The 19 hits allowed by Elon was the most surrendered by the team this season.
Clay McCord began the Cougar half of the first with a bunt single, moved to second on a sacrifice, stole third and crossed the plate on Jess Easterling’s single to put College of Charleston (42-15) up 1-0 with two down.
Elon (44-15) loaded the bases with two walks and a single with one out in the top of the second. CofC starter Jeff Beliveau then fanned Pat Irvine and got Ryan Radford to line out to center to end the Phoenix threat without a run scoring.
In the third, Charleston’s McCord was hit by a pitch to start the inning. An attempted sacrifice bunt from Chris Campbell was left to roll foul, but did not and he was safe at first with a single and McCord moved to second. Larry Cobb reached on a fielder’s choice when Paul Bennett forced out McCord at third. Easterling followed with a single to center that drove home Campbell with the second Cougar run of the game and left men on the corners. Alex Garabedian’s single through the infield plated the third run of the game.
Cobb’s two-out double to left in the fourth brought home McCord with Charleston’s fourth run of the day. Easterling followed with an RBI single to center.
Back-to-back singles from Bennett and Grant Rembert began the Phoenix half of the fifth inning. Radford followed by grounding into a double play before Donny Jobe was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners. Adam Weaver finished the inning by flying out to center.
Charleston put runners on the corners to begin the bottom of the fifth thanks to two Elon errors. Ben Lasater’s single drove home a run to extend the CofC advantage to 6-0.
The lead grew to 12-0 after College of Charleston scored six in the sixth.
Elon broke up the shutout in the seventh inning. Bennett walked to start the frame and went to third on Rembert’s single. He then scored on Radford’s infield single.
Lance Cole’s struggles continued on the mound for Elon as he failed to make it out of the third inning for the third consecutive outing. The senior fell to 8-3 after surrendering three runs on six hits in 2.1 innings of work.
Jeff Beliveau improved to 5-3 after hurling six innings and giving up one run on six hits. Quinn Monsma earned his third save of the season after throwing the final three innings.
Both Bennett and Rembert notched two-hit games for the Phoenix.
Elon fell into the loser’s bracket and will face either sixth-seeded Western Carolina or fifth-seeded The Citadel in an elimination game at noon on Saturday from Riley Park. College of Charleston advanced to the tournament finals and will have to be beaten twice to lose the tournament title.
-- ELON -- Game Box Score
