Down 3-2 in the eighth inning, the Covenant baseball team came back with two runs and claimed a 4-3 victory over No. 4 Emory in non-conference action on Friday afternoon.
The victory over the fourth-ranked Eagles is the highest ranked opponent Covenant (11-11) has defeated in the NCAA era of the program.
Trailing 3-2 in the eighth, Covenant put together a rally. Trenton Nobles beat out an infield single to shortstop to leadoff the inning and Z Arima followed with a sharp single to left field putting runners at first and second with nobody out.
After a Perry Rigby sacrifice bunt moved both runners up, Taylor Bloye lifted a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Nobles. Pinch-hitter Ryan Gosney then laced a single into center field that enabled pinch-runner Kyle Delk to score from third giving the Scots a 4-3 edge.
Alex Kerr came on in the ninth and shut the door on the Eagles retiring the visitors in order to secure the victory. The save is the second of the year for Kerr.
Devin Cerrato was the only Scot with a multi-hit game as he went 2-for-5. Kerr, Nobles, Arima and Gosney all had one hit apiece while Rigby's one hit was a solo home run in the sixth inning.
Covenant starter Garrett Kriston was effective in his start. The senior right-hander went eight innings allowing three runs on six hits with nine strikeouts and just two walks. Kriston (5-2) worked around a couple of jams, including ones in the sixth and eighth innings, to keep Covenant in the game and eventually picked up the victory.
Emory (15-6) struck first with a run in the fourth on a solo home run to right field off the bat of Wilson Morgan. The homer was Morgan's first of the season. Covenant answered with a run in its half of the inning when Kerr scampered home on a wild pitch with two outs.
In the fifth, Emory took a 3-1 lead as Chris Slivka doubled home two runs with one out. The Scots got a run back in the sixth on Rigby's solo homer to left field, his second of the year, making it 3-2.
Emory starter Jackson Weeg allowed one earned run on four hits in seven innings of work before being relieved in the eighth. Reliever Kyle Monk (0-3) gave up two runs on three hits in the eighth to pick up the loss. Morgan led the way with two hits in three at-bats while Slivka was 1-for-3 with two RBIs.