Coach Mike Strickland’s view of Emporia High baseball team’s loss on Saturday was practical, rather than emotional: one bad game-ending play — no matter how memorable — wasn’t going to become more important than six full innings of futility.
So to him, the fact that Emporia High hadn’t done anything offensively all game long — the Spartans had just two hits before Zach Gifford’s two-run single with two outs in the seventh inning — was what was important to take away from Saturday’s 5-3 loss to Eudora at Trusler Sports Complex. The fact that Gifford, representing the tying run, was picked off at first base by Eudora lefty Bryan Dudley to end the game was just a frustrating bow tied on top of a package full of frustration for the Spartans. Saturday’s defeat to finish off the Emporia Baseball Quad, also featuring Louisburg and Winfield, ended EHS’s four-game winning streak.
“Everybody wants to point fingers at this last play or whatever, and it happens we lose the game before that,” Strickland said. “We should hit the baseball in the first six innings. ... It’s not in the last inning, it’s not a one-person deal. We win or lose as a team, and this team needs to find a way to continue to play with each other, play together.”
Emporia’s unlikely seventh-inning rise off the deck — the Spartans entered their final at-bat down 5-0 — featured some help from a Eudora team that had made quick work of EHS in each of the first six innings, but suddenly had trouble closing out the game. With one out, Christian Keisler worked a walk off Cardinals starter Michael Bricker, who had issued just one base on balls to that point. Corey Bacon followed by reaching on an error by the shortstop, putting runners on first and third. Brian Keisler hit a comebacker to Bricker for a potential game-ending double play, but second baseman Evan Cleveland’s relay to first was off-target, allowing Christian Keisler to score the Spartans’ first run. Matt Fry followed with another walk, and the Cardinals responded by bringing in Dudley to relieve. He walked Spartans nine-hole hitter Brett Lechien to load the bases, bringing up Gifford.
“We needed runs,” Gifford said, “so I figured I would try to find a single gap and just go for it.”
Gifford stroked a clean liner to Cleveland’s right and into right center, scoring Brian Keisler and Fry and allowing Lechien to advance to third. Gifford was on first representing the tying run, and with Derek Nielsen and his two home runs on the season coming to the plate, the Spartans had a real chance for a highly improbable fifth straight victory.
Nielsen came back from being down 0-2 and worked the count full. But when Dudley made his move to first, Gifford was too far away from the bag, and when first baseman Bryan Kindle applied the tag as Gifford dove back into first, there was no doubt that the game was over.
“I think I just misread the pitcher,” Gifford said. “I’ll go ahead and take this as my fault on this game. Because I should’ve been a little bit more prepared and watching the pitcher. I don’t know. ... Felt pretty bad, because I had had a good teammate coming up, and I knew he was gonna hit a base hit, and I knew he could’ve scored a couple more runs. Just my fault. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Strickland, of course, wasn’t going to let Gifford take the blame.
“We started to (make it interesting), but the bottom line is, we got beat in the first six innings,” Strickland said. “Our guys don’t show up. Their pitcher does a great job keeping us off-balance, and I tip my hat to him — he does a good job. Our guys don’t make adjustments at bat after each pitch. We go up there, and we had some lackadaisical swings today. We had no aggression at the plate and no approach really today.”
Before the seventh, Emporia’s only hits came on a bloop single over the shortstop by Lechien with two outs in the third inning and a solid line drive to left by Gifford with one out in the sixth. Emporia’s only other baserunner in the first six innings came on a fifth-inning walk to Christian Keisler. Bricker struck out six Spartans before departing.
Eudora scored single runs in the first three innings off EHS starting pitcher Gary Rivera before he was pulled with two outs in the third. Kindle doubled home a run in the first inning, then doubled again to lead off the second and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bill Gadberry. Nick Mills doubled to lead off the second and later crossed the plate when Dudley hit into a fielder’s choice. The end of that half of the second did provide one of Emporia’s few highlights, as right fielder Bacon went to his left to make a diving catch to rob Cleveland of a hit.
The Cardinals added two more off reliever Fry in the fourth on four singles — two of them infield hits — three stolen bases and a balk.
In Saturday’s first game at Trusler, Louisburg defeated Winfield 10-5.
Emporia (10-8) travels to Washburn Rural on Tuesday to conclude the regular season. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
Saturday at Trusler
Eudora 111 200 0 — 5 9 2
Emporia 000 000 3 — 3 3 2
WP — Bricker. LP — Rivera.
2B — EUD: Kindle 2, Mills. SB — EUD: Cleveland 2, Harper, Mills, Beebe, Dudley.