Losing streaks are painful to break at times in baseball, and the Emporia High Spartans know that well after eight straight losses before hosting Manhattan. With the Spartans looking to right the wrongs of the losing streak, they took the first step toward gaining momentum for the rest of the season.
Game one against Manhattan saw Micah Gray get the start on the bump. After a scoreless first inning from both teams, Manhattan opened the scoring in the second. They got out to a 3-0 lead as walks and timely hitting were the name of the game for Manhattan in game one. In the third, they added three more runs, and in the fifth, added another as the Spartan bats were cold. The Spartans got two runs across in the sixth on a Luke Marshall double and a Grady Howe sacrifice fly.
It was a 7-2 game heading into the seventh, but Manhattan put together a six-run inning to shut down any comeback effort. Outside of Marshall and Howe’s RBIs, Gray was the main bat in the lineup, going 3-for-4 at the plate. Gray got the loss on the pitching side of things as the losing streak grew to nine games.
Game two was a different game, though, as Colton Eubanks got the start for the Spartans. It was a fast start offensively as Manhattan scored on a wild pickoff attempt from Eubanks. For the Spartans, they did something they struggled with all season: having productive outs. Oliver Kline led off with a double, Gray grounded out to move him to third, and Chase Harrington drove in Kline on a sacrifice fly to tie it at one.
Manhattan scored next in the third inning, but it was their final run of the game. The Spartans tied it, again, in the fourth after Harrington led off with a single and Howe drove him in with a single. Then both pitchers took center stage for the rest of the game. Eubanks gave the Spartans a heroic effort, going seven and two-thirds innings, only allowing four hits, two runs, walking three, and striking out nine batters. He helped send the game to extras and was one out away from an eight-inning outing, as Caydrick Crouch closed out the top of the eighth.
Then the bottom of the eighth commenced, and the Spartans had the eight, nine, and one hitters up. Eluterio Trujillo and Morrow Krueger walked to open the inning, then Kline tried to sacrifice a bunt, but he reached as the Manhattan defense couldn’t get an out anywhere. With the bases loaded and no outs, Gray scorched a line drive right at the left fielder, but it wasn’t deep enough to tag on. Harrington then hit a fly ball to right field and with Trujillo on third it ended the game as the Spartans walked off Manhattan to break the losing streak.
Kline was on base a ton in game two, going 3-for-4, while Harrington had two RBIs in the game, and Howe added another. The only walks they drew were in the final inning as Trujillo and Krueger drew them to set up the walk-off.
“Game one, we definitely gave away some free bases. I thought in both games, we looked more comfortable at the plate, which is good to see. Game two, we competed from the first pitch to the last pitch,” Head Coach Anthony Markowitz said. “We had a lot of guys head up to the plate with confidence, and you could see it. I’m just really happy for the guys, we’ve had a tough stretch here, and they really put to heart some things that we have been talking about in practice, and it was a pretty big win for us.”
The Spartans’ key in game two was the manufactured run in the first inning, according to Markowitz, as he explained that it set the tone for them offensively and gave them confidence. That confidence was shown in the box score as the Spartans kept putting the ball in play, only striking out once in the second game.
Outside of the walk-off sacrifice fly from Harrington, the hero of the game was Eubanks’ effort on the mound.
“He competed up there; he didn’t get rattled. If he had a rough at-bat with a guy, he hung in there to get the next guy. They had the lead-off runner on a couple of times, and he was able to work out of it,” Markowitz said. “He was lights out and pretty tough to hit tonight.”
The Spartans will have some time off before their next game against Iola next Friday, May 1. Their record stands at 6-10 on the year, and they are hoping the walk-off win was the spark for a late season run.