A five-run tenth inning including a grand slam off the bat of freshman Jack Halloran paved the way for a series clinching win for the Emory University baseball team Sunday afternoon in Montgomery, AL.
Halloran and company broke open a 5-5 ballgame in extra innings to give Emory its sixth win of the season, moving to 6-5 overall. Huntingdon College drops to 5-5 with the loss.
The first six batters of the tenth reached base safely for the Eagles as they downed the Hawks in the rubber match. Senior Zeke Diamond led off as he reached on an error and would score two batters later on a run-scoring single by Henry Pelinski. After a Jacob Grossman single, Halloran connected for his second home run this week.
Halloran finished the game 2-for-5 with a career-best five RBI. He was one of five Eagles with two or more hits with Pelinski and Grossman contributing to the offense as both Eagles tallied two RBI. Grossman led all hitters with a three-hit performance, going 3-for-5 with a double.
Emory opened the game with a three spot in the first, thanks to a two-run double from Grossman. The Eagles increased their lead to 5-0 with RBI singles by Pelinski and Halloran in the sixth.
Senior Jack Brodsky was cruising on the mound, carrying a one-hit shutout into the sixth when the Hawks rallied for two in the frame. Brodsky took the no decision after a strong start, allowing two runs (1 ER) on three hits while striking out six.
Huntingdon continued its rally in the seventh, scoring three times to tie the game with Andrew Knight delivering a two-run double as part of the scoring.
The Eagles escaped further damage in the eighth as junior Mike Golob got out of a bases loaded jam, forcing Hall Billings into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. Golob saw two more runs reach base against him in the ninth with back-to-back two-out singles in the ninth but got out of the jam with a strikeout. In the 10th, Golob allowed two runs to reach via a walk in the tenth after the crooked Eagles half inning but forced Knight into a ground out for the final out of the game.
Emory returns to the diamond Tuesday evening with a rematch against in-state foe Berry College in Rome, GA. The Eagles defeated the Vikings 17-5 in Atlanta back on February 8th in the season opener.