The Emory University baseball team traveled north to Mount Berry, Georgia Saturday afternoon to conclude its season-opening weekend series with Berry College. After the Eagles' dramatic, late-inning win on Friday in the opener, the Vikings' offense proved too much for Emory as Berry swept both games of the doubleheader to win the series.
Game 1: Berry 28, Emory 13 (7 innings)
On the weekend of Super Bowl LIX, it was only fitting that a football score broke out as the Vikings scored in all six innings as they won the slugfest in the first game of the doubleheader.
Senior Jack Halloran led the charge for the Eagles in the opener Saturday afternoon as he launched a grand slam to finish the game 1-for-3 with four RBI. Junior Zach Wasserlauf recorded three RBI and sophomores Zach Hanson and Jake Lawson both finished with a pair of RBIs.
For the second consecutive game, Emory found itself in an early hole as Berry plated five runs in the opening frame with another two coming across in the second to lead 7-1 through two. Sophomore Aidan Conley provided the lone Eagles run with a solo home run in the second.
Trailing by six, the Eagles used three straight innings with four runs scored to claim a 13-10 advantage through the visitor half of five innings.
Halloran's grand slam in the third kick-started the Emory rally as he brought the score to 7-5 but the Vikings quickly responded with two more in the bottom of the inning.
In the fourth inning, the Eagles saw Hanson and Wasserlauf collect run-scoring hits before Lawson tied the game at 9-9 with his two-run double.
After the Vikings regained the lead with a single run in the fourth, Hanson and Wasseraluf once more came through in the fifth with run-producing hits to give the Eagles a 13-10 lead.
Berry's offense unfortunately exploded in the fifth and sixth frames as the Vikings scored nine runs in both innings to force the game to end via mercy rule after 18 unanswered runs.
Game 2: Berry 17, Emory 8 (7 innings)
The Eagles' offense came out of the gates firing as Emory struck for three runs in the first inning to try and seize some momentum. Halloran began the scoring with a single to center to plate classmate Matthew Sicoli prior to sophomore Ryan Henry scoring two with his line drive single to right center.
The lead was short-lived however as after committing seven errors in the first game of the day, Emory's defense proved to be costly once more in the night cap as three more errors led to 14 unearned runs as Berry took the rubber game in the series.
The Vikings capitalized on two of Emory's defensive miscues in the second inning as they plated seven runs, all unearned, to move back in front. Berry later tacked on additional runs in the fourth and fifth to lead 10-3 going into the sixth inning.
The Eagles showed some life in the sixth as Emory batted around the lineup to score five times to cut the deficit to 10-8. Hanson worked a bases-loaded walk before sophomore Mitchell Smallwood singled home senior Blake Dinçman. The big hit in the frame came from Lawson as he cleared the bases with a one-out double to deep centerfield. The Eagles brought the tying run to the dish in the inning but Aidan Moraitaki retired the final two batters to end the threat after coming in from the bullpen.
Berry was able to put the game out of reach during its final time at bat in the sixth as one more Emory error contributed to another seven-run frame with all runs counting as unearned.
The Eagles will look to shake off the doubleheader sweep when they return to Chappell Park next Friday, February 14th, to start a three-game weekend series with #19 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. First pitch in Friday's opener is scheduled for 2:00 PM.
