KANSAS CITY, Kan. — It’s sure starting to feel a whole lot like 2008.
Emporia State claims that this baseball team is a lot different than last year’s team. But just as the 2008 team stumbled down the stretch, the 2009 version is showing signs of doing the same.
The Hornets opened the MIAA tournament on Friday in Kansas City with a 6-3 loss to fourth-seeded Nebraska-Omaha, a team Emporia State beat three of four times during the regular season.
After winning 19 of 20 games to pull away in the MIAA, the Hornets have lost five of their last nine games. Three of those wins came against the MIAA’s second-worst team, which was supposed to be the slump buster.
“It doesn’t look like it,” Mike Sharp said. “I don’t want to make excuses for why we lose. We just need to figure it out.”
The Hornets started to solve their issues in the later innings against UNO, but it turned out to be too late.
The Mavericks (38-18) used a walk, infield single and sacrifice bunt to take a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Then on their second time around in the order, they figured out ESU starter Tyler Applehans and got out to a big lead.
The Mavs barreled three belt-high Applehans pitches in the third inning, good for two doubles, a triple, three runs and a 4-0 lead.
“I just wasn’t getting it in far enough and I was leaving my ball up,” Applehans said, “and they were just turning on it.”
The Hornets had a chance to get back in the game in the third. Kevin Wempe led off with a double and Andy Cotton followed with a single.
Cotton’s single hung up just long enough in shallow center field that Wempe could not advance, so with no outs and runners at first and second, ESU coach Bob Fornelli decided to have MIAA player of the year Conner Crumbliss bunt.
Crumbliss did his job, moving the runners ahead, but Jeremy Francis followed with a grounder back to UNO pitcher Chris Kessinger, who threw out Wempe at the plate. Kessinger (8-4) got Kenny Burkhead to ground out to keep the Hornets off the board.
“We had an opportunity to get something going and didn’t get it accomplished,” Fornelli said. “I would have liked to let Conner swing in that situation, but if we don’t move up then all of a sudden we need to bunt to try to get a run.”
While the Hornets couldn’t capitalize, the Mavs continued to rough up Applehans (7-3). He started to leave his pitches up again in the fifth, and the Mavs chased him out of the game with three straight hits to start the inning.
Dominic King relieved Applehans and gave up one more single that drove in the second run of the inning to give the Mavs their fifth run, which went on Applehans’ line.
“He’s got to be better,” Fornelli said of his senior lefty. “I love him to death and he’s one of our best guys, but he needs to come out and compete and do the right things early in the game.”
The ESU offense didn’t do anything to help Applehans out until the sixth inning. After going scoreless with just five hits in the first five innings, Francis opened the sixth with a walk and Burkhead followed with a single. Francis scored on a sacrifice fly and Burkhead came around on a groundout.
Burkhead again cut into the lead with a leadoff homer in the eighth inning on a knee-high fastball that easily cleared the 396-foot center field fence.
“That was a low fastball and I just stayed back on it and hit the absolute crap out of it,” Burkhead said. “I don’t think I can hit a ball harder than I hit that ball right there.”
Burkhead was feeling good on Friday, and he had a chance to play hero in the ninth inning.
With two outs and runners at first and second, Burkhead came up against Kessinger with a chance to tie the game.
Kessinger was not going to throw Burkhead another fastball, so instead he threw him six straight sliders. Burkhead caught the fifth slider a split-second too late, sending a line drive down the left field line that curved foul. On the next pitch, he started to go around, held back and was called out on strikes to end the game.
“I was excited. I was real excited,” Burkhead said. “I was seeing the ball good all day. He threw me like six sliders in a row and I saw it coming. I didn’t go through on that last swing, but (the) first-base guy thought I did.
“Oh man, I would love to have that swing back, because if I saw another one I was going to get a hit.”
The Hornets (42-11) will get their second chance today in the double-elimination tournament. They open at 11 a.m. against Central Missouri, which lost by run-rule 10-0 to Missouri Southern on Friday.
For awhile, it looked as if ESU was headed down a similar path, but King ate up 4 1/3 innings, giving only one run to keep the Hornets in the game, and the offense finally got going in the final three innings.
The Hornets will need two wins today to make it out of the loser’s bracket to Sunday’s championship and avoid another 2008-like collapse entering the regional tournament.
“It’s going to finally turn for us here in the next few games,” Burkhead said. “We’re going to get a streak of wins going, I can just feel it. Our team is coming around. It’s close.”
MIAA tournament
Friday at Kansas City, Kan.
Neb.-Omaha 012 021 000 — 6 12 0
Emporia State 000 002 010 — 3 9 1
WP — Kessinger. LP — Applehans.
E — ESU: Dreiling. DP — ESU 1. LOB — UNO 8, ESU 9. 2B — UNO: Porter, Schwab, Jacobi; ESU: Wempe. 3B — UNO: Hansen. HR — ESU: Burkhead. SH — UNO: Strawn, Goliber; ESU: Crumbliss. SF — ESU: Lane. CS — UNO: Schwab, Jacobi, Eikmeier.