The Emory University baseball team jumped into sole possession of first place after the first day of competition at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Tournament, defeating Brandeis University 7-1 in the early game, and Washington University 18-14 in the late contest.

Emory junior Patrick Riebsame paced the Eagles in the first contest against Brandeis, hitting a pair of two-run homeruns to tie a UAA record for home runs in a game.  Riebsame finished the game two-for-four with four RBIs, and raised his batting average to a team-high .395 with 16 RBIs, also a team high.

Meanwhile, senior starting pitcher Matthew Katten was dominating on the mound, throwing just 89 pitches over eight innings, allowing one unearned run on just five hits and two walks with five strikeouts.  Katten earned the win to improve to 2-1 on the season with a 2.73 earned run average.

Adding on to the Emory offensive effort was Dan Molnar, who went three-for-four a double and two RBIs, while Kevin O’Connor and Andrew Cohn each had a pair of hits.

The second game, against Washington University, proved to be a record-setting affair for both squads.  The Eagles set a UAA tournament record by drawing 16 walks during the contest, while the two teams combined to set single-game records with 13 extra base hits and 33 total hits, and tied a UAA record with 32 runs scored.

Despite the score, the Eagles led throughout, scoring five in the first inning and one each in the second and third  to give starter Adam Genn a 7-0 lead to work with.  Genn would eventually earn the win in the contest, leaving with no outs in the sixth inning and an 11-7 lead.

Emory would put up six in the seventh and one in the eighth, while Washington scored one in seventh and three in each of the eighth and ninth, to make the final score 18-14.

O’Connor, Jonathan Reilly, Will Vaughn and Andrew DeYoung each drove in two runs during the second game for the Eagles.  Molnar and Riebsame each drew three walks during the contest as well.

Emory has now won four straight games, improving to 9-6 on the season and 2-0 in UAA games.  Brandeis fell to 1-4 on the year, and Washington 5-2, while both dropped to 0-1 in the conference tournament.

The Eagles will return to action tomorrow at 6:00 PM, facing last year’s UAA Champions, the University of Rochester.