ATLANTA—An early rally, a big middle inning and the thwarting of a late comeback all highlighted the Oglethorpe baseball team's season-opening 10-9 win over Emory Tuesday night in a frozen marathon at Hermance Stadium.
Brick Conway debuted for the Stormy Petrels with three hits while three others posted multiple hits. Paul Gaeta earned the win in relief with two shutout innings in a day that saw eight arms make an appearance.
Oglethorpe's early rally came after the team had fallen behind 4-0 after one and a half, setting up a Drew Jabaley double, a Trey Kinnan squeeze play, and a Carter Guarino run scored after stealing third and coming home on an errant throw. The trio of plays in a span of just a few minutes helped Oglethorpe cut the lead to 4-3.
Emory went back up 6-3 in the third, but Oglethorpe took the lead for good with its big inning in the fourth. This one saw Jaxson Corr drive home Kinnan, Cooper Krause drive in Corr with a double, Blair Barnes get his first RBI of the season with a ground ball, and Jabaley drive in his second of the day with another ground ball. Oglethorpe went ahead 8-6 with the five-spot in the fourth.
Two innings later, Guarino drew a bases-loaded walk, then Kinnan got his second hit of the day with an RBI single to left field, making it 10-6.
Emory would threaten in each remaining inning but to no avail. In the sixth, with the score still 8-6, the Eagles put runners on second and third but Charlie Boyce fanned his third in the inning to keep it 8-6. In the seventh, Emory had two on with one out but came up empty thanks to Hunter Spence getting a strikeout and flyout to end the inning.
Things nearly took a turn for the worse in the eighth when Emory put up three runs to make it 10-9 and threatened to take the lead with runners on second and third. However, Colby James cooly ended the threat with a strikeout.
Fittingly, one inning later James ended the game with the same outcome, fanning Emory's Blake Dincman with Emory threatening with two on once again.
Game Notes
- Kinnan, Corr, Krause and Mills all joined Conway in the multihit column. Kinnan doubled in his first collegiate at-bat, then scored, drove in two and provided another hit.
- Gaeta's winning line was two innings pitched, two hits, no runs, two walks and three strikeouts.
- Boyce, Spence and James also put up zeroes in their outings. Boyce struck out the side in the sixth before James struck out three in 1.2 innings to finish the game.
- James earned the save, the fourth of his career.
Up Next
Oglethorpe hosts a three-game series this weekend against Fontbonne. For the most up-to-date times and dates of the Stormy Petrels, visit GoPetrels.com.
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