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University of Sioux Falls Athletics

Scoreboard

Scoreboard

6
Winner Emporia St. EMPORIA 8-1
3
Sioux Falls SIOUX FA 0-3
Winner
Emporia St. EMPORIA
8-1
6
Final
3
Sioux Falls SIOUX FA
0-3
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Emporia St. EMPORIA 0 0 2 0 3 0 0 0 1 6 7 0
Sioux Falls SIOUX FA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 5 2

W: C. Deaver (3-0) L: Weadge, Owen (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Clint Neumann

Late Rally Comes Up Short as Cougars Fall to Emporia State

TOPEKA, Kan. – The University of Sioux Falls baseball team showed late life Saturday night, but a five-run middle stretch proved too much to overcome in a 6-3 loss to Emporia State at Steve Anson Stadium. After being held scoreless through eight innings, the Cougars erupted for three runs in the ninth and brought the tying run to the plate, but the Hornets escaped to keep USF searching for its first win of the 2026 season.

Emporia State built its advantage with timely extra-base hits and steady pressure on the basepaths, drawing nine walks and taking advantage of defensive miscues that led to unearned runs. Sioux Falls limited the Hornets to seven hits and got a strong relief effort from Jake Pruchniak, while William Edwards (triple) and Colin Gibson (double) supplied early extra-base chances before the Cougars' ninth-inning rally made it a one-swing game.

Final Score: Emporia State 6, Sioux Falls 3

How It Happened

Both teams opened the night exchanging early zeros, but Emporia State began to apply pressure immediately with traffic on the bases. Sioux Falls answered with its first major threat in the bottom of the second when William Edwards roped a triple to right-center, but the Cougars couldn't bring him home.

The game's first scoring came in the third. After a leadoff double, Emporia State cashed in with a two-run triple to right field to take a 2-0 lead.

The Hornets stretched the margin in the fifth inning, when an error and a pair of bunt/small-ball plays helped set the table. With the bases loaded after multiple walks, a run scored on a walk and two more came home on a single through the left side, pushing the lead to 5-0.

USF continued to search for a breakthrough, and nearly found one in the sixth. Noah Drossel singled and later moved into scoring position when Gibson doubled to right field with two outs, but a strikeout ended the inning and kept the Cougars off the board.

Emporia State added one more in the ninth, again capitalizing on a defensive mistake and aggressive baserunning to extend the margin to 6-0 heading to the bottom half.

Then the Cougars finally broke through.

Mitch Iliff opened the ninth with a walk, and Gibson was hit by a pitch to put two aboard. Another walk loaded the bases, and Frank Vogel delivered a patient RBI walk to force home the first run of the night. After a strikeout, Daniel Estrada came through with the biggest swing of the game—lining a two-run single to center to cut the deficit to 6-3.

Casey Sehr followed with a single to load the bases again, bringing the tying run to the plate. But Emporia State induced a game-ending double play to slam the door on the comeback.

On the Mound

  • Starting pitcher: Owen Weadge – 4.2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 6 BB, 5 K
  • Decision: Loss – Weadge (0-1)
  • Bullpen impact: Jake Pruchniak gave USF a strong lift with 4.0 innings, allowing one run on four hits with three walks and five strikeouts. Tyler Maeyaert recorded the final out in the ninth.
  • Notable pitching moments: USF pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts and held Emporia State to seven hits, but nine walks and two errors extended innings and created run-scoring chances.

At the Plate

  • Extra-base hits: William Edwards (triple), Colin Gibson (double)
  • RBIs: Daniel Estrada (2), Frank Vogel (1)
  • Clutch situations (RISP, two-out hits): Estrada's two-RBI single in the ninth was the key hit of the night, and USF loaded the bases with the tying run at the plate before the final double play.
  • Team totals: 5 hits, 5 walks, 2 errors, 6 left on base

Coach's Corner

"Our pitching did a great job tonight. We had a couple miscues on defense that really hurt us. Our offense has been struggling out of the gate but finally showed some life in the last inning. I was glad to see us compete better today than our opener yesterday. Our offense still has to be better at making adjustments throughout the course of the game and put together better at-bats if we want to start scoring more runs. Hopefully we can carry some of that offensive momentum into tomorrow's game against Washburn."
- Head Coach Grant Hieb

Up Next

The Cougars wrap up their trip to Topeka with a rematch against the Washburn Ichabods on Sunday, February 15 at 2:00 p.m. first pitch at Falley Field.

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