Zach Theadman stepped to the plate in the 11th inning on Monday with a message from his coach ringing in his ear.
Theadman used his coach’s advice and slapped the game-winning hit down the right field line to give Emporia State a 9-8 win and two-game sweep of Northwest Missouri.
“I’d been struggling all day and I just kept telling myself to relax and stay in the game, because the team would need me in a very critical situation,” said Theadman, who was 0-for-7 in the doubleheader until his game-winning hit. “In fact, Coach Fornelli told me, ‘Hey, keep your head up. We’re going to need you a big-time situation,’ and that was the case. And when I got it, I wanted to do my best and not let the team down there.”
Theadman’s two-out double gave the Hornets an early edge in the conference race with MIAA-favorite Central Missouri splitting its first series with Pittsburg State over the weekend.
Emporia State was supposed to play a four-game series with Northwest Missouri, but because of inclement weather, the two teams had to settle for a Monday doubleheader.
Ben Graham, who has established himself as the club’s ace, pitched an efficient and quick seven innings in the first game of the doubleheader, and the Hornets won 3-0 in a seven-inning game. Graham (2-1) gave up just five hits, struck out six and walked three. In his last two starts, he’s allowed only one run in 16 innings.
“He was awesome,” ESU coach Bob Fornelli said. “We feel like he’s our number one and he showed that today, and he threw really well last time out, so we’re excited about what he brings to our team.”
Although Game 1 flew by, Game 2 dragged on into the cold evening at Trusler. The Bearcats took advantage of ESU starter Tyler Applehans’ inability to hit his spots and jumped out to a 6-4 lead.
Mike Sharp gave the Hornets a 7-6 lead in the sixth inning with a three-run homer. The Bearcats switched pitchers in the middle of Sharp’s at-bat, and Sharp welcomed Ben Stedronsky to the game by sending a belt-high fastball over the left field fence.
ESU lefty Ryan Anthony relieved Applehans to start the fourth inning and retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced. Fornelli was planning to use Coby Killian in relief on Monday, but Killian had a stomach virus, and Fornelli had to turn to Anthony.
Anthony mixed speeds and pitches, and the Bearcats never hit him hard, but they were able to eke out a couple of runs against him. Northwest’s Matt Stice and Trevor Conner opened the seventh inning with two straight infield hits. Stice scored on a wild pitch and then Conner scored on a groundout to tie the game.
Anthony stayed in the game and kept the Bearcats off the board over the next two innings. He left the game after another infield hit in the 10th inning set up Northwest’s ninth run.
“Anthony won that game,” Fornelli said. “It might not show it in the book, but Ryan Anthony came in and did wonderful things for us, gave us an opportunity to have a chance to play extra innings.”
With runners at the corners in the 10th inning, Sharp came up again with a chance to tie or win the game for the Hornets. He tied it, but grounded into a double play.
“I was just hoping to get the run in and luckily I did that and didn’t strike out,” Sharp said.
The game seemed headed for a 12th inning, but Conner Crumbliss got on base with an infield single, giving Theadman a chance to redeem himself.
Theadman had failed to get down a bunt and advance Crumbliss earlier in the game, which led to Fornelli’s pep talk.
“I can be hard on him. He’s a pretty tough kid,” Fornelli said. “I got after him a little bit, told him to keep his head up, because I said before the end of this game, we’re going to need you and he came up with the biggest hit of the game.”
Emporia State (10-2, 2-0 MIAA) travels to Newman today and then opens a four-game weekend series with Nebraska-Omaha on Friday.
After the first weekend of conference play, the Hornets are one of only three teams to come away with their conference record unblemished.
“Today is a day that if you find a way to win games you go home happy,” Fornelli said. “We did a lot of little things that could have got us beat. They helped us with not doing some things, but anyway you can find a way to sweep a conference doubleheader, we’re going to be happy about it. We’re not going to hang our heads.”
Monday at Trusler
Game One
Emporia State 3, Northwest Missouri 0
NW Missouri 000 000 0 — 0 5 3
Emporia State 010 011 X — 3 6 1
W — Graham. L — Harvel.
E — NW: Henne Jr., Beck, Harvel; ESU: Wempe. DP — NW 3, ESU 1. LOB — NW 9, ESU 4. 2B — ESU: Crumbliss. HBP — NW: Benham. SH — NW: Stice; ESU: Wempe, Dreiling, Lane. SB — ESU: Burkhead, Dreiling.
Game Two
Emporia State 10, NW Missouri 9, 11 innings
NW Missouri 231 000 200 10 — 9 9 3
Emporia State 130 004 000 11 — 10 11 2
W — Soto. L — Kemper.
E — NW: Benham, Biggar, Stice; ESU: Wempe. DP — NW 2. LOB — NW 7, ESU 5. 2B — NW: Benham, Henne Jr., Erspamer; ESU: Theadman, Francis. HR — NW: Disselhoff; ESU: Sharp. HBP — NW: Lavicky; ESU: Wempe, Francis, Cotton. SH — NW: Conner, Pfeiffer, Disselhoff. SF — Conner. SB — ESU: Crumbliss, Williamson.