Salina knocks around AAAs
Roger Heineken
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
It turned out to be a bad time for the Emporia AAAs to face a good Salina team.
Playing their fourth and fifth games in three days, the AAAs didn’t have the pitching depth to compete with Salina in 6-1 and 14-6 losses Tuesday night at Soden’s Grove.
“I can take the blame for the schedule,” Emporia AAA coach Ryan Oden said. “It’s tough when you can’t foresee injuries to your pitchers.”
Still, the AAAs might have found themselves another arm for their bullpen in Game One starter Cameron Smith.
In his first start since last summer, the right-hander allowed just one Salina run in the first five innings, walking none and striking out three.
“We knew anything could happen with him, but wow his first five innings were spectacular,” Oden said. “He located low in the zone, and I loved his demeanor on the mound.”
Even Smith himself seemed surprised by his effectiveness.
“That was more than I expected,” Smith said. “I really have not had that much success pitching.”
Meanwhile, Emporia scored its only run in the second.
Adam Tebben singled in the deep hole at shortstop, and Salina’s Dane Simoneau overthrew the first baseman for an error.
Courtesy runner Michael Knight moved to third and then home on separate wild pitches by Salina’s Tom Nicholson to tie the score at 1.
“I wish we could have gotten some more run support early,” Oden said, “so we could take some pressure off (Cameron).”
That’s because things started to unravel for Emporia in the top of the sixth.
Smith walked the first batter he faced, then hit the next two to load the bases.
“I felt good in the first five,” Smith said, “then I got tired.”
Taylor Clark came in relief but couldn’t escape harm. Kurtis Crawford singled to score one, and an Emporia error allowed another run to score to make it 3-1.
Ryan Stein’s infield single later in the inning pushed the advantage to 4-1, and Salina tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh.
Emporia had six different players record singles in the loss.
Salina teed off on Emporia’s pitching in Game Two.
After scoring a run in the first, Salina scored four runs on five hits in the second, with the highlight coming when Simoneau sent a three-run home run over the scoreboard in left field.
The visitors added five more in the third.
This time, Crawford had the big blow, knocking a three-run homer to left as Salina built its advantage to 10-0, while Emporia had not yet recorded a hit.
“There’s no magical spell with (the offense),” Oden said. “We’re just going to keep preaching to be aggressive early in the count.”
The AAAs used some help from Salina to get back in the game.
In the third, Tebben and Clark walked, Jared Krause was hit by a pitch and Alex Reyes drew a walk to force in the first Emporia run.
Cole Armitage welcomed relief pitcher Ryan Stein with Emporia’s first hit, clearing the bases with a triple in the right-center gap to make it 10-4.
The AAAs posted its only other runs in the fifth without the benefit of a hit. Clark and Krause walked to lead off the inning, moving up on a wild pitch and scoring on consecutive RBI groundouts from Reyes and Armitage.
Emporia finished with just three hits — with two of those coming in the final inning.
The AAAs (8-7) are scheduled to play Thursday at Ottawa.
Tuesday at Emporia
Game One
Salina 6, Emporia AAAs 1
Salina 010 003 2 — 6 8 1
Emporia AAAs 010 000 0 — 1 6 2
W — Tim Nicholson. L — Cameron Smith.
2B — Salina: Tyler Burnett, Evan Freeman 2; Emporia: Taylor Clark. SB — Salina: Wyatt Hall, Kurtis Crawford.
Emporia AAA highlights — Adam Tebben 1-2, BB; Taylor Clark 1-4, 2B; Jonathan Hrabik 1-3; Harrison Stone 1-3.
Game Two
Salina 14, Emporia AAAs 6
Salina 145 112 X — 14 14 0
Emporia AAAs 004 020 X — 6 3 1
W — Evan Freeman. L — Harrison Stone.
2B — Salina: Kurtis Crawford, A.J. Farmer 2, Tyler Burnett 2, Tim Nicholson. 3B — Emporia: Cole Armitage. HR — Salina: Kurtis Crawford, Dane Simoneau. SB — Salina: Wyatt Hall, Joel Pengra.
Emporia AAA highlights — Cole Armitage 1-2, 3B, 4 RBI, BB; Adam Tebben 1-2, R; Michael Knight 1-3.