The No. 25 ranked Emory baseball team (12-6) continued its three-game set with the Piedmont Lions on Saturday afternoon, playing the middle game of the series at Chappell Park in Atlanta, Georgia. Emory was on the wrong side of a 1-0 game in the opener on Friday, with the Eagles looking to wake the bats up and even things up at home. While the offense provided a flurry of runs early, the Lions used a late surge to run past the Eagles and win, 11-5.
 
Emory sent out senior Ryan Reynolds to toe the slab on Saturday, looking to build off four scoreless innings against Covenant last week. Reynolds struggled out of the gate, though, putting a couple guys on via the walk and a hit by pitch. The Lions capitalized on the early opportunity in the top of the first, bringing around a pair after a runner scored on a failed pickoff attempt that skipped away with another run coming around moments later on an RBI double.
 
Luckily, the Eagles' offense was quick to shake off yesterday's two-hit performance, rattling off three straight singles off of Piedmont's Peyton Irvin to start the game. Senior Matthew Sicoli had the final hit of the sequence, bringing around a run to bring the score to 2-1 after the first inning.
 
After a lengthy first frame, both pitchers worked quickly in the second with no runs and no hits for either offense.
 
The Piedmont offense led off the top of the third with a walk followed by a pair of singles, leading to a quick run to open up a 3-1 lead. The Lions extended the lead to 4-1 just moments later as Reynolds got the fourth batter of the inning to bounce into a fielder's choice. With one out and runners on the corners, the Lions continued to threaten to add on a couple more. Yet, senior Jonah Wronski caught a pair of runners stealing to end the inning and stop the bleeding.
 
After a quiet bottom half of the third for Emory, the Lions tacked on another run with a leadoff home run over the left field fence. Reynolds went on to walk the next two batters, as the Lions chased him out of the game after three innings of work. His final line came to 3.0 innings, five hits, four walks, and four earned runs.
 
With two runners on and nobody out, Head Coach Bobby Perez made the call to sophomore Nick Stellabotte to limit the damage. His first batter bunted for a hit, loading the bases. Yet, Stellabotte picked up a strikeout and a pair of flyouts over the next three batters to keep the score at 5-1.
 
In a four-run hole, the Eagles needed a spark and sophomore Aidan Conley delivered. The sophomore third baseman slugged a two-out, three-run home run over the right field fence to bring the Eagles within one at 5-4. The home run was Conley's fifth of the year, tied for the most on the roster. The Emory pitching staff continued to struggle with control, though, as the Lions used three walks and a sac fly in the top of the fifth to score a run and open the lead back up to 6-4. Stellabotte ultimately went on to finish with a line of 3.0 innings and one earned run on one hit and five walks.
 
Emory had its best chance to tie things up in the bottom of the sixth, stringing together a series of two-out hits. The final hit of the inning came off the bat of Sicoli, shooting one through the right side. The single brought around one run before the game-tying run was cut down trying to score from second by a perfect throw from the Piedmont right fielder.
 
That would be Emory's final threat, as they failed to bring around any runs over their final three innings. Meanwhile, the Lions added one more run in the top of the seventh and four in the eighth to extend their lead to 11-5. Sophomore Mihir Patel was a bright spot on the day, pitching 1.1 innings to finish the game without surrendering a run.
 
The Lions capitalized on the Eagles' miscues on Saturday, reaching base 10 times via the walk and four batters being hit by a pitch to grant a total of 14 free passes. The Emory defense surrendered three errors on the day as well, keeping a couple Piedmont rallies alive.
 
The loss drops Emory to 12-6 on the year. The Eagles will look to avoid a sweep on Sunday when they wrap up their series with Piedmont at 2:00 PM. The game will be played at Chappell Park on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.