ELON, N.C. – Deadlocked 2-2 with Brown through six and a half innings on Friday night, the Elon University baseball team searched for an offensive spark. That spark would come off of the outfield duo of
Alec Welshans and
Vince Fattore, who led the team to a 12-2 win in just eight innings.
"It's huge momentum wise," Fattore said. "We've been in some close fights this year that haven't gone our way, but I think it's just huge going into the next two days."
Before the two went to work in the bottom of the seventh, junior right-handed pitcher Justin Mitrovich had finished his night, throwing a season-high seven innings and collecting eight strikeouts. Both Fattore and Welshans applauded his performance and wanted to help the ace earn his first win of the season.
"[Mitrovich] was able to pitch well, and then we just picked it up at the end of the game," Welshans said.
After a groundout gave the Phoenix a 3-2 advantage, Brown's starter Santhosh Gottam gave up a four pitch walk and was promptly pulled from the game with Fattore due up. With two outs and facing a new arm, Fattore wasted no time, singling to right field on the first pitch of his at-bat and picking up the RBI.
"Just trying to get a pitch I could drive," Fattore said. "First two at-bats, I had a good approach, just missed. Just tried to get on top of something and drive in a run."
A walk would load the bases for Welshans, who launched a double into the left center field gap. The ball split the outfielders, two runners scored and Welshans cruised into second standing up, breaking the game open as the Phoenix earned a 6-2 lead.
Welshans said despite the situation, he kept his approach at the plate simple.
"I got two strikes early and I was just trying to put bat on ball," Welshans said. "He threw me a curveball and I was able to get to it."
Elon's offense continued to tack on runs in the bottom of the eighth, scoring the six the team needed to end the game at 12-2 by a run-rule. Fattore and Welshans both picked up another RBI, this time off of a HBP and a groundout, respectively.
Each member of the starting lineup also reached base during the game, collecting 11 total hits with seven walks.
"I think the best word to describe it is accountability," Fattore said. "Our veteran guys are really getting on us about being accountable about our at-bats and each pitch and taking it pitch by pitch. I think that's an important thing, that's why we were able to get that momentum in the later innings."
Fattore ended his night going 2-4 with two RBI, both of which tied his season-highs. The three RBI off of Welshans' bat marked his season-high and career-high in Division I play.
Elon will face Brown for the second game of the three-game series on Saturday, March 1 at 2 p.m.
"It's huge just carrying that into the next day," Fattore said. "As Skip said, wins are hard to come by, so we're going to enjoy it, come out and do the same thing."
'Rising Phoenix' is a 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 X (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Chase Strawser at cstrawser@elon.edu.
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