Emporia State baseball saw their season end on Wednesday afternoon in the first round of the MIAA Tournament, as the Hornets fell 7-3 against the hosts Missouri Southern.

The Hornets put the first base runner of the game on in the top of the first, but after being held scoreless, Missouri Southern struck first in the bottom half, grabbing two runs on a home run by Brayden Luikart to make the score 2-0.

Following a scoreless second by both teams, Emporia State trimmed the deficit in half in the third. Sammy Padilla singled to open the inning, and after advancing to second on an errant pickoff attempt, scored on an RBI single by Peyton Lewis.

Missouri Southern managed to hold their 2-1 advantage through the sixth inning, before the Hornets pulled level in the top of the seventh. With two outs in the inning, Dominic Felix singled up the middle and was followed by Brady Unrein who doubled down the right field line and Felix came around from first to tie the game.

The Lions retook the lead on a Chayton Beck solo home run in the bottom half, but the Hornets answered back in the eighth, as Logan Myers homered with one out to make the score 3-3. Despite two base hits with two outs in the inning, the score remained 3-3 heading to the bottom half.

In the bottom half, Missouri Southern rallied to score four runs on three hits to build a 7-3 lead over the Hornets. In their last at-bat, Emporia State managed one hit but were held scoreless as they fell in the first round against the Lions.

At the plate, the Hornets and Lions both tallied ten hits with Peyton Lewis and Dominic Felix each recording two of their own.

Emporia State finished the season 23-25 with a trip to the MIAA Tournament for the first time since 2022. The Hornets' 23 wins and 16 wins in the MIAA are the most since the 2019 season.