SE Baseball Drops Season Opener to ESU

EDMOND, Okla. – Despite jumping out to an early lead, Southeastern found itself looking to rally in the ninth inning but saw its comeback fall short in an 8-5 season-opening loss to Emporia State on Saturday night in Edmond, Okla.
 
The loss opens the season 0-1 for the Storm heading into a Sunday night contest versus Central Oklahoma at 6:30 p.m. back in Edmond, Okla.
 
Brady Evans picked up a pair of hits, including a home runs, while Coby Grimsley added two hits as well, including a double.
 
Gage Dollins, Austin Thorp, Carter Olson, and Ryan Kirk each logged a hit.
 
Kirk would drive in a pair of runs, while Dollins, Evans, and Grimsley each added one RBI.
 
Michael White would toss 3.1 innings and allowed three runs, one earned, on three hits while striking out five in a no decision.
 
Ryan Rauss would follow with three runs on three hits over 1.2 innings of work with three strikeouts while taking the loss.
 
Cody Pfeffer followed with an inning of work, allowing three hits and striking out one, followed by by Austin Hillebrandt who was tagged for two runs, one earned, in 1.1 innings.
 
Brayden Phelps would close out the contest for SE, striking out one in two-thirds of an inning of work.
 
SE got on the board first in the top of the second inning with Evans and Grimsley connecting on two-out singles before Kirk plated them both with a single through the left side to take a 2-0 lead.
 
Kirk would move to second on a wild pitch and Dollins would bring him home on a single to left to extend the lead to 3-0.
 
Olson would lead off the top of the fourth with a double and after moving to third on an Evans sac bunt, would come home on a Grimsley RBI double to push the lead to 4-0.
 
The Hornets would respond in the bottom of the fourth with three runs, first scoring a run on an RBI double before adding two more on another RBI double with two outs, closing the Storm lead to 4-3.
 
ESU would tack on a two-run homer early in the top of the sixth and added another run to push out to a 6-4 lead.
 
The Hornets would take advantage of a squeeze but and a Storm error in the bottom of the eighth to add two more runs, pushing the score to 8-4 after eight innings.
 
Evans would open the top of then ninth with a solo homer and the Storm would follow by loading the bases, but were unable to bring home any of those runs, leaving the final score at 8-5.