The No. 25 ranked Emory baseball team (13-6) took the diamond for their series finale against the Piedmont Lions (12-6) on Sunday afternoon, looking to avoid a sweep after dropping the first two games of the set. After a couple of lackluster performances at the plate to start the weekend, the Emory offense erupted for 18 runs to take the series finale over the Lions, 18-11.
 
The Eagles saw seven different players record multi-hit games on Sunday, with sophomore shortstop Zach Hanson leading the way with four out of the nine hole. The heart of the Emory order delivered, with the two through six spots in the lineup all delivering at least one RBI. A trio of seniors left the yard on Sunday with Jack Halloran, Matthew Sicoli, and Jonah Wronski all recording home runs in the win. Sicoli and Halloran led the team in RBI with five and four, respectively.
 
Junior Adam Geller drew the start on the hill for Emory, looking to continue his strong campaign, but got himself into some trouble on Sunday. The Eagles found themselves in an early hole for the second consecutive day, as the Lions put up a four spot in the top of the first on three hits, two walks, and a hit by pitch.
 
Emory answered quickly, though, as sophomores Jake Lawson and Aidan Conley clubbed back-to-back doubles to leadoff the game and get Emory on the board. Just a couple of batters later, Halloran crushed a two-run homerun over the left field fence. Moments after Halloran's home run, Wronski swung and lined a pitch over the left field fence to tie up the game at 4. The home run got out in a hurry and was the first of Wronski's collegiate career.
 
After a scoreless second inning, the offenses once again came back to life in the third. After a pair of leadoff singles and another batter reaching on an error, Geller faced bases loaded with nobody out. He limited the damage to just two runs, though, getting a couple of outs to retire the side.
 
Emory once again answered with a four-spot of their own in the bottom half of the inning on two hits and three walks. After one run had already come across in the inning, Hanson came up with bases loaded and two outs. The sophomore laced a single down the left field line and plated a pair. An errant throw on the play saw a third run come across as Emory took an 8-6 lead after three innings.
 
Piedmont would eventually chase Geller off the mound in the fourth, with a walk followed by three-straight hits to bring across a run. His final line came to 3.2 innings, two strikeouts and seven earned runs on eight hits and three walks. Senior Ryan Kelly stopped the bleeding and kept the score at 8-7 with the Eagles still on top.
 
Sicoli got the run right back for Emory, swatting a towering home run over the left field fence to bring things to 9-7. The Eagles went on to put up another four spot in the fifth inning to take a 13-7 lead. Emory capitalized on a couple of miscues in the inning, bringing around a few extra runs after a wild throw and a fielding error from the Piedmont shortstop.
 
The Lions tried to claw back in with a couple of runs in the sixth, but Head Coach Bobby Perez made a call to the bullpen to his reliable closer senior Bennett Speicher to come in and finish off the remaining 11 outs.
 
As Speicher quieted the Lions' bats, the Eagles continued to tack on insurance as they opened up the lead to 16-9 in the seventh inning. After already slugging three home runs, the Eagles opted to play a little small ball, with Lawson and Conley bunting for hits in back-to-back plate appearances after Hanson had led off the inning with a single. Sicoli would drive in two with a single through the left side before senior Blake Dincman brought around one more with a single.
 
The Lions capitalized on a couple fortuitous bounces in the top of the eighth, bringing around two runs, but the Eagles got them right back to make it 18-11. Speicher sat down the Lions in order in the ninth, securing an Emory win.
 
Kelly earned the win with his relief performance and Speicher picked up his fifth save of the year after recording the final 11 outs.
 
The Eagles improve to 13-6 on the year with the win. They'll have a quick turnaround as they get set to take on the LaGrange Panthers on Tuesday, March 18^th for their final non-conference game of the season. The game is set for a 3:00 PM start and will be played at Emory's Chappell Park.