The Emporia High baseball team suffered a sweep at the hands of Highland Park Thursday in Topeka, losing 5-3 in Game One before falling in the nightcap, 9-7.
In the first game, after Highland Park started off with two runs to open the first inning, EHS came back in its half of the inning to take a 3-2 lead.
With Robert Keisler and Taylor Clark on base, Cole Armitage stepped up with a double that scored Keisler and Clark to make it 2-all. After Armitage moved to third on a fielder’s choice, Taylor Anderson hit a fly ball to the outfield that allowed Armitage to score, giving Anderson a sacrifice fly and the Spartans a 3-2 lead.
That would be all the Spartans would get, though, as Highland Park tied the game at 3 with a run in the second inning, and then the Scots pushed single runs across the plate in each of the sixth and seventh innings to take Game One, 5-3.
“We just didn’t fight,” EHS coach Mike Strickland said. “We lost our intensity and our effort after that first inning.”
In Game Two, Highland Park got all the scoring it would need by scoring three runs in the first inning and then six more in the second inning before holding on to win, 9-7.
Emporia got on the board with a run in the second inning before adding four more runs in the fourth to cut Highland Park’s lead to 9-5. The Spartans inched closer with one run in the fifth and then another in the seventh, but that would be all the scoring for EHS.
“We let them get an early lead, and we never really got the sticks going,” Strickland said.
The losses to Highland Park ended the Spartans’ regular season on a sour note, but Strickland said his team must move on, as Regional play begins next week, with a 2 p.m. matchup on Tuesday with Great Bend looking like the most likely scenario for the Spartans. EHS (4-16 overall, 4-14 Centennial League) will find out for sure on Saturday.
“It’s very frustrating for these guys, because we’re better than what we’re showing,” Strickland said. “We’ve got to put the regular season behind us right now and get ready for Regionals.”
Thursday at Topeka
Game One
Highland Park 5, Emporia 3
Highland Park 210 001 1 — 5 6 2
Emporia 300 000 0 — 3 6 1
Knight, Bacon (6) and Clark. Moore and Gitch. W — Moore. L — Knight. 2B — Emporia: Armitage. HP: Gitch, Campfield. 3B — HP: Carraway.
Game Two
Highland Park 9, Emporia 7
Emporia 010 410 1 — 7 5 2
Highland Park 360 000 0 — 9 6 1
Ast, Krause (2) and Clark. Rogers, Dunkhardt (5) and Gitch. W — Rogers. L — Ast. 2B — Emporia: Johnson. 3B — Harris.