Box Score ELON, N.C. -- Making the first start of his career at Elon, senior Nate Young picked up the victory as the Phoenix defeated the visiting Samford Bulldogs 10-8 in the first game of a three-game Southern Conference baseball series at Latham Park on Friday night.

Samford (25-25, 10-14 SoCon) got to Young for two first-inning runs.  With one out, both Phillip Ervin and C.K. Irby walked ahead of a Christiaan Durdaller double that plated the first run.  Irby then scored on a ground out.

Elon (26-26, 17-10) came right back with three in the last of the first to grab the lead for good.  Quinn Bower led things off by sending an 0-2 pitch back up the middle before both Alex Swim and Ryan Kinsella walked to load the bases.  With one away, a passed ball allowed Bower to race home with the first Phoenix tally.  Another walk reloaded the bases before Casey Jones bounced one up the middle for a two-out, two-RBI single that made it 3-2.

The Phoenix took control in the last of the fourth.  The maroon and gold began the inning with five consecutive hits.  Among them was a three-run homer off the bat of Kinsella, his 19th of the season (tied for third on Elon's single-season chart) and 32nd of his career (seventh in program history).  With runners on the corners and one out, Jones reached on a fielder's choice to first that scored Chris King as Elon built a 7-2 edge.  The eighth run of the game would come home on a balk before a wild pitch allowed Elon's ninth run of the contest to cross the plate.

Samford tried to get back in it in the fifth by scoring three times.  With one aboard, Zeth Stone ripped a two-out triple to right-center to make it 9-3.  He then scored on on an Ervin single.  An Irby single would then plate Ervin to make it 9-5.

The Bulldogs closed their deficit to 9-6 with a run in the seventh only to see the Phoenix put one of its own up in the bottom half.

In the night, Samford had closed the gap to 10-8 and had the tying run on second with two outs before Andrew MacDonald fanned Patrick McGavin to end the game and secure the win for Elon.

Young (2-1) allowed five runs on four hits in five innings to earn the win.  He struck out three and retired 13 hitters in a row at one point.  MacDonald tossed the final four innings to garner his fourth save of the year.

Irby (7-5) was handed the loss after allowing eight runs on nine hits in three-plus innings.  He struck out seven.

Kinsella finished the night with four RBI, giving him 70 on the season which ranks as the third-highest single-season total in Elon history. Jones' three RBI were a career best.

For Samford, Ervin went 2-for-4, scored two runs and drove in three.

Elon and Samford are scheduled to play game two of this series at 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.