Box Score The No. 25 ranked Emory baseball team (12-5) made the trip to Demorest, Georgia on Friday to take on an in-state foe in the Piedmont Lions, who received votes in the most recent d3baseball national poll. The game served as the opener to a three-game set, with the two programs meeting on the diamond for the 26^th consecutive season. While the Emory offense was scorching hot riding an eight-game winning streak into the weekend, the Piedmont pitching staff stifled the Eagles' bats. The Eagles mustered just two hits and struck out 14 times, falling to the Lions, 1-0.
 
Despite the loss, junior Josh Zuckerman strung together one of his best starts of the season, pitching 6.0 innings with three hits and six punchouts. Zuckerman surrendered the game's lone run, coming on a solo home run in the third inning. Without any run support, the junior was dealt his first loss of the season to bring his record to 3-1 this spring. Sophomore JT Rattigan kept the Eagles within striking distance down the stretch, pitching 2.0 hitless innings of shutout relief.
 
Zuckerman had to work out of trouble early after walking then plunking a batter on back-to-back at bats to open his start. The junior stranded a pair, though, picking up a strikeout and a groundout on consecutive batters. Zuckerman found himself in hot water again in the bottom half of the second, surrendering a leadoff double before walking the next batter. Zuckerman picked up a flyout and then struck out a guy looking before walking the fifth batter of the inning to load the bases. With the bases juiced, the hurler caught a batter looking to keep things scoreless.
 
After threatening for the first couple of innings, the Lions finally broke through in the bottom of the third as Zuckerman surrendered a deep solo home run to left field. Meanwhile, Piedmont's Zeke Swartz was cruising as he punched out seven of the first nine Eagles he faced in a perfect start to his afternoon.
 
The two starters continued to duel, with the offenses unable to find any luck against either Zuckerman or Swartz. Swartz brought a no hitter into the sixth inning until sophomore Zach Hanson broke it up with a two-out double to give Emory it's first chance at tying things up. Sophomore Jake Lawson picked up a hit just a batter later, but it wasn't enough to score Hanson before Swartz got the Eagles to bounce into a fielder's choice to end the threat.
 
There would be no more hits in the contest after the Eagles' brief burst of offense in the sixth. Rattigan was able to hold the Lions scoreless in the seventh and eighth innings to keep Emory in the game, but Swartz was simply too dominant on Friday. Swartz wrapped up his day with a dazzling line of 8.0 innings, two hits, and 13 strikeouts to shut down the Emory offense.
 
At 100 pitches, the Lions went to the bullpen to ice things out. The Eagles didn't go out without a fight, with sophomore Aidan Conley wearing a pitch in the leadoff spot to put the tying run on base. Yet, the Eagles bounced into a double play, effectively putting an end to the rally as Piedmont came away with a 1-0 win.
 
The loss drops Emory to 12-5 this season and snaps an eight-game winning streak. The Eagles will look to get some revenge tomorrow as they get set to host the second game of the series at Chappell Park in Atlanta, Georgia. The game is scheduled to get started at 1:00 PM tomorrow.