With two outs in the bottom of the first, Matt Payne and Marcus Jones hit back-to-back singles. Pond followed by lining a double to the gap in left-center to score both Payne and Jones, putting the Wolfpack on top 2-0. 

Chris Schaeffer singled to lead off the State half of the second and moved to second when Drew Martin lined a single to right. Tommy Foschi sacrificed both runners up a bag. A balk brought in Schaeffer and advanced Martin to third. The lead grew to 5-0 when Devon Cartwright homered down the leftfield line. The shot was the third of the year for Cartwright. 

Pond and Kyle Prewitt reached to start the third with a single and double, respectively. With one out, Martin lifted a sac fly to right to score Pond with the sixth Wolfpack run.

Pond got things going again in the fifth with a single off the third base bag. Prewitt’s single to right put runners on the corners before a passed ball let Pond score and Prewitt go to second. With one away, Martin blasted his second home run of the year, a two-run shot over the wall in left that pushed the State lead to 9-0. 

Once again, Pond delivered for NC State as he belted his fifth homer of the season with a man aboard in the bottom of the sixth.

Jeremy Synan hit a solo shot to lead off the bottom of the seventh to tack another run onto the Wolfpack tally. 

Donny Jobe and Harry Austin each had one hit for Elon. With the hits, Jobe extended his hitting streak to six games while Austin’s streak reached a career-best seven games.

Martin added a 3-for-3, two-run, three-RBI outing for the Wolfpack.

Cory Harrilchak (2-2) took the loss after being tagged for five runs on six hits and two walks in 1.1 innings of work.

Sam Brown (1-1) picked up the win by throwing 5.0 scoreless innings. He allowed just four hits and struck out two.

The Phoenix gets back to Southern Conference play when it hosts Georgia Southern in the first game of a three-game series at 7 p.m. on Friday night at Latham Park.

– ELON –