The Emory University baseball team claimed a share of the University Athletic Association championship Sunday afternoon winning a high-scoring affair over Brandeis University at Chappell Park in Atlanta.
The Eagles closed out the regular season on a high note, outscoring the Judges 19-10 in the finale. With Case Western Reserve's walk off win over WashU earlier in the day, the Eagles and Spartans finished the UAA with identical 12-4 marks giving Emory a share of the UAA crown for the first time since 2015.
In Sunday's action, both offenses caught fire in the early goings as Brandeis held a 10-8 lead through three innings.
After seeing the Judges open the contest with three in the first Emory, as the team did all series, answered with six runs in the bottom half of the inning, scoring six times without the benefit of a hit as the Eagles took advantage of pitching ineffectiveness and several defensive miscues.
The Judges added three back in the second and four more in the fourth prior to the Emory bullpen keeping them scoreless for the final six frames. Freshman Ryan Reynolds delivered his finest outing of his career so far, spinning 3.1 innings of shutout ball and struck out to pick up his first collegiate win. Juniors Mike Golob and Justin Melton followed with great appearances, combining to retire nine of the 10 batters they faced to seal the win.
Trailing 10-6, the Eagles offense went to work to give the bullpen ample amount of runs support as the bats scored 13 unanswered. Emory posted two runs in the third and one in the fourth before taking the lead for good in the fifth with five runs, featuring a towering three-run home off the bat of junior Ellis Schwartz that nearly reached the softball field over the right field fence.
Schwartz reached base three times and drove in a game-high three runs. Eight of the nine members of the starting lineup reached base with a hit in the win and seven different players drove in at least one run. Senior Zeke Diamond continued his torrid weekend, collecting another four hits to go along with two RBI and three runs scored.
The Eagles wrap up the regular season with a 25-13 record, closing the year with a stretch of 11 out of 12 wins and were 11-2 in the month of April. Emory will now await word on their postseason fate and see if they will be one of the team's selected to the NCAA tournament when the field is announced Monday, May 16th.