LaGrange outlasted Emory 11-8 to gain a split of a non-conference doubleheader on Saturday at Cleaveland Field in Williamson Stadium. The Panthers (6-4) dropped the first game 5-3 to the Eagles (2-2).

LC and Emory combined for 14 runs and 18 hits in the first three innings of the second game. The Eagles took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Panthers came back with two runs to tie the game. With two outs, Joe Ruth singled and came all the way around to score on E.J. Churchich's double down the left field line. After Churchich stole third and McKinley Erves walked, Matt Eden tied the game with a base hit to left. Eden was making his first start of the season and finished with three hits and RBIs each.

Emory scored three more runs in the top of the second inning to go up 5-2. The Panthers answered with five runs in their half of the inning. Cael Chatham and Judd Moore had back-to-back RBI singles to drive in the first two runs. After a double play got the first two outs, Churchich was hit by a pitch and Erves' single tied the game. A balk moved up Churchich and Erves to second and third. Eden followed with another hit to right to drive in the final two runs and a 7-5 lead.

The Panthers added to their lead in the third. Cael Chatham reached on a one out error as Rhett Mixon scored on the play. Ruth's sacrifice fly brought home Chatham to make it 9-5.

J.R. Robinson (1-1) after the first two innings settled down, throwing three scoreless innings to get his first win of the season. The Panthers got a run in the sixth without benefit of a hit. Churchich had a lead off walk, then stole second. Erves worked another walk and both runners moved up on a double steal. Churchich scored on a wild pitch to increase LC's lead to 10-5.

Emory got back in the game with three runs in the top of the seventh to cut LC's lead to 10-8. Spencer Douches got a strike out on a full count with runners on second and third to end the inning.

Douches struck out the side in the eighth, two of the strikeouts were looking on full counts. The Panthers scratched out an insurance run in their half of the eighth. Judd Moore lofted fly ball to left field. The ball was lost in the lights with Moore ending up at third with a triple. One out later, Moore scored on a wild pitch to make it 11-8.

In the ninth, Douches quickly got the first two outs. The Eagles stayed alive with a single, but Douches recorded his sixth strikeout to end the game and collect his second save of the season.

The Panthers finished with a season-high 15 hits. Eden had three hits, while five others had two hits each. 

Emory took advantage of a pair of Panther errors to win the first game 5-3. The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first off starter Baley Coleman (2-2). The Panthers took the lead back in their half of the first. Rhett Mixon had a lead off walk, then moved over to third on a stolen base and a ground out. He scored on Ruth's line drive to left to tie the game. Churchich followed with his third home run of the season, just inside the left field foul pole for a 2-1 lead.

The Eages retook the lead with two runs in the second inning and added single runs in the sixth and seventh to build a 5-2 lead. In the seventh, with one out, Jack Layrisson tripled down the left field line. Layrisson scored on David Smigelski's ground out to make it 5-3. The Panthers could draw no closer, leaving two runners in both the eighth and ninth innings.

The two team close out the three-game series Sunday at 2 p.m. at Cleaveland Field in Williamson Stadium.

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