The Emory baseball team had a successful weekend, upsetting Berry College (Ga.) 5-3 in a comeback victory on Feb. 26. However, the Eagles saw mixed results in a March 2 doubleheader against Roanoke College (Va.) winning at home 5-4 in a tight matchup, but stumbling in the second game, losing to Roanoke 3-1.
In its first game of the weekend, Emory had 10 hits to Berry’s seven, and each team committed three errors. Berry struck first, scoring one run at the top of the first. Emory responded quickly and tied the score 1-1 at the bottom of the second. Strong defense on both sides prevented runs until the top of the seventh inning, when Berry crossed home twice. Trailing 3-1 with two outs at the top of the eighth, the Eagles rallied and had five consecutive hits. Sophomore outfielder Jack Rubenstein ignited the offense with a walk that senior infielder Bubby Terp followed with a single. In the next play, Rubenstein made it to home base, and senior outfielder Jackson Grayson hit a single that brought in two more runners, senior catcher Eric Terry and senior infielder and pinch runner NJ Kim. Sophomore infielder and pinch runner Jacob Singer scored the final run. The win goes to freshman pitcher Joey Bock, who pitched 1.2 hitless innings and threw two strikeouts.
Excited about his first win, Bock credited his success to his teammates.
“I was very happy to get my first win, but I couldn't have done it without our offense showing up and the entire pitching staff having a good night,” Bock said. “It was the kind of game that we can look back to later in the season, and it will give us a lot of confidence that we can beat anyone.”
The Eagles played a doubleheader against Roanoke on March 2. The first game of the day was a high-hitting affair, with each team having 10 hits. In the end, Emory took control and emerged victorious with a score of 5-4. Roanoke was the first to score at the top of the second inning, and crossed home two more times to take a 3-0 lead over Emory at the top of the third. The Eagles’ offense finally paid off at the bottom of the third when they scored their first run. The team held Roanoke scoreless through the seventh inning while they closed the gap, scoring one in the fifth and two in the seventh. Kim scored the third run off a single by Grayson, who scored the fourth off a single hit by junior catcher Jacob Greene. Roanoke tied the game 4-4 at the top of the eighth inning. Freshman pitcher Jack Brodsky’s stellar pitching kept the lead from Roanoke at the top of the ninth inning. The Eagles smashed any possibility of extra innings when freshman infielder Zeke Diamond hit a single to win the game on a walk-off.
Diamond and Grayson each contributed three hits for a total of six out of Emory’s 10 points. The game was Brodsky’s fourth win of the season, which leads Division III.
The second game of the day was less successful for the Eagles, who lost 3-1. Emory totaled just three hits from Grayson, Edelman and junior infielder Christopher Stern. Stern hit just one RBI in the sixth inning, but managed to bring in junior infielder Ryan Adelman. The loss goes to junior pitcher James Robertson, who pitched the game’s first five innings and allowed two runs on seven hits with one strikeout.
After the game, Head Coach Mike Twardoski expressed both frustration and hope regarding his team’s performance at bat.
“We, obviously, are not hitting well as a team, especially in key times when we have men on base,” Twardoski said. “We have to be able to relax in that [kind of] situation and worry about the at-bat and not worry about just hitting.”
The Eagles record stands at 6-3 overall. They will travel to Oglethorpe University (Ga.) for their next game on March 6.
