The Emporia Legion A-16 Blue squad bounced back from Sunday’s loss in the championship game of the Wendy’s Classic with a doubleheader sweep over the Wichita Sox on Tuesday night at Soden’s Grove.
After losing to Andover on Sunday — a loss that snapped an 11-game winning streak for the Blues — Emporia got back to its winning ways with 10-4 and 12-5 victories over the Sox to push its record to 14-4 this summer.
Despite watching his team collect just three hits against Andover, Blues coach Dick Evans didn’t put much worry into his offense against the Sox. Instead, he used Tuesday’s twinbill as a chance to test out a few arms on the mound, and the coach got favorable results.
“We wanted to look at a couple more people pitching-wise that hadn’t gotten too much time on the mound for us,” Evans said. “We wanted to see if we had a few more guys who could go out and give us some more options.”
The highlight of the evening might have been the outing of Nick Hrabik, who started Game One and lasted six innings in a performance that impressed Evans.
“I thought he looked good,” Evans said. “He worked behind the batters at the first, but he settled down. He ended up only walking three, and that’s more than I’d like, but for the first outing I can live with that.
“He’s a young kid, and he’s going to make a good pitcher. He did a good job.”
Zach Nowell came on and closed out the victory by working the seventh inning.
As Evans expected, the Emporia offense came to life after the shaky outing against Andover. Evans pointed to Remington Pinick, Nathaniel Flanagin, Brett Lechien, Jacob Loucks and Ethan Hall as those players who provided the offensive lift at the plate.
In Game Two, Evans decided to test another new arm, sending Henry Ott out to start. Though Ott lasted just two innings, Evans said he needed to “get the experience” and that Ott battled through some tough stretches. Lechien came on in relief and went three innings before Pinick closed out the final two frames.
Again, Evans said the hitting was well-balanced.
“I can’t think of a key hit because we just hit it pretty solid in both games,” he said.
The Emporia Blues are back in action this weekend when they travel to the Bartlesville Tournament, which starts Friday in Bartlesville, Okla.