Emporia State’s goal on Tuesday was to send Truman State home early.
Mission accomplished.
The Hornets came away with a doubleheader sweep, just missing the run-rule win with a 9-3 victory in the opener and finishing the day with a 12-2 run-rule win in six innings.
“You definitely don’t want to slip up against a team you need to beat,” ESU coach Kristi Bredbenner said. “Truman’s a team that we need to beat.”
Truman came into Tuesday’s doubleheader winless in the MIAA and with an 8-19 record overall. But a poor record has not stopped the Bulldogs from putting a scare in the Hornets in the past.
Last season against Truman, Emporia State squeaked by 3-1 and 2-1. In 2007, the Hornets won by a score of 2-1 in both games.
“You never know about Truman,” ESU center fielder Jenna Potter said.
The Hornets hitters left little doubt this year.
Emporia State (24-9, 5-1 MIAA) led from the start in both games. Aubree Brattin’s two-run double gave the Hornets an early lead in the opener, which turned into a blowout during a six-run fourth inning. Brattin drove in two more runs in the sixth with another double, followed by back-to-back homers from Abby Smith and Jenna Potter.
The ESU defense did not have its best game, committing three errors behind pitcher Megan Dennis. Dennis (11-4) pitched all seven innings and only two of Truman’s three runs were earned. Two ESU errors led to Truman’s first run in the second inning and the third error of the day helped the Bulldogs push a run across in the seventh.
“Defensively we’ve been making a couple mistakes here and there, but when we hit the ball like that, it gives us a lot more cushion, so it’s not that big of a deal,” second baseman Angela Mahan said. “We’d like to not make those errors.”
The Hornets cleaned up their defense in the finale — committing their only error on the first play of the game — and continued their hot hitting with Mahan leading the way.
Mahan had a solid first game, scoring two runs and going 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. In the second game, she led the game off with a double, hit a two-run homer in the second to give ESU a 4-0 lead and drove in another run with her fifth hit of the day in the fourth inning. She also scored four runs.
ESU freshman pitcher Jennifer Heerey nearly matched her team’s offensive effectiveness with another strong outing. Heerey, who has won seven straight starts, held the Bulldogs scoreless through the first five innings.
Heerey (13-5) pitched around trouble, leaving five Bulldog runners stranded in scoring position.
“She likes to give herself a little bit of trouble, and hopefully that doesn’t catch up with her anytime soon,” Bredbenner said. “She mentally is very tough for a freshman, especially with runners in scoring position, and I think she likes to be challenged a little more than I would like her to be.”
With the ESU offense steadily producing runs, Heerey was never in much trouble, and thanks to Potter’s game-ending three-run homer in the sixth, she didn’t even have to pitch the seventh inning.
“Today our biggest accomplishment was our hitting, and that’s the thing that’s been keeping us going is hitting the ball real well, putting up a lot of runs,” Bredbenner said.
In the Hornets’ last two series, they have averaged 9.5 runs per game.
“That takes a little bit of pressure off our pitchers,” Bredbenner said.
With Tuesday’s sweep, Emporia State continued to stay close to the two teams at the top of the MIAA standings, Missouri Western and Central Missouri. Missouri Western is 6-0 and Central Missouri is 8-0, but both teams have yet to play Emporia State or fourth-place Nebraska-Omaha, the team that gave ESU its only conference loss.
“It’s going to be a tough conference this year, and it’s going to come down to who loses the games they should have won,” Bredbenner said. “We’re going to obviously have Central and Missouri Western here, which is nice, but we need to keep focusing on one game at a time, beating the teams that we need to beat and taking it to Missouri Southern next.”
Emporia State has a doubleheader at Missouri Southern on Friday and then travels to Pittsburg State for a doubleheader on Saturday.
Tuesday at Trusler
Game One
Emporia State 9, Truman 3
Truman 010 100 1 — 3 5 0
Emporia State 210 600 X — 9 9 3
aWP — Dennis. LP — Johnson.
E — ESU: Mahan 2, Dace. LOB — TSU 3, ESU 7. 2B — TSU: Manley; ESU: Mahan, Brattin 2. HR — TSU: Mayer; ESU: Smith, Potter. SB — TSU: Mayer.
Game Two
Emporia State 12, Truman 2 (6 innings)
Truman 000 002 — 2 6 1
Emporia State 220 206 — 12 10 1
WP — Heerey. LP — Rotkvich.
E — TSU: Holleran; ESU: Campbell. LOB — TSU 5, ESU 5. 2B — TSU: Rock, Mahan. HR — TSU: Manley; ESU: Mahan, Potter. HBP — ESU: Brattin. SH — TSU: LaCombe, Hughes, Ketter. SB — ESU: Campbell 3, Brattin, Ketter.