WARRENSBURG, MO. — Six Angelo State pitchers. Twenty-four Emporia State hits. Twenty-three Emporia State runs. One good, old-fashioned butt-whooping.
The Hornets busted out of their late-season slump with a 23-0 victory over Angelo State on Thursday in the South Central Regional and put all their worries aside in the process.
And man, oh man, did it ever feel so good.
“We got back to ourselves,” ESU coach Bob Fornelli said. “I think if you were around the dugout, you saw a lot more smiles. The last three weekends, there have not been many smiles out of them, out of me, out of anybody, because we were probably pressing too much. We went back and loosened up and played good baseball today.”
Just five days ago, the Hornets were worried about whether they’d even get the call to make the Regional after losing six of their final 10 games and going 0-2 at the MIAA tournament. Plus, they had a struggling starting pitching staff, a slow-start offense and the confidence of a pimply-faced teenager.
The Hornets needed something to go right on Thursday and needed it to happen early. The Rams gave them just the break they needed.
After Kevin Wempe hit a double off the left field wall in the first inning, ASU shortstop Tony Kostelnik’s relay throw to the infield got away and Wempe advanced to third. Kenny Burkhead followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Wempe, who would have been stranded on second if not for the error.
“I think it settled us down a little bit,” Fornelli said, “and then Colby Killian came out and threw really well.”
Other than Killian’s five walks, he was nearly perfect for the Hornets. Killian kept the ball down — leaving pitches up had been the problem for ESU’s starters at the MIAA tournament — and Killian’s pitches had a lot of movement, which fooled the Rams.
Killian (6-0) gave up just four hits in six scoreless innings in his first start as the team’s ace. He pitched with a big lead after the Hornets started to put up multi-run innings in the third, which continued through the eighth.
“It’s pretty easy to pitch when you’re up by 19 runs,” Killian said. “I think it all started in the first inning. We scored that first run and then I came out and threw up that zero, and then we kept building on it after that every inning.”
Killian spent most of the season as Emporia State’s No. 4 pitcher and his surprising promotion to the No. 1 starter was one of several changes Fornelli made against Angelo State.
Fornelli also put Jacob White in the lineup at second base, moving Anthony Dreiling to designated hitter. Right fielder Caleb Williamson moved up in the lineup to cleanup, and the biggest change was moving Wempe up to the No. 2 spot.
Wempe made Fornelli look like a genius. He went 5-for-5, walked twice, doubled twice, had a three-run homer, drove in seven runs and scored five.
Burkhead, who has hit third all season, also benefited from Wempe’s production in the two-spot. He also went 5-for-5 and had seven RBIs, and his two-run homer with two outs in the third inning started the onslaught.
“It just came simple today,” Burkhead said. “There were guys on second and third in the seven ABs I had, and it’s simple to drive in runners when there’s guys on second and third.”
The Hornets scored 19 of their runs with two outs. ASU starter Kenny Elkind got two quick outs to start the fourth and then gave up a double to Jacob White, a two-run homer to Andy Cotton, a single to Conner Crumbliss and walked Wempe, which finally earned him some relief — although the ASU bullpen hardly provided any relief.
Jerris Springfield faced one batter, Burkhead, and walked him before giving way to Casey Smith with the bases loaded.
Smith walked Williamson to give the Hornets another run and then gave up a two-run single to Jeremy Francis, which put ESU ahead 9-0.
The Hornets roughed up the other three ASU relievers after that, scoring runs against all six pitchers.
Crumbliss finished with four hits, and Dreiling, White and Cotton all had two hits apiece. Abe Steinbach also homered, giving ESU four home runs. Burkhead and Wempe tied an ESU record with five hits apiece.
“It had been awhile since we had a few things go our way, and today we hit balls hard and did a good job with two outs coming up with clutch hits,” Wempe said.
Emporia State hopes to carry its momentum into today, but Nebraska-Omaha should present a much tougher challenge. All three MIAA teams won on Thursday, and UNO beat ESU 6-3 last Friday in the MIAA tournament opener. The Mavericks also went on to win the MIAA tournament.
“This is going to be a good tournament,” Fornelli said. “Even though that game was a blowout, I hate to say that, but it was. Angelo State’s good enough to get back in this tournament. I really believe that all six teams here can win this tournament. One day doesn’t determine everything. It could even come down to Sunday, where both of them have one loss and anybody could win it. We gotta keep plugging. We’ve got a big-time game tomorrow night.”
ESU and UNO are scheduled to play at 7 p.m.
South Central Regional
Thursday at Crane Stadium
Emporia State 103 533 440 — 23 24 0
Angelo State 000 000 000 — 0 5 1
WP — Killian. LP — Elkind.
E — ASU: Kostelnik. DP — ESU 11, ASU 8. 2B — ESU: Wempe 2, White. HR — ESU: Wempe, Burkhead, Steinbach, Cotton. HBP — ESU: Crumbliss, Dreiling. SH — ESU: Cotton. SF — ESU: Burkhead. SB — ESU: Wempe. CS — ASU: Morriss.