ELON, N.C. – Elon University baseball concludes the 2021 regular season on the road as the Phoenix (19-19, 8-7 CAA) plays a CAA series at College of Charleston this Thursday-Saturday, May 20-22 at Patriots Point.

COVERAGE
Live stats will be available and all three games will be streamed on FloSports.

PITCHING MATCHUPS

Elon	Charleston
R-So. RH Brian Edgington (3-3, 3.57 ERA)	Fr. RH William Privette (1-2, 3.06 ERA)
R-Fr. RH Joe Savino (0-2, 3.64 ERA)	Fr. RH Trey Pooser (4-1, 3.76 ERA)
TBD	TBD

THE SERIES
- CofC holds a 34-27 lead in the all-time series, to include an 18-11 advantage when playing at Patriots Point.
- Elon hosted the Cougars (23-21, 11-10) for three games on April 30-May 2, a conference series that went to the Phoenix, 2-1.
- Elon hit three home runs in the opener, highlighted by a Parker Haskin grand slam, en route to a 14-5 final. Brian Edgington struck out four in a 6.0-inning start. He earned the win as he allowed four runs, two of them earned, on six hits and one walk. Garrett Stonehouse went 3-for-4, doubled, scored twice, drove in four runs and added a base on balls. Cole Reynolds finished 3-for-3 with two runs and two walks, and Nick Cicci hit 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI. Justin Cassella, Haskin and Adam Spurlin all homered in 1-for-5 outings.
- After trailing 10-4 in Game Two, Elon rallied back for a 12-11 win in the 11th inning as Tyler Cranston hit a walk-off RBI single to the wall in left field. Joe Sprake got the win, striking out two and allowing one unearned run on one hit in 3.0 innings in relief. Cassella drove in four runs on a 3-for-5 day at the plate. The freshman doubled, scored once and stole twice. Also turning in multi-hit outings were Willie Havens (2-for-4) and Jarrett Pico (2-for-5). Havens doubled and scored three runs while Pico added two runs and an RBI to his totals. Stonehouse collected three RBIs as the redshirt senior hit a three-run blast and came around twice in a 1-for-5 performance.
- The Phoenix scratched across three runs late in Game Three, but fell short to the Cougars 6-3.
- Elon is currently second in the conference's South Division standings while CofC is third. UNCW captured the division with a series sweep of the Cougars last weekend in Wilmington, N.C.
- The winner between Elon and CofC will clinch a berth to the 2021 CAA Championship as the second-place team out of the South. Northeastern captured the top seed out of the North and Towson finished second. The final two spots will be determined by a committee of athletic administrators on Saturday evening. The committee will also determine seeding for the six-team field.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS
- CofC is coming off a 10-4 win over The Citadel on Tuesday.
- All nine members of the batting order collected a hit and six players drove in at least one run. The Cougars opened the scoring with two runs in the first and manufactured another five runs over the next two frames to build a 7-1 lead. CofC then added another three runs in the seventh.
- Five Cougars are hitting over .300, led by Harrison Hawkins at .353. Following him are Landen Choboy (.338), Tanner Steffy (.333), Joseph Mershon (.323) and Jared Kirven (.310).
- Hawkins leads CofC with 61 hits, 40 runs scored, 10 home runs, 49 RBIs and 103 total bases.
- Trotter Harlan (.276) has stolen 10 bags on 12 attempts, while Mershon is 10-for-15.
- As a team, the Cougars are batting .270 with a .418 slugging percentage and a .343 on-base percentage.
- The Cougars will start a pair of freshman right-handers in William Privette and Trey Pooser. CofC hasn't named a starting pitcher for Saturday's finale.
- CofC pitchers own a combined 4.86 ERA while opposing teams are batting .296 against them.
- Through games played on May 18, the Cougars rank ninth nationally in double plays per game (0.95) and 11th in double plays (42). The team is also 36th in walks allowed per nine innings (3.43).
- Ty Good ranks 11th in the country in hit batters (15) while Hawkins is the CAA leader in RBIs and RBIs per game (1.14).

ABOUT THE PHOENIX
- Luke Coker leads the maroon and gold with a .400 average. Alex Iadisernia follows with a .362 clip, Anthony Galason is batting .328 and Cranston .317.
- Iadisernia set a new program freshman record with 10 home runs so far this season. He also leads the Phoenix with 54 hits, 34 runs, 10 doubles, 26 RBIs and 94 total bases. He and Reynolds have both walked a team-high 20 times.
- Galason is 10-for-11 when attempting to steal, Cassella is 8-for-8 and Iadisernia is 6-for-11.
- Iadisernia is on a 10-game hit streak and has reached base in 24 consecutive games.
- Elon batters are hitting .258 with a .414 slugging percentage and a .346 on-base percentage.
- Edgington is expected to get the start on Thursday while Savino will get the nod on Friday. Elon has yet to name a starter for Saturday.
- Elon's arms have a 4.70 ERA collectively with opposing batters hitting .264.
- The Phoenix leads the CAA in home runs per game (1.16) and is second in home runs (44), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.46) and strikeouts per nine innings (9.1).
- Joe Savino is 10th in the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio (8.14) and is 23rd in walks allowed per nine innings (1.34). Sprake is first in the league in both victories (6) and saves (6).

PHOENIX EARNS 2-1 SERIES WIN OVER GEORGIA SOUTHERN
- Elon defeated the Eagles 8-5 last Thursday and followed with a 6-4 win on Friday to earn the series win over its former SoCon rival.
- In the opener, Spurlin homered twice, Haskin hit a two-run blast and Iadisernia added a solo shot to power the offense. Edgington improved to 3-3 as he held the Eagles 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.
- A five-run bottom of the first keyed the victory in Game Two. Ben Simon earned the win and improved to 1-4. The East Windsor, N.J. native allowed three runs, two earned, on two hits and two walks. He added one strikeout in 3.0 innings of relief. Sprake retired the side in the top of the ninth for his second save in as many days. Galason paced Elon's bats as he went 3-for-4, drove in two runs, scored once and stole a base. Cicci batted 1-for-2 with a home run, two runs, an RBI and a walk.
- In the series finale, the Phoenix pulled to within 4-3 in the bottom the seventh, but the visitors created some separation with three runs on two home runs. Elon then scored twice in the bottom of the ninth, but the rally fell short as GS held on 7-5.

ELON RECOGNIZES 2020 ALUMNI, 2021 SENIOR CLASS
- Last Saturday marked Senior Day for the maroon and gold.
- Prior to first pitch, the team held a ceremony recognizing several of its 2020 alumni (Mike Borucki, Andrew Tovsky, Owen Lorenz and Tyler Stanley) as well as its 2021 graduates (William Schmidt, Coker, Daniel Albrittain, Cranston, Cicci, Jack Roberts, Spurlin, Pico, Matt Oldham, Jared Wetherbee and Garrett Stonehouse).
- Borucki, Tovsky, Lorenz and Stanley threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
- After the game, the team held a graduation ceremony in Schar Center.

PHOENIX ANNOUNCES TEAM AWARDS DURING VIRTUAL BANQUET
- Elon University Athletics hosted its 47th-annual athletics awards banquet on May 10.
- Reynolds was named the team's Top Newcomer, Edgington earned the Coach's Award and Sprake was tabbed Pitcher of the Year.
- This year's Team MVP honor went to Iadisernia.

UP NEXT
The 2021 CAA Baseball Championship will be held on May 26-30 at UNCW's Brooks Field in Wilmington.