The No. 8 Emporia State baseball team dropped two more games in its weekend series with No. 33 Angelo State, losing a 13-10 slugfest Sunday and a 6-4 decision on Saturday.
The Hornets (0-3) were swept in the three-game series.
“Angelo’s a good team, and they’re going to be good for awhile,” ESU coach Bob Fornelli said. “We have to continue to get better ourselves.”
On Sunday, ESU was its own worst enemy, committing four errors that turned into six unearned runs.
Fornelli said he didn’t believe the defensive struggles would continue once his team received regular practice time at home.
“I hope not, or we’re not going to be very good,” Fornelli said. “It’s just one of those deals. We learned from the weekend.”
ASU scored in seven of the eight innings on Sunday.
ESU received good production from its bottom two hitters, as Tim Barger and Bill Sharp combined to go 5-for-10 with six RBI and three runs scored.
On Saturday, the Hornets put together a ninth-inning rally before eventually falling.
Down 4-3 with two outs in the final frame, Nick Wolfe was hit by a pitch and Jerry Cook singled behind him. Nick Carlson delivered in the clutch, coming through with an RBI double to tie it at 4.
Matt Lenderman hit a one-out, walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to end it.
Wolfe paced the offense Saturday, posting a pair of hits to go along with an RBI.
ESU will return to action Friday in the Fort Hays State Tournament.
Saturday at San Angelo, Texas
Emporia State 000 200 101 — 4 8 1
Angelo State 000 120 102 — 6 11 2
Note: 1 out, 0 runners LOB when the game ended.
W — Gunter (1-1). L — Lare (0-1).
E — Anderson; Caraway; Sullivan. DP — ASU 2. LOB — ESU 5; ASU 3. 2B — ESU: Hernandez; Crumbliss; Carlson; ASU: Cox 2; Lenderman. 3B — ASU: Calfee. HR — ASU: Lenderman. HBP — ESU: Wolfe. SH — ASU: Caraway; Lenderman. SF — ASU: Belew. CS — ESU: McBratney; ASU: Caraway.
Sunday at San Angelo, Texas
Emporia State 122 021 200 — 10 12 4
Angelo State 302 113 12X — 13 11 3
W — Broussard (1-0). L — Morgan.
E — ESU: McBratney; Hernandez; Carlson; Barger; ASU: Allred; Cox; Sullivan. LOB — ESU 9; ASU 4. 2B — ESU: Majors; Marasco; Carlson; Barger; ASU: Nightingale. 3B — ASU: Caraway; Cox. HR — ASU: Allred(1); Caraway(1); Lenderman(1). HBP — ASU: Allred; Cox. SF — ASU: Hemm; Belew. SB — ESU: Majors; McBratney 3; Crumbliss; ASU: Allred; Caraway; Calfee; Hemm; Lenderman; Sullivan. CS — ESU: Crumbliss; ASU: Nightingale.