Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Thomas Girdwood and Mitch Conner combined to hold The Citadel to two runs on seven hits to lead the Elon Phoenix to an 8-2 Southern Conference baseball victory in game two of a three-game league series.  The victory was the 20th league win for the Phoenix this year who now sits at 32-18 overall and 20-6 in SoCon play.  The Citadel dropped to 20-26, 8-15.

With Justin Mackert on third after a one-out double and a ground out, Calvin Orth grounded sharply to second, but the throw to first was high, allowing The Citadel to score the first run of the game.

Elon moved on top in the fourth inning thanks to a Ryan Kinsella two-run homer down the right field line that also scored Alex Swim who was aboard after a fielder's choice.  With two down, Garrett Koster's single was followed by a walk to Harry Austin.  Niko Fraser made it a 3-1 Elon lead with a single to left.  On the throw to the plate, Austin took third.  The Phoenix then pulled off a double steal as Fraser swiped second and Austin raced home.  The throw back to the plate to try and nail Austin was high and Fraser ended up on third.  He then scored the fifth Elon run of the inning when Jake Luce hit a soft single to right.

Grant McCoury drew a lead-off walk in the top of the sixth for Elon and ended up on third when a grounder to third off the bat of Koster was thrown away at second.  Austin followed with a sacrifice fly down the right field line to plate McCoury to give the Phoenix a 6-1 edge.

Nick Orvin doubled with one out in the bottom of the seventh to start a Bulldog rally.  After a walk to Brad Felder, Matt Simonelli doubled to left-center to score Orvin with the second run of the game for The Citadel.  The Phoenix escaped any more damage as Conner retired the next two hitters to end the inning.

The Phoenix stretched its advantage to 8-2 in the ninth inning.  Eric Serra started things off with a single to center before he headed to third on a two-out single off the bat of Swim.  After Swim stole second, Kinsella's infield single up the middle scored both runners.

Girdwood improved to 4-4 on the year as he won after allowing two runs (one earned) on seven hits in 6.1 innings.  Conner struck out two in 2.2 scoreless frames to earn his seventh save of the season.

Bulldog starter Justin Russell fell to 1-4 after being charged with five runs (four earned) on five hits in 3.2 innings.

Offensively, Kinsella drove in four runs with a 2-for-4 performance at the plate.  Fraser also went 2-for-4 for the Phoenix.  Sebastian Gomez saw his 10-game hitting streak come to an end after going 0-for-5.

Simonelli had the only multi-hit game for The Citadel, going 2-for-4.

Elon and The Citadel will play the final game of this series at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.