ROME, Ga. - Cory Pitts became Berry College's all-time stolen base king and Cameron Rich became the first Vikings hurler to throw a nine inning complete game this season as Berry defeated Emory 6-3 Saturday at William R. Bowdoin Field.

Pitts eclipsed a record that has stood for two decades when he swiped second base in the game's first inning.  The former career stolen base record at Berry had stood since 1991, when Rodney Wilson finished his four-year career with 76 stolen bases. 

Pitts, a junior outfielder, needed less than three full seasons to pilfer a base for the 77th time in his career. 

It came after Pitts led off the bottom of the first with a single.  After stealing second, he went to third when Emory shortstop Jonathan Reilly committed an error, and he later scored on Cason Dremann's single to tie the score 1-1.  Berry eventually went ahead 2-1 later in the inning on Travis Blackburn's fielder's choice RBI.

That score would stand until the fourth, when Dremann and Blackburn would again drive in runs for the Vikings.  Dremann scored Pitts from third on a ground ball to first base, and Blackburn plated Thomas Johnson and Austin Neely with a two-run double to make the score 5-1.

Another Berry run would cross in the fifth when Madison Moss scored on a passed ball.

Meanwhile, Rich was cruising.  From the third through the sixth inning, he faced the minimum number of hitters, and saw just four batters come to the plate in the second and seventh innings.

The lefthander was forced to battle in the eighth and ninth innings.  He stranded a pair of runners in the eighth, before the first three batters reached to load the bases in the ninth.  After Rich struck out Jay Page and got Jared Welch to fly out to centerfield, Andrew DeYoung delivered a two-run single to make the score 6-3 and bring the tying run to the plate.

But Rich froze his former high school teammate Brandon Hannon, who looked at a called third strike, to end the ballgame.

Rich (4-1) became the first Berry pitcher to toss more than seven innings in a game this season.  He struck out eight batters in the contest while scattering eight hits and walking four batters.

Berry collected nine hits in the game, including a team-high two from Dremann.

Hannon and Patrick Riebsame collected two hits apiece for Emory.

Eagles starter Caleb Long suffered his first loss of the year, falling to 6-1 overall.  The righthander surrendered four runs (three earned) in 3 1/3 innings.  He allowed six hits and five walks, while striking out one batter.

The teams won't wait long to renew their rivalry, as they face off Sunday at noon on the Emory campus.

- BerryVikings.com -