ELON, N.C. – Alex Iadisernia homered twice and Elon University baseball rallied for an 8-7 win over visiting High Point on Tuesday night, April 6 at Latham Park.

"Good win tonight," head coach Mike Kennedy said. "We did a lot of good things and showed some grit bouncing back from a couple deficits late in the game. Proud of Ian Evans who had his best outing of the year. He came in and threw up some zeros and allowed us to stay in it!"

ON THE MOUND
Joe Sprake earned the win to improve to 4-0 this season. He did not allow a run or a hit and issued one walk with one strikeout in 1.2 innings in relief. Ben Sieracki got the start and gave up four runs, two of them earned, on five hits. He did not walk a batter through 3.0 complete innings. Evans took over from there, holding the Panthers (9-15) to one run on five hits. The Lockport, N.Y. native struck out three batters through 4.0 innings. Adam Spurlin also pitched 0.1 innings, allowing two runs on one hit and three walks with one punch out.
 
AT THE PLATE
Iadisernia turned in a 2-for-4 outing at the plate and added three runs, four RBIs and a walk to his totals. Griffin Arnone hit 2-for-3 with one base on balls, and Justin Cassella had the team's other multi-hit performance as the true freshman finished 2-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and a walk. Matt Oldham singled, drove in a run and drew a walk. Anthony Galason turned in a 1-for-2 effort with a run, two walks and two stolen bases. Nick Cicci batted 1-for-4 with a two-bagger, Cole Reynolds drove in two runs, and Garrett Stonehouse picked up one RBI.

"Can't say enough about Alex," added Kennedy. "He's having great at bats...has great awareness of the strike zone and when he gets his pitch he's not missing it. Really is playing and competing at a high level."

THE RUNDOWN
The Phoenix (8-13) struck first as Iadisernia smacked a 2-0 pitch over the wall in right center for the solo home run. High Point responded with two runs in the top of the second. A RBI ground out to second scored a runner from third, and a sacrifice fly to left gave the visitor the 2-1 lead. The Panthers then added another two runs in the third thanks to a pair of doubles and a hit through the left side of Elon's defense. The maroon and gold then closed the gap with two runs in the home half of the third. Iadisernia went deep for the second time in as many at bats to trim the guests' lead to 4-2. Galason then singled to left, stole second and moved up to third on a throwing error by the HPU catcher. The Colts Neck, N.J. native then tagged up on a Reynolds sac fly to left as Elon got back to within a run at 4-3.

In the fourth inning, Cassella hit a one-out double to the gap in right and came around on an Oldham single up the middle to knot the score at 4-4. The Panthers retook control with a solo shot in the seventh, but the Phoenix responded with two runs in the bottom of the frame. With the bases loaded and no outs, Reynolds beat out the throw to first to reached on a fielder's choice. HPU was able to get Galason out at first, but couldn't prevent Luke Coker from scoring on the play. With Iadisernia on third, Stonehouse then executed the squeeze bunt to put Elon back in front, 6-5.

A pair of Panthers drew one-out walks in the eighth, and a ground rule double down the right field line plated the lead runner to even the game at 6-6. Elon elected to intentionally walk the next batter, but the visitors wrestled back the lead with a sac fly to left. Elon again came up with an answer with a two-run bottom of the eighth. Arnone singled up the middle and was pinch run for by Tyler Cranston. Cassella then followed with a single through the left side and Parker Haskin walked to load the bases. Iadisernia then reached on a fielder's choice and Cranston and Cassella were waved home for the deciding runs. In the ninth, Sprake walked the first batter he faced but retired the next three to seal the victory.

NOTES
- Tonight marked the first multi-home run game in Iadisernia's career. His four RBIs also marks a new single-game career high.
- The Jackson, N.J. native now has 10 multi-hit games and three multi-RBI games. He extends his hit streak to seven games and has reached safely in seven consecutive games.
- The 4.0 innings pitched marks a season high for Evans. The outing also lowered his ERA from an 11.25 to a 6.75.
- The game marked the first career start for Sieracki.
- Elon hit 9-for-29 (.310) on the night, to include 2-for-9 (.222) with two outs and 2-for-10 (.200) with runners on. The team also batted 3-for-8 (.375) when leading off.
- The Phoenix was also 4-for-4 (1.000) when batting with runners on third with less than two outs.
- Elon's arms threw 65.5 percent (97-of-148) of their pitches for strikes.
- Elon pushes its lead in the all-time series to 128-88.
- Tonight was the ninth one-run game of the season for the maroon and gold. Elon is 6-3 in games decided by a run.
 
UP NEXT
Elon will host William & Mary this weekend for a CAA series. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday, April 10 beginning at 2 p.m. and wrap up with a 1 p.m. start on Sunday, April 11.