ELON, N.C. – Pitching has been the name of the game this weekend for the Elon University baseball team against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. A dynamic duo of
Kolby Pascarelli and
Sam Nomura emerged from the bullpen for the Phoenix and closed the door on a victory Saturday.
Pascarelli entered the game in the top of the fifth inning after several Gophers scored earlier in the inning as Minnesota held a 5-3 lead with a runner on first base and two outs. Up to this point, Minnesota had collected six hits, including two home runs, on the five runs scored and was having its way offensively.
However, Pascarelli entered the game and immediately struck out Kris Hokenson to get the Phoenix into the dugout. The offense responded with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and Pascarelli was able to shut down the Gophers from there in the innings that followed.
"I was just throwing the ball over the zone and trying to get the team in the dugout as fast as possible," Pascarelli said. "The boys were really rallying around us on the mound today and that was the key."
Quick innings were a theme for Pascarelli as he retired the side with only six pitches in the sixth inning and 14 in the seventh inning. Entering the eighth, he allowed only one base runner as the Gophers never put up much of a threat.
After two base runners reached in the top of the eighth inning, the second leg of the dynamic duo entered as Nomura jogged out of the bullpen to face Kyle Bork with only one out on the board. Similar to Pascarelli, Nomura worked out of the jam with a strikeout, followed by a weak groundout to end the inning.
"Pascarelli already had hitters on their toes and so it was pretty easy for me to come in and fill up the zone," Nomura said.
With a clean slate in the ninth inning, Nomura cruised through the bottom part of the Minnesota lineup with relative ease. Similar to Pascarelli, Nomura worked efficiently through the lineup and did not keep the Phoenix in the field for long.
Following a leadoff single in the ninth, Nomura retired the next two batters in three total pitches before needing five pitches to record the final out of the ballgame.
"It is really easy to pitch when you are following good outings," Nomura said, referring to the strong outing from Pascarelli. "I was attacking hitters and I knew the defense would back me up which was big."
With the victory and strong bullpen outings, the Phoenix clinched a series victory over a Big 10 foe with conference play coming up next weekend. Using only two relief pitchers out of the bullpen also allows Elon the opportunity to go for a series sweep Sunday.
"When you have a tough opponent like that, you have to go out and get it." Nomura said, "It was good to see all the guys galvanize and really pull for each other."
'Rising Phoenix' is a new student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on Twitter (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Jacob Kisamore at jkisamore@elon.edu.
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