The Emporia High baseball team earned a doubleheader split on the road Friday night against Junction City, falling in Game One, 6-5, in eight innings before taking the second game, 11-10.
In the first game, Emporia rallied for two runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 5, and after Junction City failed to plate a run in its half of the frame, the game went into extra innings.
However, Emporia did not score in the eighth, and Junction City ended it when Hector Acosta-Carrillo hit a one-out, walkoff home run to give the Blue Jays the 6-5 victory.
Jacob Loucks took the loss on the mound for EHS, while Michael Knight had two doubles to lead EHS offensively. The Spartans knocked out 15 hits in Game One and committed no errors.
In Game Two, despite a sixth-inning grand slam by Acosta-Carrillo, the Spartans were able to survive thanks to a 14-hit performance to go with a second game without any errors.
“The biggest thing for us was not having any errors and just the attitude that we took into the game,” EHS coach Mike Strickland said. “We came out with the attitude of just playing and focusing on baseball. Our concentration was better.”
Emporia’s big inning came in the fifth, as the Spartans plated 10 runs in the frame to turn a 4-1 deficit into an 11-4 lead.
“We hit the ball well in that inning, and they walked a few of our guys and we made them pay,” Strickland said. “Their pitching kind of fell apart, and we did a real good job of taking advantage of it.”
Emporia held on despite a topsy-turvey night on the mound, as EHS used five pitchers on the way to picking up its third victory of the season. Reliever Dominic Rodriguez got the win behind starter Brett Lechien and Michael Knight. Knight came back on in the seventh to collect the save with the bases loaded.
“We didn’t pitch well, but we kept battling,” Strickland said. “It wasn’t pretty, but a win’s a win.”
Loucks led EHS (3-11) offensively with a double and a triple.
Junction City 6, Emporia 5, 8 innings
Game One
Emporia 100 011 20 — 5 15 0
Junction City 011 201 01 — 6 12 0
W — Hubbard. L — Jacob Loucks. 2B — EHS: Michael Knight 2, Zach Gifford, Corey Bacon. JC: Hubbard, Acosta-Carrillo 2. HR — JC: Acosta-Carrillo.
Emporia 11, Junction 10
Game Two
Emporia 010 0(10)0 0 — 11 14 0
Junction City 400 004 2 — 10 7 0
W — Dominic Rodriguez. S — Michael Knight. L — Morgan. 2B — Emporia: Jacob Loucks, Brian Keisler. 3B — Emporia: Loucks. HR — JC: Acosta-Carrillo.