ESU pitchers motivated to work quickly as the Hornets come away with a 6-2 win over Bemidji State
On a cold and windy Tuesday, Emporia State pitcher Cole Moore wanted to get the work day over with as soon as possible.
Moore pitched a quick and efficient six innings to pick up his first win as a Hornet in a 6-2 victory over Bemidji State at Trusler.
“It was a cold day,” Moore said, “so I just tried to stay as loose as possible, stay warm and try to go out there and make everything quick and get through there.”
The Hornets won three of four over the weekend against Nebraska-Omaha, thanks in large part to their pitching and that continued on Tuesday.
Moore (1-0) had five strikeouts and no walks. He gave up four hits and made just one mistake, a high fastball to Bemidji’s Nick Jelacie in the sixth inning that went for a home run and gave the Beavers their only two runs.
Moore, a junior transfer from Neosho County Community College, made his first start on Tuesday. Coming into the game, he had pitched only four innings in four appearances and given up four runs.
“Cole did a great job for us,” ESU coach Bob Fornelli said. “He’s a young man that we thought could really help us, and he hadn’t really struggled. He just hadn’t gotten a ton of opportunities early in the year, and it’s nice to get him out there and I know that was a good confidence-builder for him. And if you ask me today, he’s going to get the ball next Tuesday.”
Fornelli was not as pleased with his offense. The Hornets started out strong, scoring all six of their runs in the first four innings. Conner Crumbliss started the game with a double and scored on a Kenny Burkhead groundout.
Kevin Wempe kept the inning alive with a two-out double to right field and scored on an Anthony Dreiling single.
The Hornets added one run apiece in the second and third innings. They loaded the bases to start the fourth inning and Abe Steinbach scored on an error that again loaded the bases, but the Hornets managed to score only one more run.
“It’s kind of like last Tuesday,” Fornelli said, referring to Emporia State’s 11-9 loss at Newman. “... We could have built a really big lead in the fourth inning, but they kept plugging and it was a game all the way through.”
The ESU pitching staff made sure it never got close. Brett McBride pitched two scoreless innings of relief and Dominic King picked up his first save, pitching a scoreless ninth with two strikeouts.
“Our pitching staff has picked us up here the last few games,” Wempe said. “Everyone who’s gone out there has thrown real well and our offense hasn’t put up the same kind of run totals recently, but our pitching has really done well, picked us up.”
Wempe did his part to help the pitching staff. He recorded the first out of the ninth for King, diving to his right to stop a ground ball down the line that could have gone for a double and throwing Paul Newman out at first. Wempe also led the Hornets offensively with two doubles and an RBI to bump his average up from .273 to .286.
“I haven’t had the best offensive production lately,” he said, “so it felt good to square a couple balls and hit them the other way, and I was able to do that.”
Tuesday’s win improved Emporia State to 32-0 against Bemidji, the most games ESU has gone against a team without a loss. Emporia State and Bemidji State were supposed to finish their two-game series today, but the game has been canceled because of inclement weather.
Tuesday at Trusler
Emporia State 6, Bemidji State 2
Bemidji State 000 002 000 — 2
Emporia State 211 200 000 — 6
W — Moore. L — Huether.
E — BSU: Chism, Juntunen, Huether; ESU: Wempe, White. DP — ESU 3. LOB — BSU 6, ESU 8. 2B — ESU: Crumbliss, Wempe, Steinbach. HR — BSU: Jelacie. HBP — BSU: Chism. SH — BSU: Smith; ESU: Dobler. SF — ESU Dobler. SB — ESU: Crumbliss, Dreiling, Dobler, Morrison.