The frustrations continued for the Emporia AAAs Thursday night, as they fell 11-7 and 6-4 to Ottawa in Ottawa.
“We’re letting teams play with us and giving games away,” Emporia AAA coach Ryan Oden said. “We’re not doing the mental things and not doing the little things to be successful.”
In Game One, Emporia rallied from a 6-4 deficit to take the lead with a three-run seventh before collapsing defensively in the bottom of the frame.
The AAAs committed two errors, and Ottawa took advantage later with a game-winning grand slam.
Emporia had eight errors in the first game alone.
“That tells you how we should have won the game,” Oden said. “For us to lose a (close) game with eight errors, we were pretty (darned) lucky.”
Adam Tebben took the loss for Emporia.
The AAAs played a cleaner Game Two but couldn’t come through with the hits they needed.
Trailing 6-4 in the final inning, Alex Reyes led off with a single, but Emporia’s 3-, 4- and 5-hitters all struck out consecutively to end the game.
“It was a good game,” Oden said. “At the end, we just didn’t execute.”
Jonathan Hrabik took the Game Two loss on the mound.
The AAAs (8-9) saw their record drop below .500 for the first time all season. They will take on Post 125 at 6 tonight at Soden’s Grove.
“I just can’t put finger on what it is right now,” Oden said. “Still, when you make eight errors still lose (a close game), hopefully the boys can see through that and know that if they take care of the baseball, things would turn out differently.”