This past weekend, Emory’s baseball team (24-7) took on North Carolina Wesleyan College (21-14) in a three-game series. Emory won all three games: 5-1, 17-7 and 8-1.
In the first game, Emory defeated North Carolina Wesleyan 5-1 thanks to a great outing from the team’s pitching staff. Junior pitcher Jackson Weeg (6-0) threw a gem and picked up his sixth win of the season. Weeg threw six and two-thirds innings, allowing one earned run while striking out six. Junior Kyle Monk relieved Weeg and finished the game off for the Eagles. Monk did not allow a run and picked up his 11th save of the year.
Juniors catcher Chris Young, designated hitter Brian Hernandez and third baseman Philip Maldari carried the Eagles at the plate. Young, Hernandez and Maldari all managed to get two hits a piece. In addition, Young and Maldari drove home a pair of runs each. Senior center fielder David Coble drove in the Eagles’ other run of the game.
Unlike the first game, the second game of the series was all about offense and saw Emory win 17-7. Emory had a mind-boggling 11 players bring home a run, including five players driving in two (sophomore shortstop Nick Chambers, sophomore first baseman Bubby Terp, freshman third baseman Thomas Baumgartner, senior right fielder Chris Slivka and junior left fielder Wilson Morgan). Slivka, Chambers and Terp all homered in the game as well. In addition to their 12 hits, Emory managed to draw 10 free passes while only striking out four times. Coach Twardoski was especially impressed by Terp’s performance for the usual starter, senior Ben Vizvary, who sat out the game due to injury.
Junior pitcher Hans Hansen (7-1) got the start from Emory, and his five innings of work were good enough to pick up his seventh win of the season. While he did allow four runs, only one was earned. In fact, while North Carolina Wesleyan crossed the plate a total of seven times, only two of those runs were earned. Sophomore pitcher Danny Kerning and senior second baseman Dylan Eisner each committed an error.
In the third and final game of the series, Emory once again benefitted from a dominant effort from their starter, junior Luke Emmett, winning 8-1. Emmett threw seven innings of one-run baseball, striking out eight and allowing five hits along the way. Senior Paul Merolla and sophomore Rhett Stuart each pitched an inning to finish off the game. Neither of the two allowed a run.
At the plate, both Eisner and Hernandez finished the game with three hits. Eisner drove in a pair of runs as well. While the Eagles couldn’t produce any long balls, it didn’t matter, as the team managed four doubles (Maldari, Slivka, Eisner and Hernandez). On top of that, the Eagles were active on the basepaths and managed four stolen bases courtesy of Eisner (two), Morgan and Coble.
Coach Twardoski talked a little about his pitching staff, which currently boasts four starters with sub-2.00 ERAs (Weeg, Emmet, Hansen and freshman Billy Dimlow).
“Our pitching staff has really made it easy on me this year,” Twardoski said. “I haven’t had to make a lot of decisions because of how well they’re pitching. I think I made one trip to the mound during our three games this weekend.”
Emory will return to the diamond on Wednesday, April 10, when they take on Oglethorpe University (26-15) (Ga.) at home. Twardoski believes the key to the game lies in the team’s ability to “wipe the school off them”.
“Mid-week games are always tough,” Twardoski said. “It’s hard to play 3 p.m. games when you get out of class at 2 [p.m.]. We’re tired and sore, so we really have to come out and play with energy to do well.”
Special Projects Editor | Jacob Durst is a Goizueta Business School junior from Dallas, Texas double majoring in business and political science. He has been a big sports fan as long as he can remember, and his teams are the Houston Rockets, Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboys. He also wants to throw out there that Sports is the best section.
