The Emporia State athletic department had another busy weekend in the spring crossover season.
The weekend started with indoor track and field at the Russ Jewett Gorilla Classic in Pittsburg, Kan. starting Friday. MIAA Athlete of the Week Stella Agbokpah bested her own school record to run 7.57 in the women’s 60m dash to qualify for Saturday’s final. She went on to finish fifth for the top finish for the Lady Hornets. Connor Deters had the top finish for the Hornets finishing sixth in the shotput while ESU ‘s 4x400m relay team also placed sixth.
Lady Hornet tennis finished with a 6-1 win over McPherson on Saturday at the Kossover Family Tennis Complex. ESU dominated for the doubles point dropping just eight total games. ESU’s only loss in singles was by default. ESU won pro sets with matching 8-2 scores at #4 and #5 singles while Carla Paul Piquer won 6-3, 6-4 in #1 singles. ESU headed to Lawrence Sunday night to face Rockhurst as part of a double header. The Hawks swept the dual 4-0.
The men’s tennis team fell in the front half of that Sunday matinee losing 4-2 to the Hawks. Rockhurst won two of three doubles matches to claim the doubles point. Diego Calvo got ESU on the board with a 7-5, 6-1 victory at #4 singles while Mostafa Elbasnaly dropped just five games in a win at #2 singles, but RU swept the rest of the way.
The Emporia State baseball team played two games to wrap up the Steve Anson Classic at Falley Field in Topeka. In a game delayed by rain to Saturday night, the Hornets scored the first six runs of the game and held on for a 6-3 win over Sioux Falls. Frankie Santiago tripled in two runs in the third for ESU before the Hornets scored again in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk and a Nathon Cruz two-run single. Evan Abbot doubled to center in the ninth to add insurance and put the Hornets up 6-0. Colby Deaver (3-0) picked up the win going 6.0 innings and struck out 10 Cougars.
E-State returned to action with a quick turnaround beginning Sunday morning and walked off in the 12th inning 10-9 over #23 Metro State Denver. A Noah Steele single got the Hornets on the board in the first before MSU Denver took the lead 3-1 in the top of the second. The Black & Gold scored five in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a bases-loaded walk before a bases-clearing double by Santiago and another RBI by Steele. The Roadrunners went in front with the next six runs of the game, but ESU plated two in the eighth and one in the ninth to force extras before Jovanni Toledo ended the game on a walk-off single in the 12th. Grant Huffman (1-0) picked up the win with 4.0 innings of relief in the win with three strikeouts. ESU (9-1) heads to Arkansas-Fort Smith for the MIAA opener in a three-game series beginning Friday.
The ESU disc golf teams hosted competition at the MidAmerican Conference Event at Jones Park East in Emporia on Sunday. Heavy rains made the Peter Pan Park course unplayable, but the change in venue didn’t slow down the Hornets. The D1 men dominated with a 12-stroke win over Kansas State with T. J. Reel, Carter Ahrens, Jaden Rye, and Micah Tatro finishing at -25. The men’s D2 team also won easily with a 10-stroke victory over Kansas State. Rye took the top individual honor shooting -12 while Ahrens finished tied for second two strokes off the pace. Tatro was fourth at -7. The Emporia State women held an intrasquad meet. ESU is next in action at another conference meet scheduled for Saturday, February 28 in Lawrence, Kan.
