ELON, N.C. – Elon University baseball suffered an 8-3 setback as the Phoenix (18-21, 3-9 CAA) dropped its CAA series finale to College of Charleston on Sunday, April 24 at Latham Park.

ON THE MOUND
Shea Sprague (3-2) received the loss as the freshman from Hanover, Mass. was tagged for five runs (two earned) on four hits and zero walks. He struck out three in five-inning start. Kyle Greenler was responsible for the other three runs on two hits and a walk in 0.2 innings in relief, while Trevor Kirk and Ben Simon also made appearances.

AT THE PLATE
Charlie Granatell finished 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored to lead the maroon and gold. Bryce Jeske was 1-for-1, Connor Coolahan hit 1-for-3 with a double, a walk and a run scored, and Connor Offshack also turned in a 1-for-3 outing. Alex Iadisernia, Justin Cassella and Will Vergantino all batted 1-for-4, with Iadisernia and Cassella both driving in one run.

THE RUNDOWN
Elon jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the home half of the first inning. After Coolahan hit a one-out double down the left-field line, he took third on an Iadisernia fly out to center field. Cassella then caught the Cougars (26-13, 13-2) off guard with an RBI bunt single. CofC was able to pull even in the third though as a Tyler Sorrentino single up the middle scored Sam Cochrane from second. The visitors then jumped ahead 4-1 with three runs on one hit and an error in the fourth. JT Marr struck out but reached first on a wild pitch, stole second and advanced to third on a ground out back to the pitcher. CofC's Cam Dean then reached on a fielding error by Jeske and Marr came home on the play. Luke Wood then smacked a 3-1 pitch over the wall in left for a two-run home run.

The Phoenix had a productive bottom of the fifth. Cole Reynolds drew a one-out walk and moved up to third on a Granatell base hit to right center, and a wild pitch allowed Granatell to take second. A fourth ball to Coolahan was in the dirt, and Reynolds was able to slide home to cut the deficit in half at 4-2. The Cougars fielded a ground ball by Iadisernia and were able to get the force at second, but Iadisernia beat the throw to first for the RBI fielder's choice as Coolahan came around.

Momentum quickly shifted back to CofC, though. Marr led off the sixth with a double down the right-field line before Cole Mathis homered to left center. Later in the inning, a hit to right field plated a runner from third and a wild pitch made it an 8-3 Cougar advantage. CofC looked to create even more separation in the seventh with two outs and the bases loaded, but Simon struck out the batter looking to get out of the jam. Granatell led off the bottom of the frame with a two-base hit to left, but was erased as CofC turned a 1-4-5-1 double play. Elon couldn't get anything going after that as the visitors held on for the 8-3 final.
 
NOTES
- CofC is up 39-29 in the all-time series.
- Elon left seven runners on base and committed two errors.
- The Phoenix hit .235 (8-for-34) this afternoon, including .308 (4-for-13) with two outs and .250 (3-for-12) with runners on. However, the team hit just .143 (1-for-7) with runners in scoring position.
- This was the first time this season that Elon has been swept in a weekend series.
- It was Granatell's 11th multi-hit game of the season.
- Cassella pushed his hit streak to six games while Luke Stephenson has reached in eight straight games.
- Stephenson also threw out a runner trying to steal, his third in two days.
- Of the 29 hits Elon gave up in the series, 11 were for extra bases.

UP NEXT
Elon hasn't found an opponent yet for this Tuesday and will play a CAA series at UNCW next Friday-Sunday, April 29-May 1.