The Emporia A-16s dropped two games to Junction City Tuesday night, falling in the first game, 9-5, before losing the second, 8-6.
In both games, the A-16s simply ran out of gas on the mound, Emporia coach Aaron Lechien said.
“We were just kind of running out of arms,” Lechien said. “The guys competed well and did their best to keep us in the games, but they just wore down.”
In the first game, Chase Speer got the start on the mound but had an off night, Lechien said.
“He usually throws a lot of strikes and eats up a lot of innings for us,” Lechien said. “I don’t know if he was tired or what, but he didn’t have a Chase Speer-type game, and he knows that.”
The A-16s jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one half inning of play, but Junction City came back to score once in the bottom half of the frame and then took the lead for good in the third.
In Game Two, three Emporia pitchers — Josh Posey, Brett Lechien and Derek Krause — helped slow Junction City, but it wasn’t enough, as the A-16s fell, 8-6.
In both games, Lechien said his team had good approaches at the plate, but had little to show for it in the end.
“We hit a lot of balls hard but right at people,” he said. “When they (Junction City) needed to make plays, they did.”
The A-16s are back in action at 6 p.m. Thursday night with a home doubleheader against Ottawa at Soden’s Grove.