Emory University junior Brett Lake drove broke tie in the bottom of the eighth inning with a sacrifice fly, his Division III leading 50^th of the season, to give the Eagles a 5-4 victory over Southwestern University at Chappell Park on Saturday.

The win was the fourth-straight for the Eagles, who improved to 23-9 on the season.  Southwestern dropped to 10-25 with the loss.

Southwestern took the early lead in Saturday's game, scoring in the third inning on an RBI groundout from Charlie St. Clair.  Emory tied the score in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly from junior Wes Peacock, but the Pirates regained the lead in the next half inning on a two-out RBI single from Colten Shea.

The score remained 2-1 until the bottom of the seventh, with Emory freshman starting pitcher Jackson Weeg delivering seven innings of three-hit baseball, allowing just the two earned runs, while walking one and striking out one.

The Eagles loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the seventh inning against Southwestern reliever Carl Mueller, and tied the game on senior Daniel Iturrey's sacrifice fly.  A batter later, Emory took its first lead of the contest when freshman Philip Maldari singled to centerfield to score senior Brandon Hannon.  An error on a pickoff attempt would score Lake from second base, giving the Eagles a 4-2 lead.

The insurance run on the throwing error proved to be a key one, as a two-run single from Chase Allen tied the game at four runs apiece, heading into the bottom of the eighth.  Southwestern reliever Nino Tutino would retire the first batter of the inning, but proceeded to walk the next three in a row to load the bases with one out.  Brett Marcom would enter the game in relief for the Pirates, surrendering the game-winning sacrifice fly to Lake.

The Pirates threatened in the top of the ninth against Emory freshman pitcher Kyle Monk, when Tyler Bludau singled on a soft ground ball to third base with one out and advanced to second on a throwing error on the play.  Pinch running for Bludau, Will Burks would advance to third on a groundout by Ben Little, but would be stranded when Tyler Herriage grounded out to short to end the game.

Monk earned the win in relief for Emory, improving to 3-1 on the season.  Tutino took the loss for the Pirates to drop to 1-1.

Lake finished the game one-for-two with a pair of walks, extending his hitting streak to 10 games, his second double-digit hitting streak of the campaign.  The junior has hit in all but one of Emory's 32 games this season, and the RBI puts him 13 shy of the school record for a single season.  Lake is batting .465 this year with a Division III leading 60 hits.

Selbach added a two-for-three day at the plate, and is now four-for-six during the first two games of the series, raising his batting average to .319.

Emory batters drew 11 walks in the game, matching the second-highest total of the season, but the Eagles' run production was limited with 11 men left on base and two double plays during the contest.

Emory and Southwestern will conclude their three-game series at Chappell Park on Sunday, with the first pitch of the contest scheduled for noon, as the Eagles will be aiming for a season-long five-game winning streak.