ATLANTA – An early five run deficit proved too large for the Southwestern University baseball team Friday as their comeback fell short against Emory University, 10-2 in game one of a three-game series.
Southwestern (10-24) posted a small comeback in the seventh but Emory (22-9) added four more runs in the fifth inning to seal the win. The Pirates and Eagles continue the non-conference series at Chappell Park on Saturday starting at 1 p.m.
Emory got on the board in the bottom of the first inning with a sacrifice fly to go up 1-0. However, the Eagles big inning came in the bottom of the third when they added five runs on four hits and also aided by two Southwestern errors.
Connor Dillman was impressive for Emory as he pitched eight innings and scattered just four hits while allowing two runs.
Those two Pirate runs came in the top of the seventh inning when Chase Allen doubled down the left line to score Charlie St. Clair. St. Clair started the inning with a single and was the only Pirate to record multiple hits going 2-for-4.
Just one batter later Clayton Sparks picked up the final Southwestern RBI on a sacrifice fly that scored Will Cates.
Southwestern used five different pitchers in the loss as starter Joseph Koch's 2.2 innings was the longest of any Pirate. Koch was only charged with one earned run as the Eagles plated six during his time on the mound.
Noah Clark, Michael Platz and Matt Litz held the Eagles without a hit over the final three frames. The trio also picked up two strikeouts and only allowed three base runners.