Tuesday was an exciting day for Emery baseball as the Spartans played a doubleheader against the North Sanpete Hawks. Originally Emery was scheduled to travel to play N. Sanpete late in the week but there was concern that the Hawks’ field would not be ready for a game. So the decision was made to play both games on Tuesday.
Emery was the designated away team in the first game and immediately pushed one run across in the first inning. Kyson Stilson stole second after a lead off single to get into scoring position. Brax Jensen then singled to bring Kyson home.
Cade Brazier took the mound for the Spartans in the bottom half of the inning and gave two runs back to the Hawks, both unearned. Both pitchers settled in after the first inning in a game that turned into a pitching duel. Neither offense threatened after the opening inning.
Down by the same score (2-1) in the top of the seventh, Emery needed at least one run to extend the game. Rance Jensen and Teagan Christman were each hit by a pitch to start off the inning. Kyson then hit a single to left scoring Rance to tie the game. One batter later, Christman scored on a fielders choice by Logan Healy. Brazier put the Hawks down in order with two strikeouts in the bottom of the seventh to seal the Spartan victory, 3-2.
Brax and Jesse Barnett each went 2-3 with the former adding a walk and an RBI to his total. Kyson went 2-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Brazier finished the day giving up two runs, neither earned, on three hits with seven strikeouts over seven innings for a complete game.
Then it was on to game two, where the Spartans were the home team. Emery again struck first with one run in the first inning. Brax reached base on a single and stole second. He then scored when Koda Alton singled to right with two outs in the inning.
Alton was the starting pitcher for Emery in the second game and only gave up one hit, a single, through the first three innings. He got into some trouble in the forth inning but a double play helped Emery limit the damage to just one run. The contest was tied at 1 through four innings.
Alton again got into early trouble in the fifth and Healy was called in to for relief. Healy did a good job of keeping the game close but two inherited runners scored to push the Hawks’ lead to 5-1 after the fifth inning.
Emery’s bats would wake up in the sixth as the Spartans made a late push to get back in the game. Healy lead off and worked a 1-2 count into a walk. Christman singled with one out to put runners on first and second for Emery. Barnett was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. Rance hit into a fields choice with the runner out at second, leaving men on the corners and a 5-2 deficit for the Spartans. Bron Gordon was then hit by another pitch to load the bases with two outs.
On an 0-2 count Kyson hit a hard ball to third that the third baseman could not handle. Two runners scored on the error and Gordon advanced to third. 5-4 Hawks. Emery executed a hit and run to perfection as Brax hit the ball to the shortstop as Kyson was stealing second. The shortstop was out of position because he went to cover second. The Hawks threw the ball to home in an attempt to get Kyson out at the plate but were too late. Brax tried to advance to second on the throw. The catcher noticed this and threw the ball to second but greatly overthrew his target and Brax was able to score on the throwing error. The Spartans pushed across six runs in the sixth to regain the lead.
Healy closed the game out for Emery in the top of the seventh for the 7-5 win. Brax went 2-4 and Healy pitched 2.2 innings of two hit ball with three strikeouts while giving up zero runs.
Photos by Dusty Butler
