Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Alex Swim went 3-for-5 with two runs and three RBI while Grant McCoury drove in four runs with a 2-for-4 performance to lead the Elon Phoenix to an 11-6 Southern Conference baseball victory on Friday night as the Phoenix maintained its hold atop the league.

Niko Fraser looped an 0-2 pitch down the right field line and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt to begin the game for Elon (31-18, 19-6 SoCon).  Sebastian Gomez bounced a single up the middle, extending his hitting streak to 10 games, to drive home Fraser as the Phoenix took an early 1-0 lead.  After Gomez swiped second, Swim grounded a ball down the right field line on the seventh pitch of the at bat to give Elon a 2-0 edge.  Garrett Koster belted his sixth homer of the year, this one to left, to make it a 4-0 game in the top of the first.

Joe Jackson led off the Bulldog (20-25, 8-14) second with a bloop double and headed to third on a ground out.  Fraser robbed Josh Pless of a hit with a diving grab, but Jackson was able to tag and score to get The Citadel on the board.

Harry Austin and Gomez drew back-to-back walks to start the Phoenix third.  Neal Pritchard's sacrifice bunt was bobbled by the pitcher and allowed Elon to load the bases for Swim who bounced one up the middle to drive home the two lead runners.  With two outs, McCoury got into a 2-1 pitch and ripped his sixth homer of the year over the wall in left-center to extend the Elon lead to 9-1.

With two outs in the bottom of the third, William Ladd and Justin Mackert reached on back-to-back singles before a walk to Jackson loaded the bases.  Pinch-hitter Brad Felder battled before lining a 3-2 pitch to right that drove in all three runners.

The Citadel got one more back in the last of the fourth when a Matt Simonelli ground out plated Grant Richards.

Eric Serra was plunked with a pitch with one out in the top of the sixth before he stole both second and third with two outs, the second steal coming on ball four to Austin.  Gomez then made it eight consecutive multi-hit games when he grounded a single through the right side to score Serra with Elon's 10th run.

With one away in the bottom of the sixth, Nick Orvin homered down the left field line to make it a 10-6 game.

The Phoenix regained its five-run cushion in the seventh inning when McCoury's two-out double to right-center scored Cyle Rasmus who had walked, stolen second and went to third on an error.

Jared Kernodle (6-1) won after holding the Bulldogs to one run on three hits in 2.1 innings of relief work.  Greg Amorosso and John Brebbia combined to keep The Citadel off the board for the final three frames.

Matt Talley (3-6) took the loss after being roughed up for 10 runs (seven earned) on nine hits in 5.2 innings.  He fanned seven.

Along with Swim and McCoury, Gomez went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI while Fraser finished 2-for-5 with a run scored.

Orvin, Richards and Felder all had three-hit games for The Citadel.  Felder also drove in three runs.

The two teams will face off in game two of this three-game series at 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.