MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – Elon University baseball used two big innings to overcome five errors as the Phoenix (20-19, 9-7 CAA) defeated College of Charleston 10-7 on Thursday night, May 20 at Patriots Point.
ON THE MOUND
The win went to
Brian Edgington (4-3), who allowed six runs (four earned) on nine hits and one walk. He added one strikeout in the 5.0-inning start.
Joe Sprake earned the save with one hit and one punch out after pitching the ninth.
Kyle Greenler allowed two runs, one of them earned, on two hits through 2.0 innings out of the pen.
Trevor Kirk also made an appearance, walking two and striking out two in 1.0 complete inning.
AT THE PLATE
Anthony Galason finished 3-for-5, scored twice and drove in two runs. Also turning in a multi-hit outing was
Alex Iadisernia as he batted 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs, one run and one base on balls.
Justin Cassella,
Willie Havens and
Garrett Stonehouse all hit 1-for-3. Cassella scored three times and walked twice, Havens tripled with a run and two RBIs, and Stonehouse added a run to his totals.
Cole Reynolds doubled and came around twice in a 1-for-4 day at the plate.
THE RUNDOWN
CofC struck first with one run in the bottom half of the first. With the bases loaded, the lead runner scored as Elon elected to get the force out at second. The Phoenix then turned a 4-6-3 double play to limit the damage and answered with a five-run top of the fourth. Cassella drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a
Parker Haskin ground out, and took third on a wild pitch. Iadisernia followed with an RBI double down the right-field line to knot the score at 1-1 before Galason gave the maroon and gold the lead with an RBI single to right. After another wild pitch allowed Galason to take second, he moved up to third on a Reynolds double to the gap in left. Havens drove in the pair with a triple to right and later scored on the third wild pitch of the inning to put the Phoenix ahead 5-1.
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The Cougars (23-22, 11-11) responded with two runs on three hits and two errors in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, CofC's Ari Sechopoulos reached on a fielding error and got to third on a Landon Choboy single and an error by
Adam Spurlin. The hosts then executed a double steal as Sechopoulos crossed the plate. A Jared Kirven single to third placed runners on the corners and Luke Stageberg doubled down the right-field line to trim Elon's lead to 5-3. In the bottom of the fifth, Trotter Harlan homered to left to close the gap, 5-4.
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Elon extended its lead in the top of the sixth. With the bags full and two away, Choboy couldn't field a Spurlin fly ball to left. The error allowed three runners to come around as the Phoenix pulled away, 8-4. However, the home team refused to go away as the Cougars manufactured three runs on as many hits and two errors to cut Elon's lead to 8-7.
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Cassella led off the seventh with a hit to third and Haskin executed a sacrifice bunt to put a runner in scoring position. Cassella was then waved home on an Iadisernia single to left for the 9-7 advantage. Elon made it a 10-7 game in the ninth as Cassella scored from second on a Galason hit through the left side. The Cougars hit a leadoff double in the home half of the inning, but the Phoenix retired the next three batters to end the game.
NOTES
- Iadisernia pushed his reached-base streak to 25 games.
- This was Galason's fourth consecutive multi-hit game and third straight with three or more hits.
- Elon hit 9-for-33 (.273) in the game. The maroon and gold batted 7-for-16 (.438) with runners on, 7-for-14 (.500) with runners in scoring position and 2-for-2 (1.000) with runners on third and less than two outs.
- This was Sprake's fourth save in as many appearances.
- His seven saves this season is still first in the CAA.
- Elon pitchers threw 102-of-156 (.654) for strikes.
UP NEXT
The teams will meet again tomorrow, May 21 for a 6 p.m. start to Game Two.
-ELON-