Emmaus qualified for the District 11 baseball playoffs with a win over Northampton 10 days ago, which was the Hornets' 10th win of the season. Until a recent three-game losing skid, it looked like they were destined for the EPC Playoffs as well. Since putting together a seven-game losing skid, Emmaus has gone 2-4, dropping its conference record to 8-6.

With two league games to play, Emmaus came into the week hanging onto seventh spot for the eight-team playoff, having a leg up on eighth-place Pocono Mountain East thanks to a 3-2 win over the Cardinals earlier in the season. With a win over either Whitehall (7-9, 10-8) or Nazareth (2-11, 3-13) this week, the Hornets would clinch a spot in the EPC Playoffs.

After scoring 36 runs during their seven-game win streak, Emmaus has struggled to find offense of late, scoring just two runs over its last three games. The Hornets fell to Parkland (15-1, 19-1), Liberty (12-3, 14-5) and Central Catholic (4-9, 6-10) in the last week.

Against Parkland, pitcher Matt Lanzone was battling Rhett Jacoby pitch for pitch, with Emmaus holding a 1-0 lead. Lanzone pitched out of a second-and-third, two-out jam in the bottom of the fourth when he got Jacoby to fly out to end the threat. Parkland got to Lanzone for a run in the fifth and then two more in the seventh to take a 3-1 lead.

"Matt pitched really well, you can't ask for more than what he gave us," said coach Mike Mihalik. "They've got some bats in the lineup and he gave us a chance to win, but they've also got some pitching and they did a good job."

After Jacoby held Emmaus to three hits, Liberty's Alexis Calderon held them to just two and Central Catholic's Nate Leasawich held them to just four hits in a 6-1 win.

"We've asked a lot of our pitchers lately, because the offense hasn't been consistent," said Mihalik. "We've had to manufacture some runs at times and we've found ways to scratch out runs and win games, but that hasn't been happening lately."

The seven-game win streak had erased memories of a slow 1-3 start for the team, but now, that early swoon looks like it could come back to haunt Emmaus. The one that really stands out is the season-opening loss to Allen. The Canaries are now 7-8 in the league and 10-8 overall on the season. One thing they do have going for them is that if they were to tie Emmaus for the final playoff spot, their 7-6 extra inning win back on March 30 would give them the edge over the Hornets.

"Right now, you don't worry about those things," said Mihalik. "You look at what you have to do to make things right and that's just winning games the rest of the way.

"You get into the postseason and it's a whole different thing from there, so we have to think about Whitehall. We have to think about Nazareth and we have to think about Scranton Prep on the last day of the season. That's what it comes down to for us now."

The EPC playoffs begin Monday with the higher seeded team hosting the first round of play. The semis, which will be played next Wednesday, and the finals, which will be played next Friday, will all be played at Hackett Park in Easton.