Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

BOONE, N.C. -- Elon opened its 2011 Southern Conference baseball season in style, sweeping a doubleheader at Appalachian State by scores of 10-4 and 5-4 on Saturday afternoon.  Elon (11-5, 2-0 SoCon) improved to 8-0 all-time in SoCon openers and clinched its eighth consecutive SoCon-opening series.  Appalachian State fell to 8-7 overall and 0-5 in league play.

Game one began with three straight singles from Jake Luce, Niko Fraser and Alex Swim to load the bases.  Neal Pritchard's sacrifice fly to left-center plated the first run of the game as Luce scored.  The Phoenix was unable to add any more to its total, however, as a double play ended the inning.

Elon quickly loaded the bases with a single, walk and ASU error in the top of the second.  Luce then lined a single to left to drive home Grant McCoury with the second Phoenix run.  Another scored when the Mountaineers failed to turn a double play as Elon built a 3-0 lead.

The Mountaineers loaded the bases with a walk and two singles in the bottom of the fourth before a double play scored the first ASU run of the game.

Seth Canipe drew a lead-off walk to begin the sixth inning and then came around to score on McCoury's first career triple to the gap in right-center.  With runners on the corners with one out after a walk, Harry Austin's grounder to second scored McCoury to make it a 5-1 Elon lead.

An error allowed Tyler Zupcic to reach to start the bottom of the sixth.  Back-to-back singles from Jack Myers and Jeremy Dowdy scored Zupcic to pull ASU within three at 5-2.  After a ground out advanced the runners to second and third, Zack Briggs grounded to short to bring home Myers.

Lawrence Pardo began the ASU seventh with a double to center before heading to third on a one-out single off the bat of Hector Crespo.  Zupcic's ground ball to second erased Crespo, but brought home Pardo to cut Elon's edge to 5-4 before Webb picked Zupcic off of first to end the inning.

With two away in the top of the eighth, Ryan Kinsella belted the first pitch he saw over fence in right-center for his second homer of the year, moving the Phoenix's lead to 6-4.  Walks to Austin and Luce followed before Fraser drove a ball to the gap in left-center to score both runners.

Pritchard started the Elon ninth by tripling off the fence in center.  After the next two hitters were retired, two Phoenix batters were hit by pitches to load the bases for Austin.  Austin drove the first pitch he saw through the left side of the infield to score two as the Phoenix built a 10-4 lead.

Kyle Webb (2-0) was the winning pitcher in the opener, tossing seven innings and allowing four runs (two earned) on eight hits.  He also struck out six and walked just one.

Nathan Hyatt (1-3) took the loss after giving up five runs (four earned) on eight hits in six innings.

Luce got things started in game two with a double down the right field line.  After heading to third on a ground out, Luce scored the game's first run on a Swim ground out to short.

The Phoenix added three more in the second.  Back-to-back one-out walks to Garrett Koster and Sebastian Gomez were followed by Austin's triple into the right field corner to make it 3-0.  Austin then raced home on Luce's sacrifice fly.

With two outs in the top of the fifth Swim lined a ball to left.  On the play, the ASU left fielder slipped and fell allowing Swim to reach third with a triple.  A wild pitch then let Swim come home to give the Phoenix a 5-0 lead.

Dowdy hit a one-out double in the bottom of the sixth and then scored on a Trey Holmes single to center to get ASU on the board.

Will Callaway started the last of the seventh with a walk and stole second.  Preston Troutman beat out a ground ball to third for a single and on the play the throw got away allowing Callaway to score to make it 5-2.  With Troutman on second, Zupcic singled through the left side to drive home another run.  After a pitching change, Myers lined a single to left-center to pull ASU within one at 5-4 as Zupcic scored.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth, ASU got back-to-back singles from Zupcic and Myers before Dowdy grounded into a double play to end the game.

Ken Ferrer (2-0) picked up the win after he surrendered four runs on seven hits in 6.1 innings.  The senior also struck out five.  The victory was the 24th of his career, moving him into a tie for fourth in program history.  Mitch Conner threw a scoreless ninth to earn the first save of his career.

ASU's Pardo (1-2) suffered the loss and was charged with five runs on seven hits over six frames.

Pritchard finished the day a combined 5-for-7 with a run scored and one RBI while Swim went 4-for-9 with a run and one RBI.  Fraser drove in three runs during a 2-for-9 day while Austin drove in five and scored twice after going 2-for-8 on the afternoon.

For ASU, Pardo was 3-for-6 with a run scored while Myers finished 5-for-8 with a run and a RBI.

Elon will look to complete the sweep at 1 p.m. on Sunday.