APPLETON, Wis. – The Trinity University Tigers exacted revenge on the Emory University Eagles, winning when it mattered most, as they eliminated the Eagles with a 10-1 win on Monday afternoon. Interview with Tim Scannell, Zack Speer, and Nick Jewett
The Tigers are now one of four teams remaining at the Division III Baseball Championship and move on to face UW-La Crosse tonight, needing two wins over the Eagles to advance to the National Championship series against Cortland State or Frostburg State.
Zack Speer was terrific on the bump, pitching 7.2 innings and allowing only one earned run. He struck out seven and only allowed six hits and one walk. He became the all-time wins leader at Trinity, passing pitching coach Dave Smith, at 25 wins.
He was aided by a terrific offensive performance as Trinity struck for 10 runs on 18 hits on the afternoon, giving Emory pitchers problems all throughout the game.
The Tigers opened with two runs in the bottom of the first as Drew Butler doubled home Jeremy Wolf for the first run of the game followed by a RBI single by Carter McEachern.
Trinity was not done there as they went for three more runs in the second thanks to RBIs from Brody Fehmel, Connor Moore, and Colin Serkowski. They would extend their lead to 6-0 through three innings as Nick Jewett singled home a run.
Speer was in complete control, keeping the Eagles off balance throughout the game. Emory would strike for a run in the fifth, but it would not faze Speer as he continued to dominate on the mound.
In the bottom half of the fifth, Trinity added two more runs thanks in part to a pair of Eagle errors to move their lead to 8-1 and take complete control of the game.
Trinity would score one in the seventh off a Jewett home run to left and one in the eighth thanks to a RBI single from Beau Attyah to leave no doubt.
Speer handed the game off to Michael Maul with two outs in the top of the eighth. Maul proceeded to pitch 1.1 innings of scoreless ball to close the game out and give the Tigers their second victory at the Championship.
Jewett finished 3-for-5 with his third home run of the season, two RBI, and two runs scored. Wolf and Singer each had three hits a piece with both scoring two runs on the day. Fehmel drove in two runs on the afternoon while Butler and McEachern each had two hits and a RBI in the outing. All nine Trinity starters had a hit in the contest.
The Tigers are set to meet the Eagles tentatively at 8:15 this evening. They will follow the Frostburg State/Cortland State matchup which is currently in progress. If Trinity were to win, they would return for a second matchup with UW-La Crosse tomorrow where the winner would move on to the National Championship Game series.
