ELON, N.C. -- A Latham Park record crowd of 1,811 fans came out to witness the Elon Phoenix take on the fourth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels for the first time in Elon since 1933, a span of 74 years. Behind 6.1 shutout innings from Adam Warren, the Tar Heels (38-10) blanked the Phoenix (27-24) by a 9-0 margin, the fifth shutout of the year for UNC. It was the second time this season that Elon was held scoreless.
North Carolina got on the board with two runs in the top of the second. With runner on the corners and no outs, Tim Fedroff singled to right, plating Josh Horton with the first run of the night. Chad Flack would later come in on Drew Poulk's sacrifice fly to push the margin to 2-0.
In the third inning, the Tar Heels tacked on another. Seth Williams lined a one-out double off the wall in left before advancing to third on a single from Dustin Ackley. Williams crossed the dish on a RBI ground out from Tim Federowicz.
The Phoenix threatened in the third as Chris Vasami led off with a single and went to second on a Chris Dove single to start the frame. Adam Weaver's 14th sacrifice bunt of the year put two in scoring position before Vasami was picked off of third. Warren then got Jordy Snyder to ground out to end the half inning.
A four-run seventh opened the game up for North Carolina. A hit batter, single and a walk loaded the bases with one out. Williams drew a 3-1 walk from Jesse Lewter, forcing home Fedroff. Ackley followed by hitting a single through the hole on the left side of the infield, driving in both Garrett Gore and Reid Fronk. Ackley crossed home with the final run of the inning on Federowicz's single.
Elon threatened again in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases with a Drew Davis double, Ryan Addison single and a walk to Ryan Adams with one out. Relief pitcher Rob Wooten kept the Phoenix off the board, though as he fanned pinch-hitter Matt Hinson and got Weaver to ground out to first.
Single runs in both the eighth and ninth innings on solo homers from Flack and Williams, respectively, capped the scoring.
Jesse Lewter was tagged with the loss, falling to 3-3 on the year. The junior lefty allowed seven runs on seven its in 6.1 innings of work.
Warren improved to 9-0 on the season and ran his scoreless innings streak to 14.2. He lasted 6.1 innings and surrendered just three hits and a walk.
At the plate for Elon, five different players each had one hit: Snyder, Davis, Addison, Vasami and Dove.
UNC was paced by Ackley's 3-for-4, one-run, two-RBI night while Williams finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two driven in. Federowicz also knocked in two runs and Flack scored twice.
Elon will break for exams before returning to action at East Carolina on May 15 at 7:00 p.m. in Greenville, N.C.
-- ELON --
