Fort Hays State Baseball drops a pair to Emporia

HAYS,Kansas — The Fort Hays State baseball team dropped a pair of games to No. 1 Emporia State on Friday evening (March 25) at Larks Park. The Hornets won game won by a score of 6-5 and game two 10-5. The two teams will finish the series on Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 1:00 pm.

Game 1: No. 1 Emporia State 6, Fort Hays State 5

A four-run second inning gave the  Tigers a lead that would last until Emporia State exploded for all six of their funs in the fourth inning. Dillon Hazlett capped that inning with a two run home run that would give ESU all the runs they would need. The Tigers got runners on second and third in the bottom of the seventh with one out, but were only able to push one run across before Michael Cotter would slam the door on the rally.

Andy Lewton pitched the entire game and took the loss, dropping him to 2-3. He gave up nine hits and all six runs while striking out nine.

Game 2: No. 1 Emporia State 10, Fort Hays State 5

Brandon Hoefler started off the game with a single for Fort Hays State, then managed to work his way around the bases thanks to a stolen base and a wild pitch. He then scored on a Nash Smith groundout to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead that would last until the fourth.

Then things went south for FHSU in a hurry, giving up all 10 runs over the next two innings. Errors were the undoing in those innings as well, with all four of the Tigers miscues taking place in the big scoring innings. David Geiger took the loss, pitching just 3.2 innings and giving up seven runs while striking out two. 

Fort Hays State would tack on some runs late, with the highlight being a three-run home run by Chase Schippers in the bottom of the 8th inning.

Emporia State moves to 18-1 on the season and 14-0 in the MIAA, while Fort Hays State drops to 9-11 and 6-8 in MIAA conference play.