KANSAS CITY, Kan. — While the Central Missouri baseball team celebrated with the MIAA Tournament championship trophy on the infield at Community America Ballpark on Sunday, the Emporia State players didn’t even offer a glance in that direction.
That’s because the Hornets were too busy already looking forward to this week’s Regional tournament, where a berth to the NCAA Division II College World Series will be on the line.
“We wanted to win this championship, but next week is what we’re really after,” catcher Keith Hernandez said, his eyes never straying to watch a moment of the Mules’ revelry. “That’s what the season is all about right there.”
That’s not to say the Hornets wouldn’t have liked to bring back some hardware from Kansas City to add to their regular-season league crown. But Emporia State’s usually torrid offense couldn’t provide enough pop on Sunday against the Mules, and Central Missouri came away with the 4-3 victory just hours after ESU put the finishing touches on an 11-4 victory over the Mules to send UCM to the loser’s bracket.
Both teams stranded eight baserunners in the contest, but Central Missouri got solo home runs from Clay Weatherford and Blaine Rutledge that proved to be the difference. Emporia, meanwhile, managed just seven hits, which was not enough to hold on to a 2-1 lead.
“It’s a bummer, but we had our opportunities,” ESU coach Bob Fornelli said. “We had our opportunities and didn’t come through when we needed to.”
Central Missouri got things going in the first inning when leadoff hitter Will Feil was hit by a pitch on the very first offering from ESU starter Richard Timbrook. Feil later came around to score on an RBI single to left by Iain Dykins to make it 1-0.
The Hornets answered, though, plating two runs in the bottom half of the first. Connor Crumbliss led off with a single and after Brian Majors fouled out, Eric Shortell was hit by a pitch to put two on for Hernandez, who drove home Crumbliss with a single to left.
Shortell then scored from third on a sacrifice bunt by Anthony Dreiling, putting ESU up, 2-1.
But after that, the Hornet bats went silent.
Over the next five innings, ESU managed just two hits and no runs against UCM starter Matt Curtis, with those two hits coming from Hernandez and Dreiling in the sixth inning with two outs to chase Curtis from the game. But Aaron Brett came on and ended the threat by getting Kevin Wempe to fly out to left.
Meanwhile, Central pulled ahead, 3-2, with singles runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings. In the fifth, it was Weatherford’s home run to right field — which barely snuck over the fence — that pulled the Mules even with ESU at 2, and then in the sixth, a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Mike Hallam plated Rutledge, giving Central the lead. Timbrook left the game one batter later after giving up his second walk of the inning to load the bases again.
“You just try to put your team in the best situation to win,” Timbrook said. “You try to not go on a roller coaster ride. You try to keep your composure and throw strikes.
“I was just trying to compete and put my team in the best situation to win.”
Central went up 4-2 in the seventh on a solo home run from Rutledge, and while ESU managed to close back to within a run at 4-3 with a bases-loaded fielder’s choice from Brian Majors that plated Caleb Williamson, ESU left four runners stranded over the final 2 1/3 innings to fall just short.
“With the wind like it was, we needed to hit ground balls and line drives, and we didn’t do a very good job of that,” Hernandez said. “We didn’t capitalize when we had chances to get runners scored.”
Earlier in the day on Sunday, ESU defeated UCM, 11-4, in the semifinals after the game had been suspended from Saturday because of heavy rains. But because the game did not finish until Sunday, the tournament changed to single elimination, leaving the Hornets short of a championship.
“We played good baseball here, there’s no question about it,” Fornelli said. “We just didn’t finish it today.”
While Central Missouri came away with the postseason league title, few — if any — of the ESU players seemed downtrodden. Instead, the Hornets left with the knowledge that Regional play was looming, and their goal of a College World Series berth was still alive.
ESU (48-8) learned late Sunday night that it would play host to the North Central Regional as the No. 1 seed at the Trusler Sports Complex. The Hornets will face sixth-seeded Concordia-St. Paul on Thursday, with game times to be announced later today.
“The ultimate thing for us comes next week,” Fornelli said. “If we keep our heads up and go win some games next week, nobody with ever remember what happened this weekend.”
Central Missouri 4, Emporia State 3
MIAA Tournament
Sunday in Kansas City, Kan.
Central Missouri 100 011 100 — 4 8 0
Emporia State 200 000 100 — 3 7 2
W — Matt Curtis. L — Richard Timbrook. S — Chris Matlock.
E — ESU: Majors 2 (5). DP — UCM 1. LOB — UCM 8, ESU 8. 2B — UCM: Perez (7). HR — Rutledge (7), Weatherford (3). HBP — UCM: Feil 2; ESU: Shortell 2. SH — ESU: Dreiling. SF — USM: Hallam. CS — UCM: Weatherford.
Records — UCM 41-15; ESU 48-8.
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