ELON, N.C. – Fielding woes continued for the Elon Phoenix who committed a season-high seven errors and allowed seven unearned runs as the 24th-ranked College of Charleston Cougars claimed a 19-7 Southern Conference baseball victory from Latham Park on Sunday afternoon. The Cougars, who received seven RBI from Michael Harrington, won the series two games to one and improved to 36-12 and 17-4 in SoCon play. Elon fell to 27-23, 14-10 after giving up season-highs in runs and hits.
With a 20+ mile an hour wind blowing out, Harrington hit his 10th homer of the season to centerfield, a solo shot, with one out in the top of the first.
Elon evened it up at one in the bottom half of the inning when Pat Irvine went deep for the eighth time on the year with a one-out liner over the wall in left. Chris Vasami followed with a single into right before Drew Davis doubled to left-center. Ryan Addison tapped a ball back to the pitcher, but Cougar starter Michael Bunton could not handle it and Addison reach, Davis moved to third and Vasami scored to put the Phoenix on top. Davis came home from third on Mike Melillo’s ground out.
The Phoenix added another run in the second when Vasami grounded a potential double play ball to short, but the throw to first was short and allowed Jordy Snyder to score from second and let Vasami go to second.
Gabe Marchant and Oliver Marmol started the Charleston third with back-to-back singles before Harrington chopped a ball back up the middle to plate Marchant and move Marmol to third. Chris Campbell’s sacrifice fly to right allowed Marmol to score to cut Elon’s lead to 4-3. After an Elon error put runners on the corners, Alex Garabedian blooped a single into center to knot the game at four as Harrington came home.
In the bottom of the third, Addison drew a walk before relief pitcher Brian Schlitter walked Melillo. Chase Austin sacrificed both runners up a base before Adam Weaver’s ground out allowed Addison to score to put the Phoenix back on top 5-4. Jordy Snyder then lined a single to left, scoring Melillo.
Jedd Cordisco reached on Elon’s second error of the afternoon to lead off the fourth. Marchant followed with a single to right, giving the Cougars runners on first and second. Marmol’s fly out to right allowed Cordisco to tag and go to third. Cordisco came in on Harrington’s sac fly to left.
Two Elon errors in the sixth allowed the Cougars to tie the score at six. Charleston put runners on second and third after Marchant doubled to right with one out. A third Phoenix error of the frame put Charleston ahead 7-6 when Cordisco scored from third. Harrington doubled into the rightfield corner to drive in two more runs. On the play, Harrington moved to third on yet another Phoenix miscue. Campbell’s bouncing single through the left side of the infield plated Harrington with Charleston’s 10th run of the day.
The Phoenix got one back in the bottom of the sixth when Davis doubled to left-center, plating Chris Dove from third.
Joey Bergman hit his first career homer, a two-run shot in the seventh, which also plated Garabedian. A bases loaded double play scored a third run in the inning and gave Charleston a 13-7 advantage.
Charleston added six runs in the top of the ninth to cap their scoring.
The Cougars pounded out 23 hits, including four each from Harrington, Bergman and Marchant. Harrington became the third player in College of Charleston history to drive home seven runs in a single game. Maiden added three hits in six at bats and drove in three.
For Elon, Davis notched the only multi-hit performance, going 3-for-4 with a run and RBI.
Zach Booker (4-4) took the loss despite allowing just four earned runs. The Cougars scored a total of 10 runs off the Phoenix starter in 5.1 innings.
Schlitter (4-3) picked up the win in relief after allowing two runs on six hits over 7.0 innings of work. He fanned six and walked three. Bunton was pulled after 2.0 innings and surrendered five runs (three earned) on three hits.
Elon will take on North Carolina at 7:00 p.m. from Latham Park on Tuesday night in its next outing. College of Charleston will visit Coastal Carolina the same day in a 1:00 p.m. tilt.
– ELON –
