From Emory University Athletics
Emory University senior Brett Lake went three-for-five to become the 12th player in school history with 200 hits, and senior Connor Dillman allowed just four hits over eight innings, as the Eagles stayed alive at the South Regional of the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships with an 8-1 win over ninth-ranked Methodist University on Thursday.
Emory (27-13), the fifth-seeded team at the South Regional in Demorest, Georgia, avoided elimination with the win, following its tournament-opening loss to Pacific Lutheran on Wednesday. The Eagles will play another elimination game on Friday at 3:30 pm.
For the second-straight game, the Eagles jumped out to a 1-0 lead, rallying for a two-out run. Lake started the rally with a two-out single, becoming just the 12thplayer in the program's history to reach the 200-hit mark for a career on the play. He later stole second, and scored on an RBI single from sophomore Wilson Morgan, putting the Eagles on top by a run.
The Monarchs responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning on an RBI hit from Ray Lanners, tying the score at 1-1.
Emory regained the lead in the top of the fourth, when sophomore Philip Maldari scored from third on a fly out to right field by sophomore Brian Hernandez with one out. Maldari initially held at third base on the play, but a throw to the plate by Steven Kirby went up the third base line, with nobody covering the plate for Methodist, the Eagles' third baseman was able to score on a heads-up play, giving Emory a 2-1 advantage.
The Eagles added three more runs in the fifth, including one on a solo home run for senior Wes Peacock to start the inning, his team-leading fourth home run of the campaign. Run-scoring singles from Maldari and junior Ben Vizvary pushed the lead to 5-1, as the Eagles tallied six hits in the frame, and chased starter Travis Johnson from the game after four and a third innings.
Opposing starting pitchers have now thrown more than five innings just once in the Eagles' last 11 NCAA Tournament games.
Meanwhile, Dillman was stellar in the game, surrendering a pair of hits in both the first and fifth innings, and holding the Monarchs without a base hit in his other six innings of work. Throwing a season-high 127 pitches, the senior righty struck out three and walked five, improving to 7-4 on the year and lowering his ERA to 3.93.
Emory added a run in the eighth, when junior Dylan Eisner scored on a wild pitch, and two more in the ninth on a two-RBI single from Morgan. Senior Michael Byman retired the side in order in the ninth to close out the victory for the Eagles.
Emory finished the game with 19 hits, the most in a game by the team since their win over Shenandoah University at last year's NCAA South Regional on May 17th, 2014. Morgan was three-for-four with a team-best three runs batted in, while Maldari added a three-for-four day at the plate as well, and is now five-for-nine with two doubles in the Eagles' two NCAA Tournament games.
With the win, Emory improved to 16-11 all-time in elimination games at the NCAA Championships, including a 13-3 mark in their last 16 NCAA elimination games.
Johnson took the loss for the Monarchs, falling to 8-2 on the season, with both losses coming against Emory. Methodist, which was eliminated from the tournament with the loss, ended its 2015 campaign with an overall record of 32-10.