Photo by Adam Vogler
The Emporia Blues' Matt Fry rounds third on his way home during Sunday's semifinal against Manhattan Manko at the Wendy's Classic at Soden's Grove. Emporia beat Manhattan, 9-8.
Emporia A-16 Blues coach Dick Evans saw a team competing hard to win a championship during the title game of the Wendy’s Classic at Soden’s Grove on Sunday afternoon.
The problem was, Evans did see it from his own team.
The Emporia Blues were uncharacteristically sloppy on defense in the championship game of the tournament against the Andover Jaguars, and Andover jumped all over those mistakes. All of the Jaguars’ runs came from the benefit of seven Emporia fielding errors, and Andover went on to defeat Emporia, 6-0.
The loss snapped the Blues’ 11-game winning streak after Emporia had defeated Manhattan Manko, 9-8, in the semifinals earlier in the day and capped a particularly frustrating outing for Evans.
“All game long, I just saw two different teams out there,” Evans said. “Andover was playing for a championship and I think we played like we thought they were going to hand it to us.”
Emporia also never threatened with the bats, collecting just three hits against Andover starter Josh Bikus, who picked up the complete-game victory.
Photo by Adam Vogler
Emporia Blues second baseman Brine Gonzales throws to first to complete a double play after getting Andover’s Kyle Johnston out at second. Emporia lost to the Andover Jaguars, 6-0, in the championship game of the Wendy’s Tournament at Soden’s Grove on Sunday.
But more than that, a couple crucial base-running errors early in the game killed several scoring opportunities. With no outs in the second inning, Zach Nowell was caught in a rundown between second and third after Remington Pinick hit a roller back to the mound. In the fourth, Ethan Hall was thrown out at third for the second out of the inning on Nowell’s grounder to the shortstop.
Again, Evans went back to a lack of focus.
“They took advantage of every mistake we made, and we made several — not just errors, but we made some base-running errors early on that probably cost us a couple runs,” Evans said. “I saw a bad attitude and I saw a weak attitude out there on the field, and that carries over to the batting. We put the ball in play, but I just didn’t see any enthusiasm for it.”
Meanwhile, Andover scored all six of its runs after Emporia miscues in the field.
The Jaguars scored single runs in second, fifth and sixth innings off four Emporia errors to take a 3-0 lead heading into the final inning. Another three Blues errors in the seventh allowed Andover to plate three more runs to go up 6-0.
Matt Fry took the loss on the mound after lasting four innings, though he didn’t give up any earned runs. He left with the bases loaded and no outs in the fifth with Emporia trailing just 1-0. Ethan Hall came on in relief, but he also did not give up any earned runs.
“Our pitching really kept us in the game,” Evans said. “We just played terrible defense. We gave them unearned runs. It’s not like they killed us with the bats. They made the plays and we didn’t.”
Photo by Adam Vogler
Emporia Blues center fielder Brett Lechien stretches out to make a catch during Emporia’s loss to Andover in the championship game of the Wendy’s Tournament at Soden’s Grove on Sunday.
In the semifinals against Manhattan Manko, Emporia took an 8-3 lead into the sixth and final inning before Manhattan scored five runs in the top of the inning to tie it at 8.
Manko got most of its offense in the sixth off back-to-back doubles from Kyle Speer and Matt McCarthy off Emporia starter Jacob Loucks, as Manhattan got four hits and drew a pair of walks to tie the game.
With the game knotted at 8-all heading into the bottom of the sixth, Loucks made up for his shaky inning on the mound when he poked a bases-loaded single past a diving second baseman to drive in Adam Ewy for the game-winning run.
The victory pushed Emporia’s winning streak to 11 games, but it was not enough for Evans.
“I would be disappointed in that game if we had an 11-game losing streak,” he said. “You can’t ever be happy about playing a game like that, even if you’ve won the game. You wouldn’t learn anything from it, but, you know, maybe we’ll learn something from this.
“I guess that’s up to me to teach them something.”
Wendy’s Tournament
Sunday at Soden’s Grove
Andover Jaguars 6, Emporia Blues 0
Championship Game
Andover 010 011 3 — 6 8 0
Emporia 000 000 0 — 0 3 7
Andover: Josh Bikus and Corey Sharon. Emporia: Matt Fry and Ethan Hall (5), and Zach Nowell.
W — Josh Bikus. L — Matt Fry. 3B — Kyle Johnston. Emporia highlights — Jacob Loucks 1-3, stolen base; Zach Nowell 1-2; Ethan Hall 1-2, hit by pitch.
Emporia Blues 9, Manhattan Manko 8
Manhattan 002 015 — 8 9 4
Emporia 141 201 — 9 5 1
Manhattan: Bryce Williams, Mason Miller (2), Lane Trudo (4) and Matt Chalfante (6), and Tate Snyder. Emporia: Jacob Loucks and Remington Pinick.
W — Jacob Loucks. L — Matt Chalfante. 2B — Manhattan: Kyle Speer 2, Matt McCarthy 2, Tate Snyder. Emporia highlights — Matt Fry 2 BB, 3 runs scored, RBI; Jacob Loucks 2-3, BB, run scored, 3RBI; Henry Ott 1-2, 2BB, RBI; Adam Ewy 1-1, 3BB, RBI, 2 runs scored.
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