You don’t want to see Jacob Loucks when he’s angry.
Not unless you’re the Emporia High baseball team and in desperate need of a victory.
After letting a four-run lead turn into an 18-7 run-rule loss in Game One of Monday’s doubleheader against Topeka High at Soden’s Grove, the Emporia High sophomore pitched a dandy in the nightcap to lead EHS to a 4-1 victory.
Loucks went all seven innings, scattering eight hits while walking none to go with seven strikeouts. He picked up his first victory on the mound this season and gave the Spartans (2-8) a much-needed lift by helping snap a five-game losing skid.
And he did it all thanks to a mad-at-the-world attitude.
“I haven’t pitched the way I did tonight,” Loucks said. “I was angry. We had that first game in our hands and we lost it. I just wanted to come back and get a win. I didn’t want us to go 0-2 to this team.”
Upset after watching his team get out to a 5-1 lead in Game One only to turn around and get run-ruled, Loucks was simply dominant through the first five innings of Game Two.
Heading into the sixth inning, he had faced just one over the minimum and was confusing the Topeka High batters with a blend of a locked-in fastball and a nasty curveball.
But, perhaps unexpectedly, with every out the Spartans recorded, Loucks’ anger only grew — but in a good way for EHS.
“I had mixed emotions out there,” Loucks said. “I was happy with how I was throwing, but at the same time, I was still angry about trying to get a win. I didn’t think we deserved to lose to this team twice.”
Loucks also was the immediate beneficiary of some quality defensive plays that halted several Topeka High threats.
EHS catcher Harrison Stone threw out two Trojans on stolen-base attempts while Emporia also turned two double plays — one in the fourth and one in the fifth — which shortstop Brian Keisler said were the first two successful double plays he could remember this season.
“It was relieving,” Keisler said of Emporia’s defensive efficiency. “We were tired of playing hard and not getting anything from it. We finished plays like we needed to.”
Meanwhile, offensively, Emporia scored two runs in both the first and third innings to gain all the separation it would need.
With two outs in the first, EHS got a single from Michael Knight and back-to-back doubles from Loucks and Stone, which plated Knight and Loucks to put the Spartans up, 2-0.
Emporia went ahead 4-0 in the third when Derek Nielsen led off with an infield single and then scored on Zach Gifford’s triple to deep center. Loucks then came through with his second RBI double of the day two batters later that plated Gifford.
Loucks only got into trouble once on the mound, as he gave up a one-out triple to Brandon Wilkerson in the sixth, after which Wilkerson scored on Nigel Williamson’s single to left that made it 4-1. But that would be all the Trojans could muster.
“Our mindset going into the second game, we were upset and disappointed,” EHS coach Mike Strickland said. “I think that fueled us a little bit, and that finally got us a win.
“We actually fought and kept playing. If we play like that day in and day out, we might be able to peak at the right time.”
The emotions of the Game Two victory were set up by the late-inning collapse the Spartans suffered in Game One.
Emporia High got out to a 5-1 lead after two innings, thanks in large part to a three-run triple by Gifford in the second inning.
But the Trojans did not lay down for the Spartans. Instead, they fought back, scoring a pair of runs in the third and fourth frames before plating three in the fifth to take an 8-7 lead.
Then things really went haywire for the Spartans.
In the top of the sixth, Topeka High sent 13 batters to the plate, scoring 10 runs on six hits, three walks and an EHS error. The highlight of the inning for the Trojans came from designated hitter Luke Bigler, who blasted a no-doubt, two-run homer over the left-field fence that made it 11-7, signaling the beginning of the end for EHS.
“I can’t even explain it,” Keisler said. “It’s just not something you want to go through. We just gave up. We thought we had it won, and we didn’t.”
Dominic Rodriguez took the loss on the mound for EHS after he came on in the fourth inning in relief of starter Corey Bacon.
Josh Maguire led the offense in Game One, going 2-for-2 with two walks and two runs scored. Loucks also went 2-for-3.
Emporia High has a quick turnaround, as the Spartans are back in action tonight with a doubleheader at Hayden.
Topeka High 18, Emporia 7
Game One
Topeka High 102 23(10) X — 18 15 3
Emporia 141 100 X — 7 6 3
TH — Ty Geary and Joe Zarazua (2); and Nigel Williamson. Emporia — Corey Bacon, Dominic Rodriguez (4) and Brett Lechien (6); and Harrison Stone.
W — Zarazua. L — Rodriguez. 2B — TH: D.J. Wakes 2. 3B — TH: Bobby Ross, Ben Carlson. Emporia: Michael Knight. HR — TH: Luke Bigler.
Emporia 4, Topeka 1
Game Two
Topeka High 000 001 0 — 1 8 2
Emporia 202 000 X — 4 9 1
TH — Brandon Wilkerson and Nigel Williamson. Emporia — Jacob Loucks and Harrison Stone.
W — Loucks. L — Wilkerson. 2B — Emporia: Loucks 2. 3B — TH: Wilkerson. Emporia — Zach Gifford.
Comments
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.