Summary

The Emery Spartans stumbled to an 18-2 loss to the Union Cougars in five innings Tuesday afternoon in the baseball season opener in Castle Dale.

The Emery Spartans stumbled to an 18-2 loss to the Union Cougars in five innings Tuesday afternoon in the baseball season opener in Castle Dale.

Originally slated to travel to Roosevelt, Tuesday’s opener was moved to Emery due to field conditions. Battling cold temperatures in the first game of the season the Spartans failed to find any rhythm in the field or at the plate in the loss.

“We had a lot of nerves. We have a young group, and we were definitely nervous,” said first year manager Chase Julian. “We also had a lot of walks, but we will clean it up. The good news is these kids battle and don’t stop. They keep going, so we can clean things up.”

The Spartans were faced with a deficit almost immediately as four of the first five Union batters reached safely with walks. Emery starter pitcher Turner Stoker struggled to find the strike zone in his first outing and the Cougars responded with five runs in the top half of the first.

Emery found the scoreboard in the bottom half of the first as Kade Larsen doubled to left center field, scoring Wade Stilson who reached by walk. Despite threatening to chip further into the deficit, the Spartans were held to just one run.

Treven Gilbert worked the next two innings in relief keeping the ball in play and recording two scoreless innings to keep the Spartans within striking distance. Throwing just 31 pitches, Gilbert fanned one batter, allowed four hits and did not allow a single walk.

While Gilbert managed to stifle the potent Cougar bats for two frames, the Emery offense could not provide run support. The game remained 5-1 until Union pulled away by scoring a combined 13 runs in the fourth and fifth frames.

Evan Christensen and Gannon Ward combined for two innings of work in the fourth and fifth. During that span the two allowed 13 earned runs on 10 walks and six hits.

Emery added one more run in the bottom of the fifth inning as Larsen registered his second RBI on a single to right field, scoring Mason Stilson.

Larsen finished the game 2-3 at the plate with two RBIs. Ward and Sean Rogers gathered the team’s other two hits as the Spartans finished with four compared to 10 for the Cougars.

Tuesday’s outing is the first of five games this week as the team prepares to travel to Mesquite, Nevada Thursday through Saturday. With plenty of room for improvement, Julian has wider expectations than just wins during the pre-season schedule.

“Effort is going to be the biggest thing. We need to make sure we have good at bats and making sure that fundamentally we are doing things that need to be done,” said Julian. “We need to make sure we are taking good at bats. Utah spring weather makes it difficult to get outside, so this weekend we need to make sure we are taking advantage of getting outside and taking live at bats.”

Following the weekend trip to Mesquite, the Spartans will return home on Monday to meet the Manti Templars. Monday will be the first of three scheduled games next week.