Central Missouri starter Jerod Potts happened upon an old friend Friday night in the second round of the Central Regional.
And, after the junior re-discovered his curveball, Emporia State could do little to get him off track in the Mules’ 5-1 victory at Crane Stadium in Warrensburg, Mo.
“I was happy to find it,” said Potts, who struck out 10 in 7 2/3 innings. “It was gone for a couple of games, but I found it, and you don’t know how relieved I was.”
The 6-foot-3 left-hander recovered after a shaky first inning, allowing just one run on six hits.
“The other times we’ve seen him, he’s had control issues,” ESU senior Mark McBratney said. “He would get wild after we would see some pitches.
“He never went over that hump tonight.”
ESU actually grabbed the lead in the first, as Conner Crumbliss walked, moved to second on Brian Majors’ bunt and scored on Mark McBratney’s single up the middle.
The Hornets still missed out on opportunities to expand their advantage, leaving runners on in scoring position in the first, second and third innings. ESU starter Brock Nehls kept UCM off-balance in the early going, allowing no runs and just two hits over the first five innings.
It all came apart in the top of the sixth. With one out, UCM’s Brian McBryde drew a five-pitch walk, and Iain Dykins lined a single to center.
Following a Josh Paul flyout, Nick Jaros delivered a two-out single to right to score McBryde and make it 1-1.
Nehls appeared to get out of the jam by catching Jaros off first with a pickoff, but when Dykins broke for home, ESU first baseman Matt Marasco made a late throw to the plate.
Dykins slid in safely to give the Mules their first lead at 2-1.
“I wasn’t paying attention,” Jaros said. “Somehow, it ended up working out for us.”
Blaine Rutledge followed with an RBI single to left to score Jaros and make it 3-1.
Potts was in a groove by then, becoming nearly unhittable over his final 4 2/3 innings.
Between the fourth and eighth innings, he struck out seven and only allowed two ESU runners to advance past first base.
“He has not thrown that many strikes all year,” UCM coach Darin Hendrickson said. “We got the good Potts tonight, and he picked a great night to be good.”
Potts finished with just three walks in his 119-pitch performance, leaving after giving up a two-out double to Marasco in the eighth.
Chris Radliff struck out Billy Sharp to end the threat.
“Once Potts found it, I was begging for Radliff to come in,” Fornelli said, “and I’ve never done that.”
The Mules tacked on a pair of runs in the top of the ninth, as Will Feil led off with a double and was moved to third on a bunt.
He later scored on an unusual sacrifice fly to the first baseman, as Marasco couldn’t get a quality throw to home after making a lunging catch in foul territory.
Gered Mochizuki reached on a two-out error by shortstop Andy Anderson and later scored on an infield single by Dykins to extend the lead to 5-1.
Radliff sent ESU down 1-2-3 in the ninth.
With the loss, the Hornets (40-23) move to the losers bracket to take on top-seeded Minnesota State-Mankato in an elimination game at 3:30 p.m. today. The Mavericks defeated Winona State, 5-1, to keep their season alive on Friday.
Central Regional
Friday at Warrensburg, Mo.
UCM 5, ESU 1
UCM 000 003 002 — 5 10 0
ESU 100 000 000 — 1 6 1
W — Potts (9-2). L — Nehls (7-5).
E — ESU: Anderson. LOB — Mules 7, Hornets 8. 2B — UCM: Feil; ESU: Marasco. SH — UCM: Perez; ESU: Majors. SF — UCM: Weatherford. SB — UCM: Mochizuki, McBryde, Dykins 2, Jaros, Rutledge; ESU: Sharp.