The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference baseball championship game is scheduled for May 16.
On April 16, Emmaus indicated that it is capable of playing for the EPC gold in a month.
Under the lights at Coca-Cola Park, the Green Hornets registered their biggest, and, perhaps, most surprising win of the season with a 15-1, mercy-rule thumping of rival Parkland.
The Trojans became the last EPC team to lose a league game, but at 6-2 overall, 5-1 EPC, they remain positioned well.
The Green Hornets are now 6-5, 6-1 and have shaken off the slow start that left them 2-3 at the end of March.
“For us, the important thing is to get to 6-1 in the league,” Emmaus coach Jeremy Haas said. “Our nonleague schedule hasn’t gone exactly how we wanted it to, but to get to 6-5 overall and 6-1 in the league should put us right at the top. It’s Coca-Cola Park, its a rival and it’s great. But it’s just another win and we have to get back to work [Wednesday] against Liberty.”
The Green Hornets scored three runs in the top of the first and never looked back. They put the game away with three in the fifth and tacked on nine in the seventh.
Cole Moreau delivered 4.1 quality innings, allowing just three hits, three walks and striking out 10. Shane Ohl got the last two outs.
Emmaus had eight hits with the biggest blow being senior Josiah Williams’ two-run triple to deep center in the top of the fifth.
The quarterback for the Green Hornets football team last fall, Williams has established himself as one of the area’s premier athletes. He finished the night 2-for-3 with three RBIs while Chad Kauffman had two hits, two runs scored and three RBIs.
“Everything is going well,” Williams said. “When you put up 15 runs, it’s hard to lose. We got great pitching from Cole and Shane on the mound, so everything is great. This was a big one for us, but it’s only up from here though. We’ve got to keep working.”
Williams is unsure if he will play baseball or football at the collegiate level. He is just trying to savor the days he has left as a Green Hornet.
“I just want to cherish every day,” he said. “Football season went by with the snap of a finger, so I am having fun every day and hopefully I am going out on the right foot. Playing sports here at Emmaus has been a lot of fun. I love football and baseball. I just want to keep it going.”
Kauffman said that while no one expected to beat Parkland by 14 runs, the rout showed what Emmaus is capable of.
“We know what we’re capable of when we’re playing our best,” Kauffman said. “We’ve had our ups and downs this year. When we are consistent we know what we can accomplish and what we can do. We’ve had a lot of losses outside of conference but the important thing is we’re 6-1 in the conference. We don’t doubt ourselves. We know what we can be.”
Parkland made four errors that led to 11 unearned runs. Trojans pitchers also yielded 11 walks and three hit batters.
An error with two out led the way to the three runs in the first inning when Williams and Kauffman had RBI singles.
“A crooked number early changes the complexion of a game and it makes your pitcher more comfortable,” Haas said. “Offensively, we can do some things we can’t do if it’s an even score or we’re down.”
Parkland had a chance to get back in it but stranded nine runners in the first five innings, including several in scoring position.
“There were a lot of big plays,” Haas said. “They had a lot of traffic on the bases and they could have run away with it, but we did run away with it once we got into their bullpen. But it felt more like a 3-1, 3-2 game the whole time and we were fortunate to break it open.”
Haas said he’d enjoy the win for a few hours before getting back to the grind against defending league champion Liberty. Whitehall follows the Hurricanes on the schedule on Thursday.
“We’ve got nine games left and they’re all in conference,” he said. “We have a daunting schedule going forward. I think you’ll see a lot of teams jump up and beat a team that they shouldn’t. There’s a lot of parity in the league this year.”
Pitching depth is going to be important down the stretch.
“Everyone is going to be challenged,” Haas said. “You might be able to go into some games with your best guy and then you might have to throw your No. 3 guy against the opponent’s No. 1. We just have to be good offensively and defensively and get what we can from the pitching by throwing strikes.”
