The Emory University baseball team earned a doubleheader sweep over in-state foe Covenant College on Saturday at Chappell Park in Atlanta.
Game one of the doubleheader featured a historic day on the mound for Emory hurlers as sophomore Josh Zuckerman and junior Bennett Speicher combined for 18 strikeouts in the 7-2 win, the second-most by the Eagles as a team in a single-game in program history. In the second game, Covenant squandered two leads late as the Eagles walked off with the 8-7 win in extra innings.
With the wins, Emory moves above .500 at 7-6 while Covenant falters to 3-7. The two programs will conclude the season series Monday afternoon on Lookout Mountain in the makeup of Friday's rainout.
Game 1: Emory 7, Covenant 2
Zuckerman and Speicher were dominant on the mound across nine frames as the Eagles won the opener. Both Emory pitchers set career-highs in strikeouts as Zuckerman retired 11 Covenant hitters via the strikeout in his six innings of two-run ball while Speicher struck out seven of the 10 batters he faced to collect his first career save.
The 18 strikeouts are the second-most combined by an Emory staff in a single-game in team history, one shy of 19 set by the Eagles on February 18, 2017 during Jackson Weeg's legendary 18-strikeout individual effort.
Zuckerman fired his best start of the season, working a complete six innings for the first time in four starts. He did not allow a hit until the fourth inning and carried a shutout into the fifth. He struck out two batters in four of his six innings and completed his outing by striking out the side in the sixth.
After being tabbed to the d3baseball.com National Team of the Week on Wednesday, Speicher returned to the mound and dazzled in his three innings of work. He allowed just one single in his outing and struck out the final four Covenant batters he faced.
The Eagles supplied all the run support early, leading by a 6-0 count after three. Junior Jack Halloran extended his Division III RBI lead in the first inning with a single to plate junior Matthew Sicoli. Two innings later, the Eagles busted out for five runs which started on an RBI double from Sicoli. Senior Steven Hunt and sophomore Zach Wasserlauf each had RBIs as well.
Halloran completed the scoring as he added on another RBI single in the seventh to bring home freshman Jake Lawson.
Lawson collected three of Emory's 12 hits in his 3-for-4 day and Halloran had his seventh multi-RBI game of the season.
Game 2: Emory 8, Covenant 7 (8 innings)
In the originally scheduled seven inning contest, the Eagles had a pair of late-inning rallies to upend the Scots in the second game on Saturday.
Trailing 5-3 going into the bottom of the seventh, Halloran extended his RBI streak to eight games with a single to bring home Sicoli to open the scoring in the inning. Two batters later, Wasserlauf raced home with the tying run on a passed ball from the Covenant catcher.
The Scots moved ahead by two at 7-5, scoring twice in the top of the eighth as Elliot Eastin delivered a pinch-hit, two-run single with two-outs.
In the home half of the eighth, the Eagles worked the bases loaded with one out as Lawson was hit by a pitch, Sicoli worked a walk and sophomore Paul Fine came through with a pinch-hit single in consecutive plate appearances.
Wasserlauf nearly came through with the game-winning hit with his ball up the middle, but the Covenant shortstop made a terrific diving stop to prevent the ball from going into the outfield and made the flip to second for the force out. Lawson came home on the play to bring the Eagles to within one again at 7-6.
With Emory down to its final strike in the next at bat, graduate student Nick Wilson had his defining moment in an Emory uniform as he went up the middle on an 0-2 count. The ball clanked off the Covenant second baseman who ranged far over behind the bag and made a back-handed attempt at the ball. The ball trickled into centerfield, allowing Sicoli and Wasserlauf to score the game-winning runs.
Wilson was one of six Eagles to have two or more hits in the contest, going 3-for-5. Sicoli was 2-for-4 with a walk and scored a team-best three runs.
Four Eagles made an appearance on the mound with freshman JT Rattigan earning his second win of the season as he retired the final two Scots in the eighth. Junior Ryan Reynolds drew the start and allowed two earned runs in 4.1 innings while striking out three in the no decision.
Monday's series finale is scheduled to get underway at 2:00 PM on Lookout Mountain.