Williamsburg, V.A.- The Elon Phoenix (22-11, 11-4 CAA) lost a heartbreaker to William & Mary (23-12, 8-5 CAA) in ten innings on Friday night. The Phoenix fell 6-5 surrendering a run in both the bottom of the ninth and bottom of the tenth to fall in their second consecutive CAA matchup.
Cole Reynolds continues to swing a hot bat, extending his on base streak to 26 games following a 2-for-5 night.
Ryan Sprock extended his hitting streak to 12 straight games following a triple during game one of the series.
Joe Savino was brilliant on the mound pitching 4.1 innings of relief in place of starter
Justin Mitrovich. The two combined for 15 strikeouts which is the second highest total of the season for the Phoenix pitching staff.
Elon still holds the first-place spot in the CAA standings with a half of a game lead over UNCW.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- William & Mary struck first in the bottom of the first inning when Max Winters singled home a run to give the Tribe a 1-0 lead.
- Elon would respond in the top of the third with a trio of runs. Charlie Granatell would extend his extra-base hit streak by doubling into left center, scoring Connor Coolahan all the way from first. With two outs, Cole Reynolds singled back up the middle to score Granatell then Tanner Holliman would single to score Reynolds and the Phoenix would lead 3-1.
- The Elon lead would not last long as Ben Williamson would even the score with a two-run home run in the bottom of the third.
- The Tribe would regain in the lead in the bottom of the fourth following an RBI single from Luca Danos.
- The Phoenix would put two more runs on the board in the top of the fifth with three consecutive zero out hits. Ryan Sprock tripled, Luke Stephenson singled and Cole Reynolds singled to give the Phoenix the lead back.
- Joe Savino would replace Justin Mitrovich on the mound and would throw a perfect first four innings of relief. Going into the ninth inning, Savino did not allow a hit, run or walk and struck out five batters.
- In the bottom of the ninth, Luca Danos singled to shortstop then Lucas Carmichael would double down the left field line scoring Danos all the way from first to tie the ball game.
- The game would go into extra innings and following a throwing error by the Phoenix infield and a close play at the plate William & Mary would score the game winning run to walk-off the Phoenix by a score of 6-5.
NOTES AND STATS
- With the loss on Friday, Elon has now lost seven straight regular season games against William & Mary and has not defeated the Tribe in the regular season since 2019.
- Cole Reynolds extended his on base streak to 26 consecutive games on base. This is the fifth highest total for a Phoenix batter in the last five seasons.
- Ryan Sprock extended his hitting streak to 12 straight games with a triple in the fifth inning. The 12-game hitting streak is the longest a Phoenix this season.
- Luke Stephenson extended his hitting streak to nine straight games, placing second on the Phoenix for the longest active streak behind Ryan Sprock.
- Justin Mitrovich pitched for the first time since Towson and picked up a career-high nine strikeouts against the Tribe. This tops his previous high of eight which he achieved against Delaware.
- Joe Savino picked up six strikeouts against the Tribe and appeared in his 14th game on the hill. Savino's 44 strikeouts are now second most on the team and places him at the top of the strikeout list amongst non-starters and third in the CAA.
- Phoenix pitching struck out 15 batters, their second highest clip of the season and the most since the Phoenix struck out 17 against Northeastern.
UP NEXT
- The Phoenix will resume their series with William & Mary on Saturday with a first pitch time of 3 p.m. Game three of the series on Sunday will kick off at 1 p.m.
