The Emory University baseball team earned its first victory of the 2026 season Tuesday afternoon with an extra inning walk-off win over LaGrange College at Chappell Park in Atlanta.
The Eagles erased two different deficits over the first seven innings before junior Zach Hanson plated freshman Ryan Roggin in the bottom of the tenth to give Emory the 8-7 win. Junior Jonathan Lang was one of the offensive standouts as he drove in three runs in a 2-for-5 day with Roggin and junior Aidan Conley added two-hit performances and one RBI each.
Trailing 3-0, Emory wiped away its first deficit of the afternoon with three-run spot in the third inning. Conley brought home Roggin for the team's first run before Lang followed with a two-run single to score Conley and junior Jake Lawson with the game-tying runs.
The Panthers answered with two runs in the fourth but freshman Mario Borges cut into the LaGrange lead with a run-scoring single in the home half of the inning as he plated classmate Dalton Needle.
LaGrange added a run in the sixth to put the Eagles behind at 6-4 going into the seventh. During Emory's turn at the plate, the Eagles took advantage of a failed picked off attempt to move Hanson 90 feet from home plate prior to Lang scoring him with a single to right. Graduate student Mark Serdinak continued the inning with a double to left center before Emory then utilized a trio of pinch hitters to continue the rally. Junior Mitchell Smallwood evened the score at 6-6 as he beat out a potential double play, plating Lang on the fielder's choice. Later, with the bases loaded, Roggin worked a walk to force in Serdinak with the go-ahead run.
Following two shutdown frames including three strikeouts by Paul Fine, the Panthers got to the Eagles in the top of the ninth as the first two batters reached against Nic Roma. A sac bunt and groundout proceeded to tie the score once again at 7-7 and forced the game into extra innings.
After a strong 1-2-3 bounce back frame from Roma in the tenth, Roggin started the home half with a double down the left field line. Lawson moved him to third with a sac bunt before Hanson provided the dramatics with a long single to the warning track in left, scoring Roggin with the game-winning tally.
The Eagles will look to keep the momentum going as the team travels to Montgomery, Alabama this week to play Spalding and Huntingdon over a three-day span.
