FHSU Athletics
EMPORIA, Kan. - The Fort Hays State baseball team hung on for a 4-3 win over Emporia State on Saturday. Solid pitching by both squads kept the score close before the Tigers took the lead for good in the sixth. The Tigers improved to 8-11 overall and 1-4 MIAA while the Hornets fall to 6-12 this season and 2-3 in league play.
Elliott Herrmann singled home Trey DeGarmo to give the Tigers an early lead in the opening frame, but the Hornets tied it up by taking advantage of three free trips in the home half. The teams traded punches again in the fourth as Mikey Felton collected an RBI single before ESU bounced back with an unearned run in the bottom half of the inning.
Zach Berg started on the mound for the Tigers, allowing two runs (one earned) across three innings. Daniel Bebee took over in the fourth and made another strong showing, allowing only one run and scattering a pair of hits over 5.1 frames to collect his first win of the season. Berg and Bebee struck out three batters each in their stints on the mound.
The Hornets took a 3-2 lead in the sixth on another RBI single, but the Tigers would answer in the following half-inning with four hits and two runs. Felton opened the inning with a single up the middle before Colter Maldonado moved him over with a single of his own. DeGarmo tied the game with a two-out single past the pitcher, bringing Felton in to score. Isaiah Ural followed with the go-ahead RBI, driving in Maldonado on a single to right to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead.
Bebee faced just four batters in the seventh and retired the side in order in the eighth to keep the Tigers in front, but allowed two runners to reach base with one out in the ninth. Tiger head coach Justin Wichert then came out to swap pitchers, giving Emile Boies took the ball for the Tigers with two outs to go. After starting the game at third base, Boies struck out both batters he faced to secure the win for the Tigers and claim his third save of the year.
Herrmann, DeGarmo, Ural, and Felton each recorded a pair of hits and drove in a run in the win.
The series will conclude tomorrow with the rubber match slated to start at 1 p.m.