Seniors Matthew Sicoli and Brok Liu provided the dramatics in the Emory University baseball team's regular season finale Sunday afternoon, capping off a 5-4, come-from-behind victory over the WashU Bears at Chappell Park in Atlanta.
With the win, the Eagles seal up their regular season with a 26-14 overall record and a 12-8 mark inside UAA competition as Emory finishes second in the conference table, the fourth straight season EU has placed among the top two in the league.
Sunday got off slow for the Eagles as the Blue and Gold trailed 4-0 through an inning and half as three errors helped attribute to four WashU runs. Emory also struggled to find its footing against the Bears' Townsend Stevenson as he fired six shutout frames.
However, once Stevenson was lifted from the game due to a rising pitch count, the Eagles soon took advantage of the WashU bullpen.
In the seventh, Emory slashed the deficit in half as seniors Jack Halloran and Blake Dincman both worked bases-loaded walks to make it a 4-2 game. With Halloran's RBI, he became the all-time program record holder for most runs batted in by an Eagle with his 170th of his career.
After taking the extra-inning loss on Friday, senior Bennett Speicher returned to the hill with a flawless bounce back outing. He spun two perfect innings, retiring all six batters he faced to put the Eagles in prime position to collect their second walk off win of the weekend.
Sophomore Aidan Conley drew a lead off walk to start the ninth to bring Sicoli to the dish. On the second pitch he saw, Sicoli launched a towering shot to left field for a game-tying, two-run home run.
Following Sicoli's heroics, the Eagles continued their late-game theatrics as a double from Halloran, an infield bunt single by Dincman and intentional walk to junior Zach Wasserlauf crowded the bases for Liu. On the fifth pitch of the at bat, Liu sent a line drive into the centerfield grass, scoring Halloran with the game-winning run.
The Eagles will now wait to find out if they'll receive an at-large bid for the NCAA postseason when the tournament field is announced on Monday, May 12th.
