Though there aren’t any wins to show for it, Emporia AAAs coach Ryan Oden believes his team got better Thursday in two games of the Blue Springs (Mo.) Wood Bat Tournament.
Emporia lost the first game of the day to DeSoto (Mo.), 5-4, in extra innings before falling to Oak Grove (Mo.) Post 379, 13-5, in Game Two.
But despite the outcomes of both games, Oden said he was pleased with his team.
“We competed,” Oden said. “We got better even though we lost those two games. We’re really starting to come around, especially offensively.”
Against DeSoto, Emporia seemed in control throughout most of the contest, taking a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the fifth. That when, as Oden said, “the wheels fell off.”
Emporia starter Jonathan Hrabik walked the first batter on four straight pitches and then fell behind, 2-0, to the next batter — DeSoto’s five-hole hitter. Looking to recover, Hrabik threw a fastball on his next pitch, and the DeSoto hitter blasted it over the left-field fence for a two-run home run to close the gap to 4-3.
“Hrabik just grooved him a fastball right down the middle,” Oden said, “and he (the hitter) hit it out of the park.”
Emporia errors allowed DeSoto to eventually tie the game at 4 after seven innings, and the game went into an extra frame. In the bottom of the eighth, Taylor Clark, on in relief of Hrabik, would get stuck with the loss when he hit a DeSoto batter with the bases loaded and two out to force home the winning run.
“The kids competed,” Oden said. “It’s one of those games where we lost, but if you have to lose, I guess you’d want it to be that way, because the kids competed.”
Clark led Emporia at the plate, going 2-for-3 with 3 RBI.
In the second game, Oden was reunited with his former Legion team, Oak Grove.
Considered one of the top Legion teams in the Kansas City area, Oak Grove proved why in a sloppy 13-5 victory over Emporia.
“They were one of the best teams we’ve seen,” Oden said. “Our kids got a taste of where we need to be as a program.”
Emporia was slated to play again at 10 this morning against Blue Valley. Win or lose, the AAAs will close out the tournament with a 9 a.m. consolation game on Saturday.