The Emory University baseball team captured its second straight University Athletic Association championship on Saturday, sweeping a doubleheader over the Bears of WashU on senior day.
Needing just one win following the Eagles' walk-off win in the opener on Friday, the Emory offense left no doubt in the first game of the afternoon, scoring 13 runs across the first four innings en route to the 14-9 win to clinch the championship. The conference title is the 15th in program history for the Eagles and the first outright championship since 2012. The 15 titles are the most in UAA baseball history.
Prior to the start of the double dip, the Eagles honored their graduating class of Joey Bock, Mike Golob, Jack Masonis, Justin Melton, Aaron Mishoulam, Henry Pelinski, Ellis Schwartz and Tyler McLoughlin with a special on field ceremony.
Game 1: Emory 14, WashU 9
After scoring five runs over the final two innings on Friday, the Eagles offense continued to click in game one on Saturday, scoring 13 runs early to clinch the outright championship.
Emory fell behind 1-0 as the Bears struck first but home runs by sophomores Matthew Sicoli and Jack Halloran put the Eagles ahead 3-1. Sicoli went yard again his next time to the plate in the second inning, pushing the Emory lead to 5-1. The two home runs were the firsts of Sicoli's career.
WashU got a pair of runs back in the third but back-to-back four-run frames from the Eagles in the third and fourth extended the lead to 13-3.
McLoughlin opened the scoring in the third with a run-scoring double before Schwartz worked a bases loaded walk. Sicoli cashed in with another RISP opportunity, plating two with a single up the middle. In the fourth, sophomore Blake Dincman smacked a double to left center to bring home McLoughlin before Schwartz and Halloran added RBI singles later in the inning.
The Bears scored six times across the final four innings but the damage had been done as the Eagles won by five.
Bock earned the senior day win as he grinded through 5+ innings, allowing five runs (4 ER) on eight hits while striking out four. Classmate Golob tossed a scoreless 1.2 innings to end the ballgame, working around a hit and a walk to seal the win.
Game 2: Emory 11, WashU (7 innings)
The Eagles scored all six times they went to the plate, tallying 11 runs over six innings to down the Bears in game three of the series in mercy rule fashion.
Sophomore Walker Woolf drove in a career-high four runs, including a bases-clearing triple in the sixth, to power Emory to the 10-run win. Woolf was one of six Eagles to drive in at least one run in the contest.
For the third time in the series, the Bears scored in the top half of the first but the lead was short lived as Pelinski plated Sicoli with a double to left center in the home half of the first.
From there it was all Eagles as freshman Zach Wasserlauf had a RBI double of his own in the second before Schwartz smoked his ninth home run of the year in the third to kick start a three-run frame.
Schwartz tacked on another RBI with a sac fly in the fourth before McLoughlin got in on the home run action with his ninth round tripper of the season in the fifth. Pelinski added a run-scoring triple to open the sixth before Woolf essentially ended the game three batters later as he cleared the bases, just missing his first career home run, as he hit the yellow tape of the fence in right center.
After allowing a first inning run, sophomore Ryan Reynolds was in cruise control for his sixth win of the season as he worked into the seventh. Reynolds gave up the single run on eight hits while striking out five.
The Eagles will go for the series sweep on Sunday as the finale is schedule to start at 12:00 PM from Chappell Park in Atlanta.