ST. JOSEPH, MO - Missouri Western Baseball lost an early lead, but came back to walk it off Saturday, defeating Emporia State 7-6. the Griffons had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the ninth when pitcher Tanner Dawe's offering got away. Quinton Robertson scored from third to give the Griffons (17-18, 8-15 MIAA) the victory.
Junior Robert Farrell (2-1) got the win out of the bullpen for the Griffons. The southpaw went one shutout inning without giving up a hit, no walks and striking out three. Freshman Jacob Ross also pitched well, going 2.1 innings, surrendering one run on one hit, walking none and striking out three.
Offensively, the Griffons were led by junior Blake Anderson, who went 2-for-4 on the day with two RBI. Senior Travis Wiese put together a standout performance at the dish as well, going 1-for-5 with a double and an RBI. Robertson also had a two-hit game for the Griffons.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Griffons got the scoring started early, putting one run on the board in the bottom the first inning with the game still scoreless. Missouri Western pushed across two runs in the frame, the big blow coming on an RBI double from Wiese.
The Hornets failed to push any runs across before the Griffons offense got back to their scoring ways the next inning. Sophomore Blake Martin came across to score the lone run of the inning for Missouri Western State, which brought the Griffons lead to 3-0.
Missouri Western's lead had evaporated by the time the sixth inning arrived and turned into a 5-3 Emporia State advantage, when the Griffons cut that deficit to 5-4.
The Hornets expanded their lead to 6-4 before the Missouri Western offense got back in action, evening it up in the eighth. Anderson's run-scoring single brought home one run in a two-run output for the Griffons, tying the score at 6-6.
The game remained tied until the bottom of the ninth, when Missouri Western State walked it off after Robertson came across to score.
The Griffons and Hornets conclude the series with a rubber match on Sunday at 1pm.
