The warm February weather, the red-hot Emporia State offense, the new and improved Trusler. It was a perfect setting for a home opener on Tuesday, and it couldn’t have gotten off to a better start.
Conner Crumbliss led off with a home run, and the Hornets scored five runs in the first inning on their way to a 20-9 drubbing of Newman.
But back-to-back-to-back Newman homers in the fourth inning and that nine-spot on the board for Newman just about ruined the day for ESU coach Bob Fornelli.
“I’m pleased with our offense,” Fornelli said. “It’s the pitching I’m worried about, because those guys who pitched today are guys who are going to need to help us in the middle of the games on weekends and then throw midweek.
“As fired up as I am about our offense, we’ve got to get better on the bump.”
After a shaky start to the 2009 season for the ESU pitchers — giving up 59 runs in the first five games — they seemed to get in a groove this past weekend in a four-game sweep at Colorado Mines.
The Hornets allowed only seven runs in the four games, and their four-man starting rotation pitched 25 innings and held Mines to five runs. Tuesday was going to be a chance for the bullpen to show its stuff.
Austin Anderson started off strong, facing the minimum through the first two innings and getting out of a bases loaded jam unharmed in the third inning. But Anderson started the fourth inning by giving up the three straight homers, and his start may have been deceiving.
“You could tell the whole way even his first three innings that he’s leaving the ball up in the zone, sooner or later somebody’s going to hit it,” Fornelli said. “He’s not going to blow it by anybody. He has to hit his locations and change speeds and he just didn’t do that in the fourth inning, that’s for sure.”
Anderson was not alone in his struggles. Freshman Dominic King (1-0), who had his redshirt pulled this weekend, picked up his first career win, but he gave up eight hits and four runs in 2 1/3 innings. Casey Lippoldt could not even make it through an entire inning, giving up two runs and three hits before leaving in the eighth inning with two outs.
Diego Soto and Brett Mize did show some promise. Soto struck out the side in the seventh, and Mize relieved Lippoldt in the eighth and ended the inning, getting a groundout and then worked a one-two-three ninth inning.
But the pitching struggles really didn’t matter thanks to the hot Hornet hitters. They scored in six of eight innings, scored a season-high 20 runs on 21 hits and had six players with multi-hit games.
“We’re hitting the ball hard all over the yard,” third baseman Kevin Wempe said. “Right now it doesn’t really matter who’s throwing. We’ve got some guys swinging it well.”
No one is off to a better start than Kenny Burkhead, a transfer first baseman from Barton County Community College. Burkhead won the MIAA player of the week on Tuesday, and then followed his honor going 4-for-5 with two doubles, two RBIs and a triple. The triple should have probably been an out. It was a high fly ball on the warning track that Newman’s right fielder lost in the sun. But, hey, no complaints from Burkhead.
“That helps the average,” said Burkhead, who’s hitting a team-best .591. “It’s going good right now.”
Burkhead is not alone. Crumbliss and catcher Mike Sharp kept their averages above .500 and both knocked in four runs. Crumbliss’ lead-off homer was his first of the season.
“It was a fastball over the plate. Just getting lucky, really,” Crumbliss said. “That’s not our team. We’re going to be singles and doubles. If we get lucky and hit them out, that’s great, but we’re not going to rely on it.”
The Hornets could have relied on the long ball Tuesday. Wempe and Jeremy Francis both hit their second home runs of the season. Francis capped the five-run first with a two-run shot. Wempe, who had three hits and three RBIs, sent a high curve ball over the left field fence for a two-run homer in the fifth inning.
“We still have a really good offense,” Wempe said. “It’s different from last year, but I don’t think it’s a bad different. It’s going to be a few less home runs, but I think we’re a lot more dynamic in as many things as we can do.”
For the Hornets to have as much success as last year’s team that won 35 straight games and won an MIAA regular season title, Fornelli knows the bullpen will have to be better, because his offense can’t put up 20 runs every time out.
“We’ve got to throw more strikes; we’ve got to change speeds and we’ve got to work ahead in counts,” Fornelli said. “If we do those three things, we’ll be successful. We’ve got good enough arms. Every guy I ran out there today has an opportunity to help us this year in our program, but right now they’re not pitching like it.”
Tuesday at Trusler
Emporia State 20, Newman 9
Newman 000 502 020 — 9 17 2
Emporia State 504 235 10X — 20 21 1
W — King. L — Welch.
E — NU: Peterson 2; ESU: Wempe. DP — NU 1, ESU 2. LOB — NU 9, ESU 7. 2B — NU: Howell 2; ESU Crumbliss, Burkhead 2, Francis. 3B — ESU: Burkhead. HR — NU: Hutton, Cox, Garcia; ESU: Crumbliss, Wempe, Francis. HBP — NU: Peterson; ESU: Wempe, Williamson, Lane, Cotton. SF — NU: Peterson; ESU: Crumbliss, Cotton. SB — Crumbliss 2, Cotton.