EMORY, Va. – The Coker University Baseball Team (12-20, 3-10 SAC) defeated Emory & Henry College (8-21, 2-8 SAC) in game one of a three-game South Atlantic Conference series on Saturday afternoon. The two squads combined for 13 home runs and 40 hits on a blustery Southwest Virginia afternoon, as the Cobras out-slugged the Wasps 23-15.
The Basics
FINAL SCORE – Coker 23, Emory & Henry 15
LOCATION – Emory, Virginia
VENUE – Porterfield-DeVault Field
RECORDS – Emory & Henry (8-21, 2-8 SAC); Coker (12-20, 3-10 SAC)
How It Happened
The visiting Cobras did not wait around to get on the scoreboard as the first three batters reached base and Kody Hanna unloaded over the left-centerfield fence for a grand slam to give Coker a 4-0 lead before an out was recorded. The Wasps responded in the bottom of the first when junior outfielder Wayne Mize (Salisbury, N.C.) and junior designated hitter Cole Cunningham (Wake Forest, N.C.) strung together a pair of two-out hits and fifth-year first baseman Matthew Long (Willow Spring, N.C.) launched a ball over the fence in left to trim the deficit to 4-3.
The Cobras added one in the top of the second and six in the visiting half of the third, highlighted by another solo shot from Hanna, as they ran their advantage out to 11-3. E&H answered in the bottom of the third when Mize and Cunningham stroked back-to-back solo home runs to cut into the Coker lead at 11-5.
The visitors tacked on two in the fourth and four in the fifth. Hanna left the yard for the third time of the afternoon, this time a two-run shot and was followed up by Donovan Frayer's solo bomb to make it 17-5. E&H responded once more as Mize singled with one out and scored on Long's second homer of the day, this one of the two-run variety. Senior outfielder Christian Schmidt (Fuquay-Varina, N.C.) drew a two-out walk and senior Camden Bailey (Sterling, Ill.) smashed his first home run of the season to bring the Wasps back within a 17-9 score.
Coker added two more in the top of the seventh but again the Wasps answered with two of their own on another solo shot from Mize and an RBI double from Bailey that scored Schmidt to make the score 19-11. A solo home run from Caleb McCants in the top of the eighth made it 20-11 and Mize's third bomb of the day, this time a two-run shot, tied the E&H single-game program record and reduced the deficit back to 20-13. The Cobras added three insurance runs in the top of the ninth and E&H tallied two in the home half, but it was too little too late as Coker took the 23-15 victory.
Aaron Diaz earned the win on the mound for Coker as he went five innings, surrendering nine runs and 11 hits while striking out three batters. Junior righty Jack Swarbrick (Haverhill, Mass.) took the loss for the Wasps as he gave up 11 runs on ten hits over 2.2 innings of work. Mize led the offense, tying the school record with with his three home runs adding four driven in. Long tallied five RBI and Bailey drove in three runs in the losing effort.
Up Next
Emory & Henry will wrap up the weekend series against Coker with a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon. First pitch of game one is scheduled for noon.
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