The Emporia State baseball team fought back from a 5-0 deficit but couldn’t hold off the Ichabods in the ninth in a 9-8 loss to open up the Turnpike Tussle at the Trusler Sports Complex in Emporia on Friday. The Hornets gave up three runs in the first on the way to trailing 5-0 through two and a half innings before waking up the bats with back-to-back three-run innings to take a 6-5 lead through four. Kadyn Williams started the comeback with a solo home run before Austin Hamm knocked a solo shot out later in the inning. T. J. Racherbaumer ended the third-inning rally with an RBI triple. Hamm tacked on with a three-run blast in the fourth for his fourth home run of the season to give ESU the lead. ESU plated two more in the eight scoring on a Washburn balk and an infield error. The Ichabods scored one in the eighth before rallying for three in the ninth to take game one. Trent Warstler (1-1) allowed three hits and four earned runs in 2.1 innings to take the loss. Head coach Brad Hill said, like the series last weekend at Northwest Missouri, the Hornets will have to mount a comeback to take the series.
Game two of the series is set for 2:00 p.m. Saturday with game three on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
