In Search of Arms
By Jesse Newell
Originally published 09:44 a.m., May 31, 2008
Updated 09:44 a.m., May 31, 2008
It took just one night for Emporia A’s coach Jerry Cook to figure out what his biggest challenge for this season would be: developing some additional depth on the mound.
Even with some shaky pitching in Game Two, Emporia still was able to take 14-2 and 16-15 victories over Burlington in the summer’s first doubleheader.
“The first game was excellent. Obviously, we can hit,” Cook said. “The second game, we were definitely lackadaisical. We had no emotion and didn’t show much effort.
“There was definitely a huge difference.”
Most of the struggles in Game Two came from the center of the diamond.
Emporia needed five pitchers to get through the contest, and that included bringing Chase Speer back to the rubber for the final three innings.
Speer had already picked up the complete-game, four-inning victory in Game One.
“Besides two guys, we’ve got a lot of position players that will have to pitch for us,” Cook said.
The rust showed, especially in the fifth.
Cook cycled through three pitchers, but all had their struggles finding the strike zone.
Burlington scored six runs to take a 15-14 lead with the benefit of just one hit. Emporia pitchers walked seven hitters, and five of the runs in the inning scored on bases-loaded walks.
The other tally came in on an error.
“When you walk guys, it makes it tough, especially for players on the field,” Cook said. “Everybody gets down, and a lot of times, that leads to mental mistakes.”
Emporia still managed to tie it in the fifth. Brett McEvoy punched a two-out double to right-center, and Ryan Huth followed with an RBI single to center to tie it at 15.
The A’s won it in the ninth.
Speer was hit by a pitch to start in the inning, then moved to second on a stolen base.
After a popup, Justin Wilson’s grounder to third was thrown away, allowing Speer to score.
It was Burlington’s 11th error of the game.
Speer allowed just one hit over the last three innings to pick up his second win of the day.
“I was pretty proud of that,” Speer said of his two-win doubleheader. “Before today, I hadn’t pitched in about a month, so I think I did a pretty good job.”
Meanwhile, Emporia’s offense contributed 10 hits, led by a 3-for-4 performance from McEvoy.
The A’s notched a combined 30 runs and 20 hits in the two games.
“The one thing that was keeping us alive was hitting,” Cook said.
In Game One, Emporia scored multiple runs in each inning on its way to the run-rule victory.
The A’s started with three runs in the first, with the big hit coming from Josh Lambert.
The centerfielder drove a two-out double into the right-center gap, scoring two to push the Emporia lead to 3-0.
From there, the A’s took advantage of Burlington’s pitching troubles.
Burlington walked 10 batters, and five of those Emporia runners came around to score.
The A’s had 10 hits, with Lambert, Matt Weatherred, Speer and James Rodriguez picking up two hits apiece.
Lambert added three RBI, while Rodriguez went 2-for-2 with four runs scored.
Interestingly, Emporia should have scored the game-winning runs in the fourth on a two-run single by Schuler that made it 12-2, thus enforcing the 10-run rule after four innings.
The umpires didn’t realize it, though, so Emporia plated two more runs — one on a wild pitch and one on a single by Lambert — to push the lead to 14-2.
After conferring, the umpires called the game after the fourth inning ended.
Speer picked up the win, allowing three hits and two runs — one earned — in his complete-game effort. He added three strikeouts to go with no walks.
Friday at Soden’s Grove
Game One
Emporia A’s 14, Burlington 2
Burlington 001 1XX X — 2 3 1
Emporia A’s 324 5XX X — 14 10 5
W — Chase Speer. L — Trevor Berger.
2B — Emporia: Josh Lambert. SB — Burlington: Patrick Mahoney; Emporia: James Rodriguez, Dustin Lingenberger. Emporia A’s highlights — Josh Lambert, 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI, R; Matt Weatherred 2-3, BB, 2 RBI, R; Chase Speer 2-3, BB, RBI, 3R; James Rodriguez 2-2, BB, SB, RBI, 4R.
Game Two
Emporia A’s 16, Burlington 15, 9 innings
Burlington 440 160 000 — 15 9 11
Emporia A’s 536 010 001 — 16 10 5
(Game ended with one out in the bottom of the ninth)
W — Chase Speer. L — Michael Vanderlinden.
2B — Burlington: Patrick Mahoney, Ethan Graham; Emporia: Brett McEvoy. SB — Burlington: Mahoney, Kyler Ludoff, Vanderlinden; Emporia: Speer 2, Matt Weatherred , Josh Lambert, McEvoy 2. Emporia A’s highlights — Speer 3 IP, H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3K; McEvoy 3-4, 2B, 2 SB, 2R, RBI; Speer 1-5, 2 SB, 3 R; Ryan Huth 2-5.
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