Emporia State baseball can’t produce rally in 9-5 loss to Upper Iowa
By Jesse Newell
Monday, March 12, 2007
The disappointment from Emporia State coach Bob Fornelli didn’t come because his team lost 9-5 to Upper Iowa on Sunday.
Instead, his frustrations came from the lack of energy his players showed in their lackluster performance against the Peacocks.
“We’ve got to find out what it means to us to play the game of baseball. Right now, I’m not sure,” Fornelli said. “It’s up to me to figure it out and get this thing turned around. There’s just not enough emotion.
“You’ve got to love baseball to play the game. Right now, I don’t know if we love baseball.”
Just a day after posting a pair of victories against Nebraska-Omaha, ESU never put up a rally against Upper Iowa, scoring just a single run in the final five innings.
“It felt like nobody wanted to be out here,” ESU junior Keith Hernandez said. “That’ll kill you right there, when you don’t feel you want to be out at the yard.”
If anyone could have been excused for being flat, it would have been the Peacocks.
The game — originally scheduled for a 2 p.m. first pitch — was moved back an hour after a late departure from the Upper Iowa bus. The team left Fayette, Iowa, in the early morning.
“They did a good job,” Fornelli said. “They came in, got up at 5 in the morning, walked off the bus and beat us today.”
Upper Iowa took the early lead, using five hits and a pair of ESU errors to score seven second-inning runs and grab a 7-0 advantage.
The Hornets scored three in the bottom of the second but managed just single runs in the fourth and seventh innings the rest of the way.
“We get down, and all of a sudden we’re trying to do too much,” Fornelli said. “We just weren’t able to come out of that today.”
Hernandez and Bill Sharp led ESU at the plate, with both contributing 3-for-5 performances. Hernandez had a pair of RBI, while Sharp added a run scored.
Matt Marasco and Tim Barger both added two-hit games.
Though he took the loss, Daniel Waggoner recovered well from his shaky second inning. The ESU starter put up four consecutive scoreless frames after the seven-run outburst, allowing five earned runs and striking out four in six innings.
The Hornets had a better showing Saturday, taking 7-1 and 21-12 victories over Nebraska-Omaha.
Trent Lare picked up the victory in Game One, striking out seven while allowing five hits and one earned run.
Hernandez went 2-for-2 from the plate, while Mark McBratney had a triple and three RBI.
In the nightcap, ESU scored all 21 runs in the second through fifth innings in the runaway triumph.
McBratney went 3-for-5 with seven RBI, while Marasco contributed a home run and five RBI.
“It was a totally different two games that we played the other day,” Hernandez said. “Everybody was enthusiastic. Everybody was up and talking.”
ESU will face Upper Iowa at 3 p.m. today to finish the series at the Trusler Sports Complex.
Hernandez said he hoped to see Saturday’s intensity instead of Sunday’s.
“We just need to come out like that every time we come out, and I think we’ll be a good ballclub,” Hernandez said. “We have to understand that that’s how we have to play. That’s our kind of baseball.”
Sunday at Emporia
Upper Iowa 9, ESU 5
Upper Iowa 070 000 200 — 9 11 2
Emporia State 030 100 100 — 5 14 3
W — Raff. L — Waggoner.
E — UI: Terres; Johnson; ESU: Hernandez; Sharp; Wolfe. DP — Hornets 2. LOB — Peacocks 3; Hornets 13. 2B — UI: Berg; Mendoza; Wilsing; Sorensen; ESU: Anderson; Sharp. HBP — UI: Wilsing. SF — UI: Terres; Walser. SB — UI: Fjelland; Terres; ESU: Marasco; Sharp.
Saturday at Emporia
Game One
ESU 7, Nebraska-Omaha 1
Nebraska-Omaha 000 100 0 — 1 5 1
Emporia State 002 500 X — 7 8 0
W — Lare. L — Lundin.
E — UNO: Lundin. LOB — Mavericks 7; Hornets 6. 2B — UNO: Frew; ESU: Hernandez. 3B — ESU: McBratney. HBP — UNO: Klapperich. SF — ESU: Hernandez.
Game Two
ESU 21, Nebraska-Omaha 12
Nebraska-Omaha 045 011 1 — 12 15 2
Emporia State 084 450 X — 21 18 5
W — Lara. L — Denoyer.
E — UNO: Porter; Denoyer; ESU: Crumbliss; Wolfe; Majors; Barger 2. DP — Hornets 1. LOB — Mavericks 10; Hornets 6. 2B — UNO: Frew; Kotera; ESU: Crumbliss; McBratney; Wolfe 2. HR — UNO: Ty. Cloyd; ESU: Marasco. SB — UNO: Frew.