The Emory University baseball program completed the weekend sweep of Middlebury College Sunday afternoon, defeating the Panthers, 5-3, in the series finale at Chappell Park in Atlanta.
The Eagles were anchored by strong pitching performances once again by junior Adam Geller and senior Bennett Speicher as Emory won its fifth straight game to run its record to 9-4 on the season. With the sweep, Middlebury opens its 2025 campaign at 0-3.
Coming off back-to-back strikeout efforts of eight and nine as well as seven-inning shutout last Sunday, Geller continued to dazzle on the mound for the Eagles as he won his second straight decision. Geller completed six innings as he allowed just two runs on four hits and two walks and struck out 10 batters to set a new career-high for the third consecutive outing.
Behind Geller, sophomore Nick Stellabotte and Speicher recorded the final nine outs to seal the win. Speicher was impressive again in relief as he locked down his third save with two scoreless innings, working around two hits and one walk and struck out four.
The Eagles scored four of their five runs in the first three innings with two runs coming home on wild pitches and sophomore Jake Lawson delivering a game-tying triple in the second and senior Jack Halloran doubling the Emory lead to 4-2 with his double to plate classmate Matthew Sicoli in the third.
Middlebury scored two runs in the second but then went quiet at the plate as Geller retired 12 straight batters until a two-out walk in the sixth.
The Panthers scratched across one run in the seventh and threatened in the eighth as they had the tying run at third prior to Speicher ending the threat with a strikeout to end the inning.
Middlebury again saw two runners reach in the ninth to send Kyle McCauslan to the plate with runners on first and second and two outs. McCauslan sent a deep drive to the left centerfield gap off a Speicher offering but an impressive, leaping catch against the wall by Lawson ended the game to give Emory the win.
The Eagles will put their winning streak to the test next weekend with a three-game series against in-state foe Covenant College. The first game of the series is scheduled for a 2:00 PM start Friday afternoon in Atlanta.
