The Emory University baseball team earned an extra-inning victory over the WashU Bears in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader before the second game ended in a tie after nine innings due to darkness.
The Eagles exploded for nine runs in the top of the tenth en route to the 12-3 win in 10 innings. In the second game of the day, the Bears scored the tying run with two outs in the ninth to force what looked like another extra-inning contest. However, due to the diminishing sunlight and per UAA rules, another inning could not be started and was determined to be a tie. It is only the second tie in UAA history and first since Chicago and Case Western Reserve ended in a tie during the 1996 championship tournament. It is only the third tie in Emory baseball history and first since 2008.
Electrifying performances on the mound highlighted Emory's day at the ballpark as both sophomore Josh Zuckerman and junior Ryan Reynolds racked up career-highs in strikeouts. Zuckerman became the fifth player in program history to record 14 or more strikeouts in a single game, punching out 14 Bears. In the second game, Reynolds notched eight strikeouts to best his previous personal-best of seven he set as a sophomore.
Game 1: Emory 12, WashU 3 (10 innings)
Zuckerman turned in one of the best pitching performances in Emory history as he faced 27 batters and struck out over half of them. He allowed just one hit and two walks in a career-best 7.2 innings and the only run he allowed was unearned. The 14 strikeouts are tied for fourth-most in a game in program history and the most in a game since Jackson Weeg struck out an Emory record 18 Washington & Lee Generals in February of 2017.
Sophomore Adrien Armstrong gave Emory the lead in the top of the first with a single with the bases loaded to plate senior Jacob Grossman. In the next inning, freshman Trevor McAndrews scored on an error to make it 2-0.
WashU got on the board with an unearned run in the second but Armstrong delivered another RBI with a sac fly in the fifth.
After being silenced all game by Zuckerman's brillance, the Bears were able to score the tying runs off the Emory bullpen as Brandon Buday came through with a two-out, two-run single in the ninth.
The Emory bats made sure the WashU celebration was short lived as the Eagles burst out with another nine-run frame, their second in two days, in the tenth. The Eagles sent 14 hitters to the plate and would take the lead on a single from freshman Aidan Conley. Sophomore Zach Wasserlauf and juniors Matthew Sicoli and Blake Dincman all had two-run singles later in the inning to pad the Emory lead.
Junior Bennett Speicher made sure he took advantage of the nine-run cushion and sent the Bears down in order in the home half of the tenth to earn his second win of the season.
Game 2: Emory 4, WashU 4
The Eagles were in control of the second game of the afternoon, opening the game with a 4-0 lead in the early stages.
Wasserlauf gave the Eagles the lead in the second with a run-scoring ground out. Later in the fifth, Emory scored three more times highlighted by a two-run triple from freshman Jake Lawson.
Reynolds was in cruise control once again as he carried a shutout into the seventh inning. He ended up with a no decision after allowing two runs in 6.1 innings, working around six hits and four walks.
WashU mounted their comeback with two runs off Reynolds in the seventh and one run in the eighth. Trailing 4-3 heading into the ninth, the Bears saw a leadoff double from Evan Minarovic but senior Zac Schultz got two quick outs. Despite the two outs, Carson Cleage pushed a single through the right side, scoring Minarovic with the game-tying run. Schultz would end the inning with a strikeout to the next batter.
With the ninth inning ending just before 7:25 PM local time, it was determined to be too late to begin another inning and the game was considered official due to darkness and per the UAA code of conduct.
The Eagles will look to close out the weekend series in St. Louis on Sunday as the finale is set to get underway at 11:00 AM CT.