EMPORIA, Kan. (Feb. 13, 2022) – The Colorado State University Pueblo baseball team (3-4) fell to Emporia State University (4-3) in the four-game series finale 14-3 Sunday afternoon. The ThunderWolves split the series 2-2 after winning the doubleheader set on Friday and dropping the final two games of the weekend.
 
The Hornets jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after the first inning and the Pack looked to get the run back in the top of the second. 
 
Trey Vasquez kicked off the inning with a walk followed by a another from Reggie Williams. With runners on second and third following a wild pitch, Cole Knightley drove a 1-2 pitch up the middle and scored Vasquez and Williams to take a 2-1 lead.
 
The Hornets offense came back up in the bottom of the second and took advantage of hits throughout the inning. Emporia State pushed across five runs in the bottom half and took an early 6-2 lead after a tough inning.
 
The third inning saw some mistakes on the mound by Emporia State and the Pack took advantage. Williams drove a ball to left and scored Ty Lewis from second base to inch closer to the Hornets.
 
Owen Rudolphi came out and shut down the Emporia State offense and retired the order in just four batters to keep the Pack in hunt.
 
The ThunderWolves offense tried to get something going, but unfortunately could not turn it on late and were unable to muster up another hit.
 
Emporia State's offense did not relent and unloaded at the plate. The hornets logged four hits and tallied five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a commanding 11-3 lead.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, the ThunderWolves surrendered three more runs and were sent to the top of seventh inning needing two more runs to prevent the 10-run rule taking effect.
 
Unfortunately, the Pack were unable to push any runs across in the seventh and the 10-run rule took effect to end the game with a 14-3 CSU Pueblo loss.
 
 The Pack's 14-3 loss moves them to 3-4 on the season and ended the weekend on a 2-2 split with the Hornets.
 
Knightley had two RBIs in the afternoon game against the Hornets while he, Jacob Federico and Williams accounted for the three ThunderWolves' hits.
 
Head Coach Bobby Applegate addressed the loss, "We struggled to throw quality strikes today and they did a good job putting balls in play." Applegate said, "Though we came away with a. split series, I felt like we lost an opportunity to take a big step forward."
 
CSU Pueblo looks to bounce back Tuesday evening as the Pack face UCCS at home 2 p.m.