A pair of victories in a span of just four days over rival Central Catholic has the Hornets feeling pretty good about themselves as they begin an important week in Eastern Pennsylvania Conference play.
Two outstanding pitching performances – one by junior Shane Ohl on Monday and the other by senior TJ Geist last Friday – were key in leading Emmaus to the season sweep over the Vikings.
The Hornets have now won four straight after dropping four of their five previous games to improve to 10-5 overall and 9-3 in the league.
On Monday at Church Lane Park, junior Shane Ohl pitched his first complete game of the season as Emmaus jumped on the visitors early in cruising to an easy 9-1 victory.
Ohl, making his fourth start of the season, won his second straight decision as he improved to 2-1 after giving up just one run on four hits.
Leadoff hitter junior Wiley Fleck went 2-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored and two RBI, while classmate Emmit Budick also had a pair of hits to go along with two runs knocked in for the Hornets who had nine hits in the game.
Emmaus scored early and often in this one plating three runs in the first and adding three more in the second to take a commanding 6-0 lead.
Central starter James Evans lasted just an inning and suffered the loss. Reliever Cole Croslis threw the final five innings.
Ohl’s performance on the mound came on the heels of his teammate – Geist – who pitched a gem last Friday in Emmaus’ 5-0 shutout win of the Vikes at Limeport Stadium.
Geist threw 6 2-3 innings of scoreless ball, giving just five hits while striking out six and walking just one as he improved to 2-2. For his efforts, Geist was named the SportClips Player of The Game on the LIVE broadcast on The Eastern Pa. Sports Network.
The only run the Hornets would need came in the top of the second inning on Budick’s RBI single scoring courtesy runner Logan Ravier who was running for Dayne Schmidt who had led off the inning with a single.
Emmaus added four more runs in the fifth with the key hit being a two-run RBI single by Fleck.
Central starter Josh Ossiander, making just his second start of the season, suffered the loss. The Vikings dropped to 3-10 in the EPC and 5-10 overall after their third straight defeat.
Emmaus’ key stretch of games continues this week with a pair of home games on Tuesday (vs Northampton, 4 p.m.) and Saturday (vs Whitehall, Noon). The Hornets lost to both teams earlier this season — 13-4 to the K-Kids and 11-9 to the Zephyrs.
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Emmaus 9, CCHS 1 (Monday at Church Lane Park)
CC – 001 000 0 – 1-4-1
Em – 331 110 x – 9-9-0
CC – James Evans 1IP, 1H, 3R, 4BB; Cole Croslis 5IP, 8H, 6R, 3K
Em – Shane Ohl 7IP, 4H, 1R, 4BB, 4 KK
WP – Ohl (2-1), LP – Evans
Emmaus 5, CCHS 0 (Friday at Limeport)
Em – 010 040 0 – 5-6-0
CC – 000 000 0 – 0-6-2
Em – TJ Geist 6 2/3 IP, 6H, 0R, 1BB, 6K; Wiley Fleck 1/3 IP
CC – Josh Ossiander 4IP, 5H, 1R, 2BB, 7K; James Hahn 3IP, 1H, 4R, 2BB, 5K
WP – Geist (2-2), LP – Ossiander
PHOTO GALLERY (Courtesy of Tom Ashelman)
