The Emporia AAAs defeated the Blue Valley Huskies, 7-6, Friday afternoon to split its first two games of the Manhattan Tournament after an early-morning 8-0 loss to the Kansas City Cyclones.
After a slow start to begin the game against Blue Valley, the Emporia offense got going in a big way in the fifth inning thanks to some shaky pitching from the Huskies.
Emporia entered the fifth frame trailing 3-1, but some timely hitting and a few walks — including one with the bases loaded — helped the AAAs plate five runs in the inning to go up, 6-3.
The key hit in the inning came from Harrison Stone, who knocked a bases-loaded double to right-center that scored three runs to rocket the AAAs ahead of the Huskies.
“Harrison really stood out for us,” Emporia coach Ryan Oden said. “He had a quality game for us after missing the first game with a prior commitment. He really stepped up for us in Game Two.”
Blue Valley would keep it close the rest of the way, as the Huskies scored once in the bottom half of the frame and twice in the sixth, but could never catch the AAAs. Emporia scored what would be the game-winning run in the top of the sixth when Alex Reyes hit an RBI triple that made the score, 7-4.
The game ended after six innings because of time limits.
“Somehow, we let them stay in the game,” Oden said. “I felt we were in control once we scored those five runs, but we made some errors and some mistakes ... and we failed to put them away. Fortunately, we played well enough to come out ahead.
“We got the win, but it wasn’t pretty.”
In the first game of the day, Emporia could not overcome the Kansas City Cyclones’ offensive firepower or their pitcher, Joe Santoyo, in an 8-0 loss.
Santoyo held Emporia (5-1) to just two hits while the Cyclones scored four runs in the first inning, which would be all Kansas City would need. The Cycloens tacked on single runs in the second and third, and then ended the game by run-rule with two more scores in the fifth.
“We just didn’t show up and play,” Oden said. “Our guys just weren’t there.”
The Cyclones are a team made up mostly of players from Bishop Ward High School in Kansas City, Kan., which won its fifth consecutive Class 4A State championship this year.
“They were a pretty good ballclub,” Oden said. “I was really impressed.”
One side note: Cole Armitage did not play Friday after he suffered a potential rotator cuff strain diving for a ball earlier in the week. Armitage, a Barton County Community College signee as a pitcher, is set to undergo an MRI next week and will not play until more is known about the extent of his injury.
“Right now, he’s on the shelf until we know more,” Oden said. “His college career is more important than this.”