The Emory University offense started early on Wednesday night against LaGrange College and never let up, as the Eagles opened the final week of their 2014 regular season with a 13-1 rout of the Panthers in LaGrange, Georgia.
The win was the seventh-straight for the Eagles against a Division III opponent, as Emory improved to 26-10 overall for the season. The 26 victories matches the team's highest win total in a season since the 2007 campaign.
The 13-run output was the Eagles' 15th double-digit run total this season. Emory picked up 11 hits and drew an additional seven walks in the offensive explosion.
Emory jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, as the Eagles loaded the bases with two outs, before senior catcher Jared Welch cleared the paths with a three-run double. Emory added a runs in the third when junior Brett Lake singled up the middle to drive in senior Brandon Hannon from second, and senior Daniel Iturrey followed with a double to plate Lake. Iturrey would score later in the inning when Philip Maldari reached on a two-out error, and junior Jordan Selbach drove in Maldari with a double, extending Emory's lead to 7-0 after two and a half innings.
The Eagles added runs in the fifth when Hannon walked with the bases loaded, his fourth free pass drawn of the game, and Lake was hit by a pitch in the next at bat, extending the lead to 9-0. In the sixth, Selbach picked up his third hit of the game, a two out double that scored junior Wes Peacock for the Eagles' tenth run of the contest.
In the seventh, Iturrey drove in Hannon with a two out single, and Peacock followed with his fourth home run of the season, tying him for the team lead, and pushing the Eagles' lead to 13-0.
On the mound, freshman starter Jackson Weeg retired the first eight batters he faced, and went on to deliver six shutout innings, holding the Panthers scoreless on four hits and a walk. He faced a jam in the bottom of the fourth, as the Panthers loaded the bases with one out, but the southpaw struck out back-to-back hitters, two of his six strikeouts on the day, to escape trouble unscathed.
Weeg earned the win, improving to 3-1 for his freshman campaign and lowering his ERA to a team-best 1.79. Senior Robert Gross allowed an unearned run in the seventh, while juniors Michael Byman and Graham Bloomsmith pitched scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth, respectively, to close out the game.
At the plate, Lake drove in a pair of runs, and his 54 for the season are the tied for the sixth most in school history and nine shy of the program record. Hannon scored three runs in the game, and now has 52 this year, tied for the sixth-most in a single season in Emory history. Selbach finished the game three-for-three, and is 13 for his last 21 at the plate, raising his season batting average to .366.
Starting pitcher Justin Yestrumsky (2-7) took the loss for LaGrange, which fell to 12-22 with the setback.
The Eagles will open a regular-season ending three game series against Huntingdon College on Friday, April 25th, facing the Hawks in Montgomery, Alabama at 8:00 PM ET.
