Demorest, GA - The Piedmont College baseball team played their final home game of the 2015 season against Emory University tonight. The Lions edged the Eagles 8-3 and limited the visitors to just four hits on the night.

The Eagles caused some trouble early as they picked up one run in each of the first three innings, but would be unable to score again as they held the lead 3-0 heading into the bottom of the third inning. 

However, the Lions responded in the home half of the inning with BRECK DAVIDSON picking up his sole 2 RBI on the day when he laced a double to bring the game within one. Davidson finished the day 2-for-4 with three runs scored as the junior leads all Lions with 40 RBI.

Davidson later scored in that same inning on a sacrifice fly from TYLER MARCINKO tying the game at 3-3 headed to the fourth inning. The Lions stepped into the driver's seat and would not look back as the pitching was lights out from the men in Green and Gold. 

Senior CHRIS GOERSHEL made his final start within the confines of Loudermilk Field this evening picking up the win to move just over .500 with a 4-3 record. Goershel threw 5.2 innings on only three hits and three runs, while striking out seven. He managed a strikeout every inning he pitched, and did not allow more than one hit in any of his innings.

The Lions' bats rallied around their senior on the mound picking up two runs in the bottom of the fifth to put Goershel in-line for the win. DANIEL LINDSEY picked up his sole RBI of the day scoring EVAN GRESHAM to give the Lions their first lead of the game, and the other run coming on a groundout double play that allowed Davidson to cross home.

Heading to the sixth, the Lions sat ahead 5-3. After two quick outs, ALLEN TOKARZ entered the game with two outs and ended the inning with a strikeout to the next batter.Tokarz finished the night throwing 2.1 innings giving up only one hit while striking out two.

Tokarz has astonishingly only allowed four earned runs in his last 18 appearances. Over that span he has thrown an impressive 33.1 innings while only allowing 23 hits and picking up 30 strikeouts. The junior reliever still leads the USA South in ERA with a 1.82 showing.

Piedmont picked up its final three runs of the ballgame in the bottom of the seventh after a two out single by AUSTIN BRICK gave the Lions a 6-3 lead. However, following Brick was senior CASEY PARHAM who singled, and the Eagles struggled to find the strike zone walking in the final two runs of the game to give the eventual final of 8-3.

JOSH THOMAS heard his walkout song echo throughout campus as a flawless ninth inning once again followed the junior on the mound. The "sidearm samurai" struck out two Eagles with the third batter popping out to CALEB NORTON to seal the victory for the Lions.

Alongside Davidson's two hit day were Gresham, ZACH LANGLEY, CASEY PARHAM, and KEITH GRABOWSKI. Brick led all Lions in hits for the day with his 3-for-4 day at the plate, which put him one hit shy of his season record after a perfect 4-for-4 day with 2 RBI in a 10-6 win against Maryville College on February 7.

The Lions finish the 2015 season at home with an impressive 14-7 record within the friendly confines of Loudermilk Field. With the win tonight, Piedmont moves to 23-15 on the season while the Eagles of Emory University fall to 24-12.

Game number two and three of the series will be played in Atlanta, GA at Emory University with game two at 3 p.m. Friday afternoon and game three Saturday at 3 p.m. with weather permitting. Fans are encouraged to stay connected with the Piedmont baseball team by visiting PiedmontLions.com for all schedule results and changes.