Photo by Jordan Haiduk
Emporia Gold catcher Brady Marstall hits the ball against Ottawa on Monday night at Soden's Grove. Marstall an RBI single in the Gold’s 9-6 win in Game Two.
Throw strikes. Throw strikes. For the love of God, throw strikes.
Maybe Emporia A-16 Gold coach Alex Reyes hasn’t resorted to those kinds of pleas yet, but the Gold’s recent losses — including some really painful ones — have revolved around its pitchers’ struggles to find the strike zone. So the Gold’s last two victories, featuring a pair of strong strike-throwing performances, have brought the kind of instant, welcome relief promised by late-night TV statements not evaluated by the FDA.
The latest came from Chase Speer, the Gold’s most dependable strike-thrower, in Emporia’s 9-6 victory over Ottawa on Monday at Soden’s Grove, earning the Gold a doubleheader split. Speer walked one hitter and gave up just two earned runs in going all the way, striking out five.
Following Alex Benjamin’s strong complete-game outing in Sunday’s 8-6 win at Junction City, Speer gave the Gold another reminder that yes, good things can happen when you find the plate.
“We’ve been relying on Chase a lot to throw strikes,” Reyes said. “He’s one of the older kids, he’s probably the leader of this team. I’ve been preaching to him, ‘You’re out on the field, go ahead and take control, so I don’t have to tell everyone what to do at all times.’ I want him to take control, and he’s been doing it all year for me.”
The Gold’s bats — and plate discipline — were also big parts of Monday’s win, and Speer delivered two of the biggest blows. His one-out RBI double to left center scored Jackson Perez in the bottom of the third, and he delivered an RBI single during a six-run fourth that featured lots of Gold hitters keeping the bat on their shoulder. Emporia drew four walks during the inning, including an RBI base-on-balls by Matt Weatherred, and Taylor Hickey was hit by a pitch to force in another run. Jackson Perez, Brady Marstall and Daniel Finch joined Speer with RBI hits during the inning, which pushed the Gold’s lead from 3-2 to 9-2.
Speer reached later on another hit by pitch, and also singled and got hit in Game One, which the Gold lost 16-8. He found his groove at the plate for the doubleheader after switching to a slightly heavier bat he had never used before.
“Baseball’s all about superstition,” Speer said. “And that (bat) just wasn’t doing it for me anymore.”
Ottawa chipped away at the 9-2 lead in its half of the fifth with a two-run, inside-the-park homer by Adam Fritts, then added two more in the sixth on two hits and three errors. The bases were loaded with two out when Speer struck out Ottawa cleanup hitter Gene Dydell to end the inning. A 1-2-3 top of the seventh finished Speer’s complete game.
“Last year, I didn’t have a curveball,” Speer said. “And this season, it’s really working well for me. I’ve gotten a lot more confidence with it.”
Emporia coaxed 11 walks during Game Two and was hit by pitch three times. Benjamin drew three walks, and Hickey, Weatherred and Finch each had two.
Game One, on the other hand, had a lot of what’s been plaguing the Gold lately. Emporia pitchers walked nine batters, and Ottawa had 15 hits, finally run-ruling the Gold after six innings.
After being kept off the scoreboard in the top of the first, Ottawa put runs on the board in every inning afterward, including a six-spot in the top of the third. A pair of two-run singles by Ryan Maxwell and Fritts plated four runs, and Sam Lee also had an RBI hit.
Scoring two runs in four consecutive innings allowed Emporia to not let the game get out of hand. The Gold scored those eight runs on just seven hits, benefiting from six Ottawa errors. Speer singled to left center to brng home a run in the bottom of the third, and Benjamin followed him with another RBI hit to right, making the score 8-4.
The Gold (7-11) added two runs in the bottom of the fourth to pull within 10-6, thanks to four consecutive walks and a hit batsman by Ottawa starter Fritts. Finch, Weatherred, Tanner Page and Perez drew free passes, and Speer got plunked to drive in another run.
But Ottawa pushed the game into run-rule territory with a four-run top of the fifth, in which Gold relievers Nic Hrabik and Layne Shirley combined to walk four hitters. The big blow was a two-run triple by Gene Dydell to dead center field.
Emporia extended the game by scoring two runs in the bottom of the inning to make it 14-8, with Weatherred lining a one-hop RBI single off the third baseman and Finch grounding into a fielder’s choice to drive home a run. But a double, a single and a two-run triple by Kobe Simon in the top of the sixth brought home two more runs for Ottawa. Despite a pair of one-out singles by Benjamin and Marstall in the sixth, the Gold failed to plate another run, ending the game.
Finch started for Emporia, lasting 3 1/3 innings before being relieved by Hrabik.
Another doubleheader split — and another good pitching performance — were positive signs for a team that’s had its share of struggles lately.
“As a young team, we need kind of motivation,” Speer said. “It’s nice to win a game either way.”
The Gold lost 11-1 at Junction City on Sunday before winning the second game of the doubleheader behind Benjamin’s pitching and some clutch hitting. Brett McEvoy pinch-hit for Garin Burgess in the top of the seventh and drilled a two-run double to break a 6-6 tie and give the Gold the victory.
Emporia will next be in action on Thursday at McPherson for a 6 p.m. doubleheader.
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