Emory U. rallies to victory

By By Ryan Satcher/staff writer
May 17, 2003
CLINTON Big innings can be a killer in baseball. One certainly buried
Mississippi College on Friday night.
The Eagles of Emory University scored nine runs in the bottom of the
sixth inning to erase an eight-run MC lead and take a 9-8 win in the winners'
bracket game of the NCAA Division III Central Regional at Frierson Field.
Emory used seven hits in the big inning and sent 14 batters to the plate
to move into the driver's seat of the tournament.
In other games on Friday, Wartburg beat Millsaps 13-12 and Carthage eliminated Fontbonne 13-2.
Today, Millsaps and MC tangle at 11 a.m., Carthage takes on Wartburg at 3
p.m. and Emory will play the winner of the Millsaps-MC game at 7 p.m.
It looked like the 33-14 Choctaws would cruise to the victory when they
scored two in the first, one in the third and five in the fifth including a grand slam by Lamar School product Chris Knight to build an 8-0 lead.
But, the Eagles began pecking away in the sixth and wound up with an incredible, and surprising, nine-run inning.
Steve Zaychick, Will Carr and John Illius combined to shut out the Choctaws in the final five innings to help the Eagles take the win.
The big Emory inning began with a one-out solo shot by Andrew Pinckney
over the right field wall. Travis Langley and Adam Schorr followed with walks and Bryan Langbord was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Rob Segear, Josh Barrett and Justin Gordon each hit good pitches for dink
singles to make the score 8-4. Michael Sayegh followed with a single to bring
in another run.
After a pitching change and a fielder's choice to home, Pinckney once again delivered with a two-run single to make the score 8-7.
After a walk, Schorr ripped a two-run single to give the Eagles a 9-8 lead.
of the big inning. "They never really hit the ball hard until the end. We
just needed to find a way to stop the bleeding and we just couldn't do it."
MC struck first in the second inning when Johnny Bernhard ripped a
two-run single to bring in Kent Chamblee and Marc Chisolm, who had reached
base with singles.
Chamblee singled in a run in the third inning to give the Choctaws a 3-0
lead.
The Choctaws blasted the Eagles for five runs in the fourth inning. Casey
Smith singled and later scored on a singleby Jason Curry.
After a hit batter and a walk Knight pounded his homer over the
left-field fence.
The Eagles finally answered with the huge sixth inning and Carr and
Illius combined to shut down the Choctaws in the final three innings to
secure the win for the Eagles.
The Choctaws fall into the losers' bracket and face elimination. The spot
is not a new one for MC, however. The Choctaws had to battle back from the
losers' bracket in their conference tournament to get to the regional.
have some good outings from pitchers, but we feel like we still have a
chance."