From Emory University Athletics
The Emory University baseball program celebrated "Senior Day" in crazy fashion on Saturday afternoon against Piedmont College. With one out in the bottom of the 11th and the score tied at 5-5, senior David Coble reached on a walk, stole second and was advanced over to third on a sacrifice by senior Dylan Eisner. With a first base open, the Lions elected to walk junior Brian Hernandez. However on pitch number three of the at bat, Piedmont's Josh Thomas's offering was mishandled by catcher Collin Grant and went all the way to the backstop, allowing Coble to score the winning run easily from third.
The win marks the Eagles' third walk off victory of the season and gives Emory an overall record of 30-9. The third straight season with at least 30 wins and the 12th time in program history. Piedmont has now lost three straight contests and is 20-19 on the year.
Prior to the start of the contest, the Eagles honored the six members of the graduating class of 2016: Coble, Dylan Eisner, Jack Karras, Paul Merolla, Chris Slivka and Ben Vizvary with a pregame ceremony.
Eisner and Coble both had big days at the plate in their final games at Chappell Park. Eisner collected his first four hit game of the season, going 4-for-4 with one walk and a sacrifice bunt meanwhile Coble went 3-for-4 at the dish with two walks, a stolen base and scored four runs including the game-winner. Hernandez also went 3-for-4 with three RBI and was responsible in some fashion for bringing home five of the Eagles' six runs in the contest.
Juniors Luke Emmett and Kyle Monk combined to throw six scoreless innings out of the pen, only allowing two hits over the six frames. Emmett tossed 3.2 innings of in relief of Merolla (5.0 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 3 K), giving up just two hits and struck out five. Monk earned his third victory of the year, throwing 2.1 hitless innings with two strikeouts and two free passes. He escaped a big runners of the corner with only one out jam in the 10th inning to keep the game knotted at 5-5.