The Emporia High baseball team extended its winning streak to three with a sweep at Iola on Friday.
Emporia High rallied for a 4-3 victory in game one before completing the sweep with a 13-1 victory in game two.
In game one, Iola scored two runs in the fifth inning off Madden Seidl and held that lead heading into the seventh. Chase Harrington started the Spartans’ rally with an RBI single and that was followed by a pair of RBI singles by Jackson Meinke and Grady Howe. Micah Gray was hit by a pitch that gave the Spartans a 2-run advantage. Iola scored its run in the seventh on an error but Harrington came in relief for the save. Seidl earned the win going 6 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on six hits and 11 strikeouts. Andrew Ruxton went 2-for-3 at the plate.
In game two, the Spartans’ 7-run second inning was the difference, and they never looked back. Harrington had an RBI single followed by a 2-run double by Meinke. Emporia High then got RBIs from Gray, Owen Ruge, Seidl and Ruxton. After Iola made it 7-1 through three, Emporia High scored two in the fourth, RBIs by Harrington and Seidl, one in the fifth on an RBI groundout by Ruge and three in the sixth, a pair of RBI singles by Luke Pitman and Howe. Harrington went the distance, allowing one run on two hits and eight strikeouts while also going 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs.
Emporia High (12-7) returns home for the Emporia Baseball Classic next weekend at Soden’s Grove. The Spartans will play Spring Hill, the defending runners-up in Class 5A, at 7 p.m. next Friday and then play Basehor-Linwood at 2 p.m. next Saturday.
