On opening night back on May 26, the Emmaus Lehigh Valley Legion baseball team got the better of rival Lower Macungie thanks in large part to a five-run second inning. Last Tuesday evening at Church Lane field, Lower Mac returned the favor with a big inning of its own to start the game.

A four-run second inning propelled them to a 6-3 victory and some revenge on Emmaus.

The win brought Lower Mac over the .500 mark at 4-3, and Emmaus dropped to 5-2, ending a two game win streak.

After a scoreless first inning, Lower Mac went off for four runs in the bottom half of the second, to take a commanding lead behind starting pitcher Joel Bartoni, who pitched a complete game, giving up just three runs and three hits in the seven innings.

Zach Schrader threw five innings for Emmaus in the loss. He was relieved in the sixth by Chandler Smith. Zak Zgura threw the seventh and finished the game off.

Lower Mac padded its lead with a run each in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings. Emmaus would do their best to claw back and make this a close game, scoring three runs in the top of the sixth, but just could not add anymore, as Bartoni shut things down in the seventh.

George Smith finished the game 2-3 with two RBI’s, and Theodore Tucker also tallied two RBI’s for Lower Mac. Nicholas Andronis and Nicholas Mazzella had the other RBI’s.

Eric Chicocki went 1-2 with a run scored for Emmaus. Kristopher Bawden, Taden Gery, and Zgura had RBI’s.

Emmaus has been stuck in a bit of a rut, losing its next game to Carbon Monarchs, 7-5, Sunday. The Hornets have a long week, with games against South Parkland on Monday, a double header versus Northern Valley Tuesday, another game against South Parkland Wednesday, and at West Allentown Thursday.

Lower Mac has games this week against first place Coplay-Fullerton Monday, Southern Lehigh Wednesday, and Northern Valley Thursday.