ELON, N.C. – The first weekend of May has special meaning for
Tank Yaghoubi. The series between Elon and William & Mary is critical for both teams as they each battle for position in the CAA standings and the Phoenix fights for the opportunity to compete in the CAA tournament at the end of the month.
However, for Yaghoubi, the series has extra significance, as he faced his former team for the first time on Friday since transferring from Williamsburg after spending last season with the Tribe.
"I had this day marked on the calendar since last May," Yaghoubi said. "Just a big weekend for me, a big weekend for the team to get me going, and it worked out."
Family members from New York made the trek down to North Carolina to watch Yaghoubi face off against his former squad. Many of those family members were pleasantly surprised as they saw him don the front cover of the promotional game program. One woman who introduced herself as "Tank's nana from Long Island" to the marketing team took six programs, "One for each room in [her] house."
In front of his own supporting section, Yaghoubi started game one of a Friday doubleheader in center field and batted ninth in the order.
Neither team generated much offense through the first five innings of the first contest. Elon held a 1-0 lead scored by none other than Yaghoubi. The centerfielder stepped up to the box in the sixth inning with two outs and one runner on base. After drawing two balls and watching Will Vergantino steal second base, Yaghoubi ripped a single into left field which scored Vergantino from second and doubled the Phoenix lead.
In the eighth inning, Yaghoubi added yet another single and eventually came around to score Elon's fifth run of the game on an RBI single from Charlie Granatell. In all, Yaghoubi finished game one with one of his best performances of the season in an Elon victory, going 3-3 at the plate and three runs scored.
"Today, I just had the confidence to get going," Yaghoubi said. "After the first hit, I just saw beach balls coming at me."
The success against his former squad did not end with the three-hit performance in game one. In game two of the twin bill, Yaghoubi added two more hits, including a two-run single in the second inning to open up the scoring.
Yaghoubi combined for five hits, three RBI and four runs scored during the full slate. The continued success also helped Yaghoubi break out of a slump and shine more confidence for his squad.
"I just wanted to show my colors out there," Yaghoubi said. "My true colors, Elon."
Elon won both games of the doubleheader 8-3 and 9-8 and positioned itself to make a run at the CAA tournament during the home stretch of the season.
"It's just one game at a time," Yaghoubi said. "We can't keep looking at, 'Oh we need to sweep this team, [we] need to sweep that team.' We need to play and win one game at a time."
'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.
--ELON–
