A bad first inning and a bad hop capped a bad day for the Emporia A-16 Blue team in pool play of the Mike’s Classic on Friday at Soden’s Grove.
Down 5-1 after two innings in their second game against the Kansas Senators, the Blues saw starter Ethan Hall hold the Senators scoreless the rest of the way, but couldn’t generate much offense of their own in a 5-2 loss. Coupled with a 14-4 defeat at the hands of Olathe South in their first game, the Blues finished pool play 0-2 against a pair of older, AAA squads.
Emporia coach Jerry Cook knows the Blues faced a different caliber of team in pool play than they usually see on their schedule — but he’s glad it’s happening now, before his team goes to state beginning July 24.
“I think we can hang with these teams for the overall most part of it,” Cook said. “They’re stronger, a little faster. When our pitchers leave a ball up in the zone, they definitely make us pay for it. And it’s... not (just) a base hit, it’s a well-hit ball. They’re hitting for power. We haven’t seen a whole lot of power hitters. Facing this weekend, there’s some guys that can really hit the ball.”
Staked to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first against the Senators, Hall quickly ran into trouble against the heart of their order. Two-hole hitter Laramie Kirkwood singled, Brett Ash doubled him home and cleanup hitter Corey Cowan blasted a two-run homer into the trees in left field to make it 3-1. Hall got out of the inning when Rich Oppitz grounded into a 6-3 double play initiated by shortstop Dusty Maas.
A single and a walk in the bottom of the second gave the Senators runners at first and second with two outs. Ash came to the plate and lined a clean single to left, and the ball took a pogo-stick hop over Blues left fielder Brian Keisler and bounced toward the wall. Both runners scored to make it 5-1, and Ash had his second double in as many innings.
Hall settled down after that, allowing Kansas just two more hits in the final four innings, but Emporia had just five hits for the game, with Maas’ triple the only extra-base hit. The Blues were without one of their key guys in Jacob Loucks, who’s on vacation.
James Rodriguez drove in each of the Blues’ runs with a pair of sacrifice flies, one coming in the first inning and one during a final rally in the seventh. Maas tripled to deep right to lead off the game, and Rodriguez drove him in with a fly ball to medium-depth left field. Rodriguez’s fly to center in the seventh scored Nathaniel Flanagin, who had reached on an error to lead off the inning.
“We’re playing older teams, and we get better and better by playing older teams,” Rodriguez said. “And just hitting the ball, that’s the main thing we need to do.”
The Blues had a chance to cut into Kansas’ lead in the top of the sixth, when Matt Fry and Hall got the inning started with a single and a walk. The Senators brought Ash to the mound to face Thomas Lowe, who popped up a sacrifice bunt attempt for the first out. Remington Pinick grounded a slow roller to the right side that looked as if it might get through, but second baseman Laramie Kirkwood ranged far to his left to make the stop and made an off-balance throw to get Pinick at first. A more routine grounder to second by Keisler ended Emporia’s threat.
Olathe South lit up the Blues in their first pool play game, scoring four in the fourth and five in the fifth to end the game by run rule. The Blues had three hits, including a triple by Maas. Brett Lechien started and took the loss.
“First game wasn’t too bad — we didn’t come prepared,” Cook said. “Second game, I think we were awake, got some rest, came fired up and we had nothing to lose.”
The 0-2 showing Friday left the Blues as the No. 3 team in the Blue pool, putting them in an Emporia vs. Emporia matchup at 9 a.m. today against the Post 5 AAA team, which finished No. 2 in the Gold pool.
In the new format of the bracket, which was adjusted from its original setup, the winner of the Blues-AAAs matchup will take on Olathe South at 3:45 p.m. today in the semifinals; the loser of the Blues-AAAs game will play for fifth place at 6 p.m.
“We’re less than two weeks away from state,” Cook said. “This is a good way to get ’em in, get some experience, face the competition that we’re gonna face at state and regionals.”