Tyler Kish wanted the ball against Lower Macungie on Sunday and he made the most of the opportunity. Kish threw a complete-game shutout, allowing just three hits in a 3-0 Emmaus win in Lehigh Valley Legion Baseball. The win moved Emmaus to 5-7 as the team looks to stay alive in the hunt for a playoff spot.

The main reason Kish wanted the start against Lower Macungie was the opportunity to face a lot of players who he knew as teammates from the high school season. It was a chance for Kish to earn some bragging rights among his friends.

"I got to play with them all high school season and they're a good group of kids and I just wanted to play them," said Kish. "They're your friends and classmates and I wanted to pitch against them."

Kish didn't allow a hit until the fifth inning, but the bad news was that his team didn't generate a hit until the fourth inning. That's when Eric Cichocki led off with a base-hit and moved to second when Charlie Barebo was hit by a pitch. Logan Foley then dropped a nice sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position. Zach Schrader delivered with a two-run single to open the scoring.

When Schrader's single left the bat, Kish admitted that he thought the game was well in-hand at that point.

"The runs and the defense were incredible," he said. "Eric [Cichocki] at short, Logan [Foley] at third, Zach [Schrader] with the tags, it was great. I couldn't ask for better run support and defense and I felt good about things when we got those two runs."

Emmaus would add an insurance run in the fifth, with a lot of the credit going to Andrew Miller, who led off with an infield single and quickly stole second. A ground ball moved Miller to third and a fly ball by Cichocki scored him with the insurance run.

For Kish, having a strong defense behind him is a key since he's not the type of pitcher who looks to blow the ball past hitters. Instead, he concentrates on throwing strikes and letting his defense do their job.

"Throwing strikes is the most important thing. If you get them down in the count, they're just going to make a defensive swing and put it in play, so I just try to get ahead 0-2, 1-2 and try to get guys out," said Kish.

Manager Tom Cichocki was serving a one-game suspension for being ejected in an earlier game and handed the reins to John Zgura for the game against Lower Mac. Zagura was pleased with how the team played, but would have liked to have seen even a little more insurance in terms of run support. He did feel confident with Kish on the mound and how he was attacking the Lower Macungie lineup.

"As a coach, or even as an assistant coach, you want to get as many runs as you can," said Zgura. "Lower Mac is a great baseball team with a lot of great players from the high school, so you want to make sure that you can hold them back. Tyler can strut around a little. He did an excellent job today."

Emmaus plays at Salisbury Thursday and travels to North Parkland on Sunday before heading into the final week of the regular season. Right now, Emmaus is in sixth place with a one-game lead over Salisbury and Fullerton. Eight teams make the playoffs.