out their away game streak in a three game series against No. 9 MIAA ranked Missouri Western. The Griffons are 14-15 on the season.
ESU will then return to Trusler Sports Complex on April 9 and play a single game against No. 3 ranked Pittsburg State. First pitch is set for 5 p.m.
