Before the Easter festivities began, the Emporia High Spartans played a doubleheader against Wichita North. It was an affair on the road for the Spartans, but that didn’t stop them from dominating the doubleheader as they scored 36 combined runs in the games for the sweep.
Game one saw the Spartans send Micah Gray to the mound to start, and he was dominant in his outing. Being on the road meant the Spartans would bat first, and they gave Gray an early lead. After a Grady Howe double, an error from the RedHawks opened the floodgates as the Spartans took a 1-0 lead. After the error, Chase Harrington singled in a run, and the nail in the inning was a Jackson Meinke two-run shot over the center field fence to give the Spartans a 4-0 lead.
Gray’s first inning of work could be described as a little chaotic as he opened with a strikeout, followed by a hit by pitch and two walks. He worked out of the jam by striking out the next two batters to keep the RedHawks off the board. The next inning saw more of the same from the Spartan bats as they put up four more runs to extend the lead to 8-0. Oliver Kline drove in the first run, Gray helped himself out with an RBI, Meinke doubled in a run, and finally Caydrick Crouch singled in the eighth run of the game.
In the bottom of the inning, Gray struck out the side, and the Spartans’ bats went to work again. The inning began with the first eight Spartans reaching base, and that was the start of a 14-run third inning. Gray came out in the bottom of the third and closed out the game with three more strikeouts. He finished the day going three innings, allowing no runs or hits, striking out nine, and walking three. Four Spartans had multi-hit days, with Meinke leading the way, going 3-for-3 with four RBIs in the first game.
In game two, the Spartans saw Eluterio Trujillo take the mound, and he followed up Gray’s performance with another good start. Once again, the Spartan bats started the game with a big inning, this time of the six-run variety. Kline opened with a single to get the rally started, and Gray drove him in on a single after Kline stole second base. Meinke continued to rake in the doubleheader with an RBI double, an error from the RedHawks plated another run, Howe singled in a run, and Colton Eubanks drove in a pair to close the inning.
Trujillo had a clean first inning of work, only allowing one baserunner to reach. The Spartan bats continued to score in bunches as in the top of the second, the first six batters reached base to set up a five-run inning. Crouch, Howe, Trujillo, and Kline each had RBI hits to make it 11-0 heading into the bottom of the second. Trujillo allowed a single but shut down the RedHawks offense once again.
The Spartan offense slowed down a little in the top of the third, but had three runs in the inning. Trujillo and two RedHawk errors made it a 14-0 game, and in the bottom of the inning, Trujillo struck out the side to close out the game. In his three innings of work, Trujillo allowed a single run, a hit batsman while striking out seven batters. He also had two RBIs in the game while going 1-for-2. Howe had a three RBI Day, and Gray went 3-for-3 at the plate to round out a balanced attack for the Spartans.
With the doubleheader sweep, the Spartans move to 5-1 on the year and will be back in action on April 7 as they host the Junction City Blue Jays at Sodens Grove. The double header begins at 4:00 p.m. as the Spartans look to continue a strong start to the season.