Following a tight, 4-3 loss at Emmaus Monday, Northampton head baseball coach Mick Sugra is confident his team can rebound and gain some momentum toward the postseason. The Konkrete Kids were two wins away from clinching a district berth.

Against Emmaus, Gavin Pychinka had three hits. Sam Erschen was touched for three runs over two innings before he gave way to Brady Simock, who allowed one run and struck out five over the final four innings.

“It was a tough one, really tough,” stressed Sugra. “It really was a good high school baseball game. We out-hit them 8-5, out-played them defensively, no errors to two.

“But we just couldn’t get the big hit. We left 13 runners on base to their 3. We had one, two-out RBI hit. We still believe in these guys. We just gotta get them to believe in themselves a little more.”

A few days earlier, the Kids pounded Freedom, 10-1. Pychinka had three RBIs against the Patriots, and Logan Higgins recorded five strikeouts in six innings. Andre Berger pitched the final inning.

Through Monday, Pychinka was hitting .405, Mason Haupt was at .357, and Higgins was at .319. Haupt has a 2-0 record with a 1.91 ERA.

Haupt leads the team with 13 RBIs, Pychinka has 11, and Higgins has 10.

The Kids host Allentown Central Catholic Wednesday, travel to North Pocono Thursday, and host East Stroudsburg South to close out the week.

The EPC league standings are below with the teams in bold currently in position for the league playoffs.

EPC Standings

Poc Mt. East 8-2, 7-1

Parkland 9-2, 7-1

Liberty 9-4, 8-2

Emmaus 7-6, 7-2

Freedom 8-5, 7-2

Nazareth 7-3, 6-2

Bethl Catholic 8-3, 6-3

Northampton 8-4, 5-4

Allen 5-8, 5-6

Eastburg South 6-6, 4-4

Easton 5-4, 4-4

Whitehall 6-6, 4-6

Central Catholic 4-6, 3-5

Stroudsburg 4-7, 3-6

Pleasant Valley 3-8, 2-8

Poc Mt. West 1-7, 1-7

Dieruff 2-9, 1-9

Eastburg North 0-9, 0-9