ELON, N.C. – Another late spurt by Indiana State proved to be too much to overcome as Elon University baseball fell 6-2 in the series finale on Sunday afternoon, March 1 at Latham Park. The Phoenix falls to 6-5 on the season.

"We've got to get better," said head coach Mike Kennedy post game. "Typically a weekend like this tells you you've got a long way to go and you've got to get better. I wouldn't say that things have been easy for us, but we won some games and probably thought that we were better than we were. At the end of the day, we matched up with a team that could pitch and we knew that. We didn't pitch as well this weekend and our pitch count got up quite a bit. You can get fooled by winning some games sometimes and think you're better than you are. We ran into a little bit of a buzzsaw today, a club that could really pitch, and we couldn't get away with mistakes. So that's a good lesson for us."
 
AT THE PLATE
Alex Iadisernia entered as a pinch hitter and finished 2-for-2 on the day. Nick Cicci also had a multi-hit outing as he went 2-for-4, and Mike Borucki hit 1-for-3. Garrett Stonehouse and Anthony Galason both turned in 1-for-4 efforts and scored a run, with Stonehouse also drawing a walk.

ON THE MOUND
Starter Dean McCarthy (2-1) took the loss after giving up four runs on eight hits and two walks. The senior ended up with five strikeouts through 4.0 innings. Trevor Kirk tossed 3.1 shutout innings in relief, racking up six punch outs. He gave up one hit and did not issue a walk. Owen Lorenz and Joe Sprake also made appearances.

THE RUNDOWN
The Sycamores (5-5) opened the scoring on a double down the left-field line with runners in scoring position. The visitors then doubled up their lead with two more runs in the fourth. With two outs and nowhere to put the batter, a single to right plated a pair of runners. Elon responded in the home half of the frame as Galason singled to center field, moved up on a 6-3 ground out, and took third on a Cicci hit through the left side. The Colts Neck, N.J. native then came around on a wild pitch.

Elon cut the deficit in half, 4-2 with a tally in the eighth. With runners on the corners, Joe Satterfield pinch hit for Borucki. The senior slapped a grounder that the ISU third baseman bobbled and the throw to first was not in time. The play allowed Stonehouse to come home from third. While the Phoenix looked like it had the momentum, ISU answered with another two-run inning in the ninth. A one-out walk and a double to right placed runners in scoring position, and the next batter brought both in with a hit to center.

NOTES
-Kirk set new highs in innings pitched and strikeouts. He retired five batters in a row and struck out the side in the sixth inning.
-Galason is on a three-game hitting streak.
-Stonehouse scored in 3-of-4 games this past week.
-Jayson Arendt had his first career at bat.
-Borucki started as the designated hitter and collected his first hit of the season.
-Elon falls to 4-1 in the all-time series.

UP NEXT
Elon has a pair of midweek games coming up, starting with a trip to Lynchburg, Va. on Tuesday, March 3 for a 4 p.m. meeting with Liberty. The team then plays another 4 p.m. game on Wednesday, March 4 at North Carolina A&T.