Boiling Spring, N.C. - Junior Cole Reynolds started on the mound, pitched five innings of one-run ball, then moved to first base and clubbed a three-run homer as the Elon Baseball team (2-2) defeated the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs (1-4) 7-5 Tuesday night on the road. 
 
Sophomore outfielder Kenny Mallory Jr. finished the day with his best performance of the young season, going 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI as well. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Freshman Ryan Sprock drew a first inning walk, but two consecutive flyouts left him stranded in the top of the first inning.
• The Runnin' Bulldogs would counter with two consecutive two-out doubles in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead. That would be the only run Cole Reynolds would allow on the hill.
• In the top of the third, Connor Coolahan got things started with a hit by pitch, then advanced on a Parker Haskin sacrifice bunt. Mallory Jr. would single home Coolahan and Ryan Sprock would clear the bases with an opposite field two-run bomb, Sprock's first home run and first hit in an Elon uniform.
• Gardner-Webb was able to find some momentum in the bottom of the third, but their effort was snubbed out by center fielder Justin Cassella, who made a terrific diving play charging in from deep center.
• Reynolds was relieved in the bottom of the sixth by Spencer Bauer, who quickly sat down the Bulldogs with a 1-2-3 inning.
• The Phoenix would give Bauer more run support in the top of the seventh. Following a Will Vergantino single, Elon played small ball with Coolahan, sacrificing him over, and Vergantino then scored on a Haskin single. Mallory Jr. would lace a line-drive down the right field line that took one hop and went over the fence for a ground-rule double. With runners on second and third, Reynolds stepped to the plate and launch a three-run home run over the right-center field fence. Elon now controlled the score 7-1.
• Gardner-Webb would return to the scoring column when Bo Rusher III knocked a double into the left-center field gap off of Joe Sprake, scoring a pair of Runnin' Bulldogs to make the score 7-3.
• Following the double, junior Ben Simon would enter for Joe Sprake and sat down Trevor Mattson on strikes.
• The Phoenix went into the ninth with a comfortable four-run lead, but that lead would be sliced in half when Alec Burns answered with a home run of his own with two outs. Ben Simon would force Jacob McCaskey to ground out to Vergantino at short to end the game.

 
NOTES AND STATS

• Freshman Ryan Sprock became the second Phoenix this season, including Tanner Holliman, to have his first hit as a Phoenix be a home run. Sprock finished the day with the homer as well as two walks.
• Kenny Mallory Jr. recorded his second two-hit game of his Phoenix career and secured his first extra-base hit with a double in the top of the seventh inning.
• Cole Reynolds earned his first win as a pitcher in a Phoenix uniform and matched his career high in innings pitched with 5.0. He reached that tally against Army last season at Latham Park.
• Reynolds joins Luke Stephenson as the only Phoenix on this year's roster with double-digit career home runs for Elon. Reynolds smashed his tenth in the top of the seventh inning against Gardner-Webb.
• The Phoenix's five hits are the most in an inning this season and its eight total hits are the most in a game since Elon's 13-3 win over UNCW in the CAA Tournament last season.
• Redshirt junior Spencer Bauer made his first appearance of the season and continues his streak of allowing one or less hits to five games. Bauer has not surrendered more than one hit in an outing since he gave up two at Northeastern in April of 2022.
• Ben Simon secured his second save of the season, tossing 1.1 innings in relief. Simon has retired seven batters in his two saves and struck out five of them. His two saves also match his save output from a season ago.
• The Phoenix tallied three sacrifice hits, which is their season high and matches the output against UNCW in the CAA Tournament a season ago.
• The win against Gardner-Webb secures the teams 39^th all-time win against the Runnin' Bulldogs and is the team's 11^th victory in the last 13 meetings.

UP NEXT

• The Phoenix will return home to Latham Park this weekend to face the Akron Zips Friday through Sunday. Tickets are available at ElonTickets.com or by calling the Elon Ticket Office at 336-278-6750.