The Emory University baseball team continued its stretch of University Athletic Association (UAA) play with a four-game series against Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) (Mo.) from April 12 to 14. The Eagles won the series 3-0-1, improving their overall season record to 19-14-1.
Going into the weekend, senior infielder Jacob Grossman said the team emphasized building on their work thus far and having a solid series.
“We've really been performing well at the plate and on the field, and we really wanted to keep that going throughout the weekend,” Grossman said.
The Eagles began the weekend with a 21-7 win on April 12, scoring their highest run total of the season. Grossman started off strong with a career-high seven runs batted in, going 4-for-6 and hitting two home runs.
Grossman said he believes that his recent standout performances could be attributed to the extra time he has put into mental preparation.
“That's kind of the game changer,” Grossman said. “I've been able to get my mentality back on track, and I think just trying to enjoy every single moment, have fun, be in the moment, be there with my team and my coaches and put my best foot forward to help my team win a baseball game is most important to me.”
Junior infielder Jack Halloran contributed in the first game with his 20th home run of his career, becoming only the second player in Emory history to reach this mark. He said the achievement is something he can be proud of even though his focus is on the team’s success.
“To be on that list with some great Emory baseball players … it really is a notable achievement and I’m very proud of myself but also recognizing that baseball is a team sport and my contribution is just one of many.”
In the first game of the doubleheader on the following day, sophomore pitcher Josh Zuckerman had an impressive showing, reaching career-highs in strike-outs and innings pitched. He stuck out 14 of the 27 batters he faced throughout 7.2 innings, tying for fourth-most strikeouts in a game in program history.
Sophomore center fielder Adrien Armstrong kicked off the scoring at the top of the first inning, hitting a single with the bases loaded to bring Grossman home. Freshman infielder Trevor McAndrews scored on an error in the second inning to make the score 2-0. WashU got on the board in this inning as well, but Zuckerman’s dominance, combined with nine runs in the top of the 10th, led to another dominant win for the Eagles with a score of 12-3.
In the third game of the weekend, junior pitcher Ryan Reynolds continued his excellent play, pitching a shutout until the seventh inning and recording a career-best eight strike-outs. However, WashU came storming back in the final innings to tie the game 4-4 by the end of daylight.
Emory finished the weekend strong with another dominant performance in the final game of the weekend. The Eagles pulled an early 4-0 lead and never looked back. Grossman added a run-scoring double, followed by a contribution from junior outfielder Matthew Sicoli after an error. Freshman infielder Aidan Conley hit a double to bring junior center fielder Blake Dincman home. Sophomore infielder Zach Wasserlauf joined in with a hit that brought Conley to home plate. Sophomore pitcher Adam Geller earned his first win of the season on the mound with an 11-4 lead to cap off a solid series for the Eagles.
Halloran said that the weekend was important for the team, which was bouncing back from a couple of tough series against New York University and Case Western Reserve University (Ohio). The Eagles ended their four-game series against New York in a 2-2 tie earlier this month after losing their series against Case Western 3-1.
“We really needed a big win this series,” Halloran said. “We started off the first game really hot, we had a bunch of homeruns. That was fun because all the guys were playing really well. Then we capitalized on mistakes from the other team and really limited the mistakes that we made and worked together to win the rest of the games of the series.”
Baseball Head Coach Mike Twardoski emphasized the relationship between the excellent pitching performances and the Eagles’ wins this weekend.
“Obviously, when you win three and tie one out of four games, a lot of things go right and playing kind of a rival like WashU, it feels good to at the end of the day come out with three victories and a tie,” Twardoski said. “But the overall thing was we played a little bit more consistent. We pitched a little bit more consistent this weekend.”
As the Eagles come up on their last few games, Halloran said that a big part of the journey is appreciating the seniors and their impact on the team as well as learning how to lead from their example.
“A big part of it is cherishing the moments we have with our seniors, but also really taking into account who they are and the behavior that they modeled for us, and then shaping that to how we want to lead coming into the summer with incoming freshmen and the new team,” Halloran said.
Grossman reflected on his baseball career, adding that the team wants to stay competitive while also enjoying the time they have left together this season.
“It's probably the last few weekends of my baseball career,” Grossman said. “The underclassmen and juniors are fortunate enough to have some more time left in their career, but just coming together, enjoying every single moment of these last few weeks to keep winning and just most importantly have fun while we're doing it.”
