Emporia State right fielder Eric Shortell admits that when ESU pitcher Tyler Applehans gets it going, its hard to focus on much else.
Lucky for the Hornets, Emporia State got all the concentration it would need early in Friday’s home game against Truman before Applehans really got going, as Emporia State took an early three-run lead before going on to win, 8-0, in its MIAA Conference season-opener.
Applehans went 6 1/2 innings, giving up no runs and just two hits with three walks and four strikeouts, and at times, Shortell said, Applehans’ performance made the rest of the game seem too easy.
“When you’ve got App throwing for you, it’s pretty easy to just sit on your haunches when he’s throwing up zeros every inning,” Shortell said. “We have so much faith in Tyler. We’re like, ‘Three runs, that’ll work.’ In the back of our minds, that’s what’s going on, but we need to work to put three runs up every inning like we can and should.”
For the second time in as many games, ESU got out to a lead and then had trouble scoring much after that.
On Monday against Upper Iowa, ESU built a 10-0 lead after the first inning and had to hold on for a 10-8 victory. While Truman never put a scare into the Hornets on Friday, Emporia State’s final five runs came thanks in part to two two-run home runs. ESU came up with 10 hits against Truman, just five of which came after the first inning.
“I think we played OK; I don’t think we played great,” ESU coach Bob Fornelli said. “We won 8-0 and Tyler throws a bunch of zeros, but he wasn’t sharp. Our team wasn’t sharp.
“I’d love to say it was a great game, but we didn’t play our best baseball, and we were lucky enough to pitch well enough that that didn’t come back to haunt us.”
Emporia State got all the scoring it would need in the bottom half of the first after Applehans forced Truman into two groundouts and a strikeout in the top of the inning.
After leadoff hitter Kevin Wempe grounded out, Brian Majors singled to center and then stole second. Shortell then got ESU on the scoreboard with a seeing-eye single through the right side that scored Majors from second to put the Hornets up, 1-0.
Shortell then moved into scoring position on a throwing error by Truman pitcher Logan Frame, as Shortell advanced all the way to third on the play. Anthony Dreiling then knocked a single to center to bring home Shortell.
After Matt Marasco single to put runners on first and second, ESU capped its scoring in the first inning with a single through the left side by Nick Wolfe that drove home Dreiling, making it 3-0.
“We came out ready to play, and then we put up the runs,” Shortell said.
After that, though, the ESU offense had a tough time getting going again.
But Truman had the worst of it, thanks mostly to Applehans.
Applehans, who said he did not feel right in warm-ups before the game, continued to rack up outs while working with the lead, allowing just three Truman runners to advance past first base before he was pulled in the seventh in favor of Aaron Burris, who closed out the game.
“If I put up a zero in the first inning, the hitters usually come out and put up a couple runs for me, and that helps me relax and get settled in,” Applehans said. “I didn’t feel so hot in the pen, but after I came out, the fastball livened up a little bit and my breaking stuff was pretty good.”
Shortell provided some pop in the fourth when he smacked a two-run homer over the left-field wall to put ESU up, 5-0.
Emporia State’s final runs came in the seventh when Shortell scored from third on a wild pitch, and then in the eighth when Andy Anderson homered to drive in Nick Carlson, which made it 8-0.
“We got off to a quick start and then we sat back on it like we normally do,” Shortell said. “But we turned it around a little. Coach got us fired up again, and we came back out and started hitting the ball.”
ESU and Truman meet again at 4 p.m. today for one nine-inning game before closing the series on Sunday with a pair of seven-inning games at noon.
No. 16 ESU 8, Truman 0
Friday at Glennen Field
Truman 000 000 000 — 0 5 2
ESU 300 200 12X — 8 10 1
W — Applehans. L — Frame.
E — Truman: Nietzel, Frame; ESU: Anderson. LOB — Truman 8; ESU 9. HR — ESU: Shortell, Anderson. HBP — Truman: Swanson; ESU: Shortell. SF — ESU: Dreiling. SB — Truman: Over 2; ESU: Majors, Shortell. CS — Truman: July, Over.