The Emory University baseball team bounced back in a big way Tuesday afternoon, routing No. 18 Birmingham-Southern College by a score of 14-3 at Chappell Park in Atlanta. The Eagles scored five runs in each of the first two innings and plated all 14 runs before the end of the fifth en route to their second-largest victory of the season.
Juniors Matthew Sicoli and Blake Dincman powered the Emory offense, combining for seven of the team's 16 hits and drove in six runs between them. Sicoli went 4-for-5 with four RBI and Dincman was 3-for-4 with two RBI. Senior Jacob Grossman also had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-5 with three runs scored and tied an Emory single-game record with three doubles.
Freshman JT Rattigan was impressive once again on the mound, taking advantage of the ample amount of run support provided to him from the bats in his second career start. Rattigan improved to 4-0 with five strong innings on Tuesday, allowing two runs on two hits and three walks while striking out three. The five innings marked his longest outing to date.
After Rattigan sent down the BSC hitters in quick order to start the game, the Eagles went straight to work on offense. Three straight Eagles reached base to start the game, with Grossman scoring on an error after leading off with one of his three doubles prior to Sicoli driving home freshman Jake Lawson with a single. Back-to-back hits from Dincman and sophomore Zach Wasserlauf with two outs made it 4-0 before senior Walker Woolf singled home Wasserlauf.
The Panthers scraped across one run in the second but the momentum was short lived as Emory batted around the lineup once more, sending nine hitters to plate to score five more runs to increase the lead to 10-1. Sicoli opened the scoring in the second frame with a two-run double before freshman Aidan Conley plated him two batters later. Junior Jack Halloran, who extended his hitting streak to 13 games earlier in the inning, came around to score the game's ninth run on a passed ball. Dincman concluded the second five-run frame with another run-scoring hit, plating Conley with a single through the left side.
The Eagles continued the onslaught by scoring at least one run in each of the next three innings and led 14-2 after five. Sicoli made it three straight innings with an RBI with his single in the third. In the fourth, freshman Trevor McAndrews joined the hitting barrage with a two-run single up the middle to bring home Wasserlauf and Dincman. A bases-loaded walk by Woolf in the fifth marked the team's final run of the afternoon.
The Eagles relief corps of Ryan Kelly, Connor Skertich and Zac Schultz helped closed out the strong start from Rattigan as the trio allowed just a solo home run in their four innings out of the pen.
Emory looks to keep the bats hot later this week as the College of Wooster visits Atlanta for a two-game set. Due to inclement weather, the series has shifted from originally scheduled and will now take place on Thursday at 4:00 PM followed by a noon start on Saturday.