April 19, 2008-Conner Crumbliss was four for six with two doubles, a triple and a home run on the day as #4 Emporia State swept Northwest Missouri 8-1 and 15-6 on Saturday afternoon at the Trusler Sports Complex. The Hornets have now won 33 straight games and 32 straight dating back to last year in conference games.

With the wind blowing in at Glennen Field, the Hornets scored seven of their eight runs in the opener via the home run. After NWMSU left the bases loaded in the top of the first in game one, Keith Hernandez put ESU ahead 2-0 with his 11 th homer of the season. Crumbliss gave the Hornets a 5-1 lead with a two-run homer in the fifth inning. Anthony Dreiling put ESU ahead 7-1 with a two run shot in the sixth and Matt Marasco ended the scoring with his second homer of the year later in the inning. Tyler Applehans improved to 9-0 on the season despite walking five and scattering four hits in 5.0 innings pitched. NWMSU left the bases loaded in the first two innings only to have Applehans end the inning with a strikeout. Daniel Waggoner finished up with two innings of shutout pitching for ESU.

The Hornets took a 6-0 lead after two innings in the night cap on their way to a 15-6 victory. Crumbliss was three for four with two doubles and a triple and drove in four for ESU. Brian Majors went four for four with two homers and five RBI in the second game as the Hornets first two batters were a combined seven of seven with five runs and nine RBI in the night cap. Majors’ two run home run in the bottom of the second gave ESU a 6-0 lead before NWMSU had a base runner. His second homer led off the bottom of the fourth after the Bearcats had cut the score to 7-4 in the top half of the inning. ESU would go on to score eight runs in the bottom of the fourth to reach double figures for the 11 th time in the last 14 games. Richard Timbrook moved to 6-0 on the season with 6.0 innings of work and Kellen Mitts pitched the final 3.0 to earn his first save of the season.

The Hornets and Bearcats will wrap-up the four game series on Sunday with a double header beginning at 12 noon at the Trusler Sports Complex.

NOTES:

With the sweep, ESU clinched a spot in the MIAA Tournament May 9-11 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City, Kan.

ESU batters were hit by pitch seven times in the double header to bring their season total to 97. That ranks tenth in the NCAA Division II single season record book.

The Hornets are now 40-3 overall and 26-0 in MIAA play.  It is the fourth straight year ESU has won at least 40 games.