CALEB WILLIAMSON
Here’s the story that I put together (box scores compliments of Gary Karr) for Tuesday’s Eagle on ESU advancing to the NCAA D2 College World Series semifinals and Cowley losing at the NJCAA World Series. ESU coach Bob Fornelli is in the Final 4 with his second team after leading Fort Hays to a runner-up finish in 2000. Caleb Williamson delivered the game-winning hit in this one and man … I love it when my Red Ravens deliver in the clutch. Look for the Tigers to bounce back Tuesday against Spartburg (S.C.) Community College.
Enjoy:
ESU gains CWS semifinals; Cowley bows
Eagle staff
The Emporia State baseball team advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Division II College World Series for the first time in school history with a 5-2 win over Mesa (Colo.) State in Cary, N.C.
Trailing 2-1 in the second inning, Caleb Williamson hit a two-run double that gave the Hornets the lead for good. Emporia State added insurance runs in the fourth and seventh innings while Williamson finished 4 for 4 with two RBIs.
Kenny Burkhead went 2 for 4 with two runs and an RBI. Ben Graham was the winning pitcher for ESU, going 6Ð innings while giving up four hits, no earned runs and striking out five.
The Hornets won’t play again until Thursday and won’t know their opponent until Wednesday after games in the losers bracket shake out.
“It’s a lot of time off, but we’re fortunate enough to stay in the winners bracket,” Emporia State coach Bob Fornelli said. “Whoever we play we’ll be ready for. We’re going to go out and watch some games so we’re prepared.”
Fornelli led Fort Hays State to a national runner-up finish in 2000 and took the Hornets to the CWS in 2006. Only one player from that team, outfielder and MIAA player of the year Conner Crumbliss, is still on the ESU roster.
“I was fortunate to get to this point with Fort Hays, but that was a different team, a different time,” Fornelli said. “Even now, Conner is the only kid that played on that 2006 team. This a different group and we’re going to let them do what works for them.”
Fornelli will send Colby Killian to pitch Thursday. Killian, the South Central Regional MVP, has three of the Hornets’ six postseason wins this year.
Fornelli said he was never tempted to save Killian for a possible championship game outing on Saturday.
“I’m not one to gamble at this point,” Fornelli said. “He’s on his normal four days rest so we’ll bring him back.”
Mesa State 020 000 000 — 2 7 2
Emporia State 102 100 10x — 5 11 1
Carma, Davis (4), Bachman (7), Butch (7), Guinn (8) and Vickers; Applehans, Graham (2), Soto (9) and Sharp. W — Graham (8-3). L — Carma (7-4). Save — Soto (12).
ESU batting: Crumbliss 0-3, Wempe 0-4, Burkhead 2-4, Williamson 4-4, Francis 0-2, Lane 1-1, Steinbach 0-1, Sharp 2-4, Dreiling 0-2, White 1-4, Cotton 1-2.
ESU pitching: Applehans 1ð-2, Graham 6Ð-0, Soto 1-0.
Santa Fe (N.M.) 10, Cowley 9 _ Cowley almost dug itself out of a 10-2 deficit after three innings but came up just short at the NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Colo.
The Tigers will face Spartenburg Methodist (S.C.) at noon today in an elimination game.
“I’m proud of the way our kids battled back, to fight back from that,” Cowley coach Dave Burroughs said. “It was just too big a hole.”
The Tigers had their best chance to retake the lead after Mac Gordon’s three-run home run in the top of the seventh made the score 10-8, then an infield single scored a run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 10-9.
With runners at first and third and one out in the eighth, Andy Petz grounded into a double play to end the threat.
“You can’t pout, you can’t walk around on your lip,” said Burroughs, who led Cowley to national titles in 1997 and 1998. “We’ve got to forget about it, show up and play baseball. I told our guys after the game that our team in ‘97 lost in this same spot and came back to win it all.”
Cowley 200 120 310 — 9 14 1
Santa Fe 307 000 00x — 10 15 2
Kohlscheen, Maler (3), Webb (7) and Gordon; Merians, McIntyre (7), Cox (8), Mee (9) and Bozeman. W — Merians. L — Kohlscheen. Save — Mee. HR — Cowley: Misialek, Loehrs, Gordon; SF: Broxton, Mathews.
Cowley batting: Melendez 2-6, Ross 2-5, Misialek 1-4, Hege 1-3, Loehrs 2-3, Gordon 3-4, Petz 1-4, Specht 0-4, Bass 1-1, Zeller 1-3.
Cowley pitching: Kohlscheen 2Ð-9, Maler 4-0, Webb 1ð-0.