The Emory University Baseball team saw its 2016 campaign end on Saturday evening at the 2016 NCAA Division III Baseball Championships at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wisconsin.
The Eagles were defeated in its second-straight contest at the double elimination tournament, falling to fourth-ranked Wisconsin-La Crosse, 12-3, in a Pool A elimination game. The Eagles conclude their season with a 34-12 overall record.
Emory scored first in the contest as junior Brian Hernandez drove home senior David Coble in the top half of the first with a single through the right side.
The Eagles of UW-La Crosse responded however with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame off Emory starter Hans Hansen with a RBI groundout to first by Taylor Kohlwey. The run off Hansen snapped his 20.1 inning scoreless streak, his second scoreless streak of at least 20 innings this season.
UW-La Crosse took the lead in the second inning with a safety squeeze play by Nate Helli that scored Ben Morgan.
Sophomore Nick Chambers gave Emory the lead at 3-2 in the fourth inning as the second-year shortstop hit his third home run of the season, hitting a laser over the left field fence.
The lead was short lived though as UW-La Crosse exploded for seven runs in the fourth to regain the lead at 9-3. UW-L recorded nine straight hits in the frame off Hansen and junior Kyle Monk as the Eagles batted around in the inning.
Hansen finished the outing allowing season-highs in earned runs (9) and hits (12) in 3.1 innings on the mound. The loss was just the second of the year for Hansen as the Playa del Rey, CA native ended his season with a 9-2 mark.
UW-La Crosse added three more runs in the fifth off Monk. The junior, who was the recipient of the Elite 90 Award on Thursday night, ended his appearance giving up three runs on six hits in 2.2 innings. Monk, who had not allowed a run since March 18th, saw his scoreless streak end at 23.2 innings.
Emory had just two batters reach base from the sixth inning on as Coble and Hernandez both collected singles in the seventh inning but the two runners were left stranded as Eisner was retired on strikes to end the inning.
Senior Paul Merolla closed out his Emory career, tossing two scoreless innings of relief with a pair of strikeouts.
The defeat caps off an impressive four-year period for the Emory senior class of Coble, Eisner, Jack Karras, Merolla, Chris Slivka and Ben Vizvary who helped Emory achieve a 125-57 record, three straight College World Series appearances including a second-place Division III finish in 2014 and two University Athletic Association titles.
UW-La Crosse stays alive in the tournament and will play the loser of the Cortland – Trinity (Tx.) matchup tomorrow evening.