Photo by Adam Vogler
Emporia Blue's Brett Lechien slides in safe as he steals second base during Emporia's 12-0 victory over Andover Thursday, July 17.
Dick Evans said he didn’t mind the water-cooler drenching his team gave him after Thursday’s sweep — just as long as his Emporia Blues team scheduled him for another soaking sometime next week.
“I actually thought about it the other day, but I was thinking at the end of State,” the Emporia coach said. “That’s when I want it. I might even stand still for it.”
The cool bath felt good nonetheless on Thursday, as the Blues took 14-2 and 12-0 victories against Andover at their Zone Tournament in Emporia.
With the victories, Emporia advanced to next week’s ‘A’ State Tournament in Pratt.
“The guys have been putting in a lot of hard work,” Evans said. “Now, it’s going to pay off for them.”
Emporia took control from the first inning of the Game One.
The Blues rallied for eight runs in the first, as all their scoring came with two outs.
Jacob Loucks and Brett Lechien contributed RBI singles, while Matt Fry added a two-run triple in his second at-bat.
Meanwhile, Andover provided plenty of help, committing five errors in the first frame alone.
“We didn’t really earn all those runs,” Emporia rightfielder Henry Ott said, “but it helps to have them anyway.”
The Blues added two in the second before posting four more in the third.
Ott, Nate Flanagin, Ethan Hall and Rem Pinick all provided consecutive singles.
“Everybody hit,” Pinick said. “It wasn’t just four or five people. It was the whole team.”
Loucks contributed a complete-game effort on the mound, striking out six while allowing three hits and two walks. He also led the offense, going 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored.
Emporia was just as dominant in Game Two, scoring five in the bottom of the first.
Lechien beat out an infield single, and after a walk to Adam Ewy, Loucks lined a two-run double into the gap in right-center.
Ott contributed an RBI grounder, and later, Hall came through with a sacrifice fly.
The Blues added four more in the second, as Flanagin and Zach Nowell capped the scoring with back-to-back doubles.
Lechien, Ewy, Pinick and Ott all notched singles as Emporia posted three more in the third.
“I didn’t expect it to be quite this easy, but we weren’t going to show any mercy,” Evans said. “We weren’t going to take any chances. We were going to go out and give it our best shot.”
Ewy and Lechien led the offense with two hits apiece in Game Two.
Hall, meanwhile, allowed just one hit and struck out six in his four innings.
Pinick added three combined hits in the doubleheader.
Emporia, the Zone 4 champion, will play the winner of the Zone 5 tournament in the first round of State next week. Most likely, that will be 29-3 Manhattan Manko.
“I know there’s going to be some tough teams,” Evans said, “but we’ll be up to the challenge.”
Zone Tournament
Thursday at Emporia
Game One
Emporia Blues 14, Andover 2
Emporia Blues 824 0XX X — 14 11 1
Andover 200 0XX X — 2 3 8
W — Jacob Loucks. L — Kyle Shook.
2B — Emporia: Jacob Loucks. 3B — Emporia: Matt Fry; Andover: Hunter Harsh. SB — Emporia: Adam Ewy, Loucks, Henry Ott, Nate Flanagin, Ethan Hall; Andover: Brandon Mikus. Emporia Blues highlights — Jacob Loucks 3-4, 2B, SB, RBI, 2R; Henry Ott 2-4, SB, 3R; Rem Pinick 2-3, RBI; Matt Fry 1-3, 3B, BB, 2 RBI, R.
Game Two
Emporia Blues 12, Andover 0
Andover 000 0XX X — 0 1 5
Emporia Blues 543 XXX X — 12 9 2
W — Ethan Hall. L — Easton Fry.
2B — Emporia: Jacob Loucks, Nate Flanagin, Zach Nowell. SB — Emporia: Brett Lechien, Adam Ewy, Henry Ott. Emporia Blues highlights — Adam Ewy 2-2, BB, SB, 2R; Brett Lechien 2-3, SB, 2 R; Nate Flanagin 1-2, 2B, 2 R; Jacob Loucks 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI, R; Zach Nowell 1-2, 2B, HBP.
Comments
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
Posted by oldballplayer (anonymous) on July 19, 2008 at 10:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Blues play winner of the Marysville Zone 1 tourney. Not Manko
Post a comment
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. Our goal with this feature is to encourage thoughtful discussions about the news stories. Using the comment feature to make random attacks on people is not acceptable. Emporiagazette.com neither endorses nor guarantees the accuracy of any user contribution. Responsibility for what is posted or contributed to this site is the sole responsibility of each user. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
(Requires free registration.)