The Emory University baseball team saw its four-game winning streak end Tuesday night, falling in extra innings on the road to No. 11 ranked Birmingham-Southern at Striplin Field in Birmingham, Alabama.
The Eagles erased two different leads to force extra innings against the Panthers but ultimately fell 11-10 in 10 innings. With the defeat, Emory will head into its series with Piedmont with a 9-7 record while BSC improves to 10-5.
Birmingham-Southern jumped out to a 5-0 lead through two innings, hitting three home runs off starter Ryan Reynolds and eventually led 7-2 before the Eagles made their move in the middle innings.
Junior Matthew Sicoli, the reigning UAA Hitter of the Week, brought home two runs with his single up the middle in the fifth inning, starting a stretch of three straight frames where Emory scored at least two runs.
After cutting the deficit to three in the fifth, the Eagles tied the game at 7-7 with three runs in the sixth. A two-run single down the left field line from senior Jacob Grossman made it a 7-6 game before Grossman and freshman Jake Lawson perfectly executed a double steal two batters later with Grossman coming across the plate to even the score. Grossman stole three bases while on-base to help tie the score
BSC, however, was quick with an answer as they regained their lead in the home half of the sixth with three runs from five straight singles in the inning.
Despite falling behind 10-7, Emory responded with a three-run inning of its own in the seventh. Sophomore Zach Wasserlauf drove home junior Blake Dincman with a triple off the wall in left center before graduate student Nick Wilson forced him in two batters later with a single. The Eagles scored the tying run later in the inning when sophomore Nick Sullo raced home on a wild pitch.
The Emory bullpen worked around jams in the seventh and eighth but BSC was able to bring home the game-winning run in the tenth as Charlie Banks was hit by a Matthew Culbert pitch with the bases loaded.
Grossman and senior Steven Hunt combined for six of the Eagles' 12 hits with three hits each. Grossman drove in two, scored three times and became the sixth player in team history to steal four bases in a single game.
The Eagles will look to rebound on Thursday, March 14th, when they begin a three-game series with in-state rival Piedmont University. First pitch from Chappell Park is set for 2:00 PM.