EMORY, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Baseball Team (11-29) avenged a pair of early-season losses to King (Tenn.) University (12-24) in midweek non-conference play on Tuesday afternoon. The Wasps broke out the bats as they tallied 16 hits on their way to a 19-5 win.
The Basics
FINAL SCORE – Emory & Henry 19, King (Tenn.) 5
LOCATION – Emory, Virginia
VENUE – Porterfield-DeVault Field
RECORDS – Emory & Henry (11-29, 3-14 SAC); King (Tenn.) (12-24, 2-17 SAC)
How It Happened
The Tornado were first on the scoreboard in the top of the second inning as Jake Lathrop doubled and came around to score to give them the 1-0 lead. The Wasps answered in the bottom of the inning on a double from fifth-year first baseman Matthew Long (Willow Spring, N.C.), an RBI triple from senior outfielder Jermie Greene, Jr. (Troutman, N.C.) and an RBI sacrifice fly off the bat of junior shortstop Kolby Anderson (King William, Va.) to push E&H in front by a 2-1 score after two innings.
King threatened in the top of the fifth inning as they had runners on first and second base with only one out but junior righty Andrew Parr (Opelika, Ala.) worked out of danger as he forced a flyout to right and a groundout to shortstop to escape without allowing a run.
The Wasps added a run in the bottom of the fifth inning when junior second baseman Triston Hensley (Covington, Va.) launched a pitch over the fence in dead center to push the lead to 3-1. Back-to-back singles from junior third baseman Jared Foley (Sparta, N.C.) and senior outfielder Tyler Bradley (Bessemer City, N.C.) put a runner in scoring position and Foley touched home on a throwing error by the King catcher to make it a 4-1 game. Two more walks issued to Wasp batters loaded the bases for Greene Jr. who laced an RBI double down the right field line to balloon the E&H advantage to 6-1.
Anderson led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Hensley and scored on an RBI single from Foley to run the score to 7-1. Junior outfielder Wayne Mize (Salisbury, N.C.) was plunked by a pitch and junior designated hitter Cole Cunningham (Wake Forest, N.C.) ripped a two-RBI double into the left-center gap to plate a pair and give the Wasps a 10-1 lead. Jake Lathrop cut into the lead in the top of the eighth with a solo shot to left field to reduce the deficit to 10-2.
The Wasps poured it on in the bottom half of the eighth inning. Bradley led off with a triple, Mize followed up with an RBI single and came around to score on an RBI single from Cunningham. E&H pushed across two more via Tornado errors and Foley ripped a two-RBI double to left field to make it 16-2. Bradley then recorded his second hit of the inning with an RBI single and Mize rounded out the inning with a two-run blast to right center to give E&H the 19-2 advantage. The Tornado tallied three runs in the top of the ninth but the home squad held on for the 19-5 victory.
Parr earned the win on the hill for the Wasps as he went seven innings, allowing just five hits and one run while fanning a pair of Tornado batters. Carson Sanner took the loss for the Tornado as he surrendered five runs and five hits while issuing a pair of free passes over 4.1 innings of work. Mize, Bradley, Foley and Cunningham each recorded three RBI to lead the Wasps' offensive explosion.
Up Next
Emory & Henry hosts Limestone University in the final home South Atlantic Conference series of the season this weekend. First pitch of Friday's game one is scheduled for 3:00 p.m..
---E&H---