By Matthew D. Stokes
BerryVikings.com Staff Writer

ROME, Ga. – For the second consecutive game, fielding errors factored in largely to a Berry loss, this time a 7-4 heartbreaker to visiting Emory in a Friday matchup at William R. Bowdoin Field.

Early on it appeared that this game would be a slugfest as both teams got on the board right out of the gate.

After Berry's starting pitcher Cameron Rich quickly retired Emory's first two hitters, the Eagles began to get runners on base in a hurry. Jared Welch walked on four pitches and then Kevin O'Connor singled to right field, bringing up Jay Page. Emory's first baseman proceeded to stroke a run-scoring single to left field, plating Welch from second. The next hitter, Daniel Iturrey, lined a run-scoring single to right field, bringing O'Connor across home plate and putting Berry in an early 2-0 deficit.

But Berry responded immediately and powerfully. After a double play grounder off the bat of TC Boyd negated leadoff man Stephen Gaylor reaching base on a throwing error, Austin Neely smashed a single up the middle. With two outs and Neely on first, Thomas Johnson lifted a 2-0 offering from Emory starting pitcher Paul Schwendel just enough to clear the left field fence, tying the game 2-2.

After four scoreless innings, the game remained tied until the top of the sixth inning, when both offenses made appearances.

After setting down O'Conner to begin the top half of the inning, Rich walked Jay Page on a full count. The next hitter, Iturrey, successfully executed a hit-and-run, advancing Page from first to third and bringing to the plate Ryan Toscano. After Berry head coach David Beasley elected to replace Rich with right-hander Josh Dilbeck, Emory's Toscano then rudely greeted the new pitcher with a line drive that zipped right by Dilbeck and then into center field, driving home the tie-breaking run in Jay Page and giving a 3-2 advantage.

After retiring Mark Lindemann on a grounder to shortstop, Dilbeck threw three straight balls out of the strike zone to Wes Peacock and was removed from the game and replaced by Trent Hillis. Hillis then threw a pitch out of the strike zone for ball four, but managed to set down Brett Lake to avert any more damage.

Yet again Berry had an answer for Emory. Austin Neely drew a leadoff walk on five pitches to kick off the bottom half of the sixth inning then Johnson recorded a first pitch base hit to right field. With no outs and two runners on base now, Cason Dremann executed a sacrifice bunt, advancing both runners. One pitch later Zach Farmer drove home the tying run in Austin Neely with a groundout to Emory's first baseman, making the game even at three runs apiece.

Once again the momentum shifted in Emory's favor in the top half of the seventh frame. After getting the leadoff hitter out, Hillis walked Welch on a full count. Welch then stole second base and advanced to third on Dremann's throwing error from behind the plate. After Hillis walked O'Connor, a botched Hillis pickoff attempt of O'Connor allowed Welch to come on home and for O'Connor to go all the way to third, giving Emory a one-run lead, 4-3.

This back-and-forth affair's twists and turns did not end there, though. After Boyd grounded out to shortstop to begin the bottom of the eighth, Austin Neely coaxed a one out walk off Emory pitcher Connor Dillman. The next hitter, Johnson, struck out looking on a 1-2 pitch, bringing Dremann to the plate. The Berry catcher lined a two out single to right center, and Farmer drove in Austin Neely from second with the game-tying single to center.

At the top of the ninth, the score was four runs apiece. Then the game squirmed away from Berry's grasps.

Dilbeck hit the leadoff man, Lake, to start things off. The next hitter, Brandon Hannon laid down a sacrifice bunt attempt, which became an infield hit as the batter hustled down the first base line. Dilbeck's throw made to first in attempt to nail Hannon flew past Berry first baseman Johnson, allowing Lake to score from first. Emory tacked on two more runs to give their team a 7-4 edge.

With two runners on base and with the tying run at the plate, Boyd flew out to right field, giving Emory the win.

"We're still struggling to know what we're going to get in certain situations," Beasley said. "We're going to have to fight through some things before things get better. Right now the game's pretty hard, and it's because we're hurting ourselves every chance we get."

The winning pitcher was Connor Dillman, who pitched one and a third innings of one-run ball. Hillis was tagged with the loss after tossing two and two-thirds innings and allowing four unearned runs.

Berry will return to Bowdoin Field tomorrow when it faces off against Birmingham-Southern College tomorrow at 1 p.m.

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