ATLANTA, Ga. -- A day after stunning No. 4-ranked Emory with a comeback victory, the Covenant baseball team fell twice to the Eagles on Saturday to conclude the three-game series. Emory took game one 7-4 before winning the rubber game 3-2 in a seven-inning affair.
Covenant drops to 11-13 overall, while Emory goes to 17-6 on the year.
GAME ONE: Emory 7, Covenant 4
Emory scored three runs in the third and sixth innings to defeat Covenant 7-4 in game one of Saturday's doubleheader.
Luke Harvey went 3-for-4 with a run scored, while Z Arima and Julien Amorelli each collected two hits with Arima picking up two RBIs in the loss.
Covenant struck first with a run in the second on an Arima one-out RBI double to left field that scored Alex Kerr. Emory answered with a run in its half of the second and three more in the third to take a 4-1 lead.
The Scots trimmed their deficit to 4-3 with two runs in the sixth. Harvey and Ryan Gosney had back-to-back singles to start the inning and Harvey later scored on another Arima RBI single to make it 4-2. Perry Rigby followed with a sacrifice fly that plated Gosney to cut the deficit to 4-3.
But Emory responded with three runs, all with two outs, in the bottom of the sixth to gain a 7-3 lead. A Gosney RBI ground out in the seventh produced the final margin at 7-4.
Covenant starter Matt Reitz (0-4) is hit with the loss after lasting five innings. Drew Bradley tossed the final three innings in relief.
Emory starter Hans Hansen (5-0) remains perfect on the year after going six innings and allowing one earned run on eight hits. Luke Emmett picked up his first save of the year after throwing the final three innings. Brian Hernandez and Ben Vizvary had two RBIs apiece in the victory.
GAME TWO: Emory 3, Covenant 2
In a pre-determined seven-inning game, Emory took the pitchers' duel by a 3-2 score to take the series victory in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader.
Like in game one, Covenant struck first with a run in the top of the first inning. Harvey singled to leadoff the inning and then stole second and third before coming home on an infield single from Caleb Bloye.
Emory got two runs in the second, both coming on a Jackson Grayson two-run double to left-center field, and one more in the third on a Chris Slivka RBI double to take a 3-1 lead.
The Scots cut the deficit in half in the fifth as Devin Cerrato stole second and a throwing error by the Emory catcher allowed Harvey to score from third making it 3-2. Covenant had a chance to tie the score in the sixth as pinch-runner Kyle Delk stole third with one out, but he was left stranded there.
Gosney (2-3) made the start on the mound for Covenant and went three innings allowing three runs on five hits. Relievers Ray Brooks and Alec Mitchell combined for three shutout innings. Harvey finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while Bloye had the only other Covenant hit.
Emory Paul Merolla (3-0) picks up the win as he went 4.1 innings surrendering one earned run on three hits with six strikeouts. Kyle Monk went the final 2.2 innings to notch his eighth save of the year.