ELON, N.C. – Elon University baseball hit four home runs en route to an 8-5 series-opening win over visiting Georgia Southern on Thursday night, May 13 at Latham Park.
 
"That's a good win against a very good club," said head coach Mike Kennedy. "I like how we competed tonight. Brian Edgington battled and gave us a quality start and Joe Sprake continues to be outstanding! Offensively we had some big swings but also did some really good things on the bases."

ON THE MOUND
Edgington improved to 3-3 as the Hatboro, Pa. native held the Eagles (28-19) to three runs on seven hits and one walk. He added four strikeouts in a 7.0-inning start. Sprake earned his fifth save of the season as he allowed one hit, did not issue a walk and struck out two in 1.1 innings out of the pen. Kyle Greenler also made an appearance, surrendering two runs on three hits with no walks. He added on punch out in 0.2 innings of relief.

AT THE PLATE
Three Phoenix (18-18) batters turned in multi-hit outings. Adam Spurlin homered twice with two runs and two RBIs in a 2-for-4 night at the plate. Anthony Galason also went 2-for-4 with a run scored, and Justin Cassella finished 2-for-5 with a double, two runs and a run batted in. Parker Haskin hit a two-run homer as he ended up 1-for-3 with a run and two RBIs, and Cole Reynolds also batted 1-for-3. Alex Iadisernia had the team's other long ball as he turned in a 1-for-4 effort with one run and two RBIs. Nick Cicci drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and Jack Roberts also came around once.

THE RUNDOWN
The visitors opened the scoring with a two-run top of the first. After back-to-back singles by GS's Steven Curry and Mason McWhorter to start the game, Christian Avant moved the pair up with a sacrifice bunt to third. A wild pitch then allowed Curry to cross the plate, and McWhorter made it a 2-0 Eagles lead on a ground out to short. However, Elon quickly responded in its first turn at bat. Cassella struck out but reached first on a wild pitch, and Haskin then tied the game with a two-run blast to left center. Iadisernia then followed with a solo shot to the same spot as Elon pulled ahead, 3-2.

Spurlin then made it 4-2 with a four-bagger to straightaway center in the second inning. He pushed the lead to 5-2 in the his next at bat in the fourth, sending a 1-0 pitch to just right of the batter's eye. Roberts then reached on a fielding error by the GS first baseman and scored from first on a Cassella double to left for the 6-2 advantage. The Eagles cut Elon's lead in half, 6-3 as a runner scored from third on a wild pitch in the fifth, but the Phoenix came up with an answer as Cicci's sac fly to the gap in right was deep enough for Galason to tag up. The maroon and gold manufactured its final run of the game in the home half of the sixth. Cassella led off with a hit through the left side, stole second, and reached third on a Haskin sac bunt. Iadisernia then hit a grounder to the GS first baseman who elected to try and get Cassella out at the plate, but the freshman slid under the tag to push the Elon lead to 8-3.

A two-run home run gave the Eagles some life in the eighth, but Greenler and Sprake recorded back-to-back strikeouts to prevent any further damage. GS got a runner on second with two outs in the top of the ninth, but Sprake fielded a weak grounder and flipped to Reynolds at first to bring the game to its close.

NOTES
- With his home run in the first, Iadisernia broke the program's freshman home run record of nine, set by Liam O'Regan in 2016.
- Elon improves to 27-24 in the all-time series, including a 13-9 mark when playing at Latham Park.
- The Phoenix hit 3-for-10 (.300) with runners on and 1.000 (1-for-2) with a runner on third and less than two outs.
- This is the second time this season the maroon and gold has hit four homers in a game. The team also went yard four times in a 6-5 loss to UNCW in the CAA series finale on April 25.
- This marks the first multi-home run game for Spurlin in his time as a Phoenix.
- Iadisernia pushed his reached-base streak to 22 games, while Garrett Stonehouse has now reached in 11 straight games.

UP NEXT
The teams meet again tomorrow for a 4 p.m. start to Game Two.