Mt. Pleasant, S.C.- After being held to just two runs on Friday night, the Elon Phoenix (9-13, 1-1 CAA) bounced back with a tough road win over the College of Charleston (13-8, 1-1 CAA) Saturday night, 14-13. The Phoenix held leads of both eight and seven, but the one-run win was all that mattered on Saturday. The Phoenix veterans delivered through adversity with clutch hitting and clutch pitching in the ninth inning that secured the win over the Cougars.
 
Eight of Elon's nine starters put together multi-hit performances as the lineup produced a season high three home runs as well. Troy McGirt had a career day at the plate for the Phoenix. In his first start of the season, McGirt did not disappoint with a team high four RBI and the first home run of his collegiate career.
 
Nolan Straniero made his first weekend start and struck out six batters while walking only one. Straniero went five innings and put up a solid three innings of no runs on the board. Ryan Sprock earned his first win of the season in the victory. He went the final two innings and struck out his lone batter of the game to end it.
 
How It Happened

• Like Elon's final game against Wofford, the Phoenix jumped on the home team early. Before the Phoenix recorded an out in the inning, five runs went up on the board. Jackson Alford led off the game with a double off the wall in left center before Charlie Granatell hit an infield single to put runners on the corners.
• Ryan Sprock ignited the Phoenix offense with a three-run home run on just the sixth pitch of the game to give the Phoenix a 3-0 lead. Not to be outdone, Alex Duffey took the second pitch he saw out to straight away center field and over the fence and gave Elon a four-run advantage.
• After two more singles, Kenny Mallory Jr. would single to center field to score Vince Fattore from second and give the Phoenix another run. Troy McGirt drove in his first run of the game on a double play which gave the Phoenix six first inning runs.
• After a zero in the bottom of the first delivered by Straniero, the Phoenix added two more runs to the lead. A bloop single from Duffey brought home another run and an RBI groundout from Mallory Jr. brought in another.
• Charleston answered Elon's offensive explosion with five runs of their own, with a chunk of them coming on a three-run home run.
• After another run in the bottom of the third, the Phoenix would put up two more Cougar zeros and two runs of their own to expand the lead back to four. In the top of the fifth, Nathan Wingenroth delivered the biggest hit of his young career with a two-RBI single up the middle to score McGirt and Mallory.
• Troy McGirt had his moment in the top of the sixth with a pair of runners aboard. After falling behind 0-2, McGirt worked the count back to even and took the 2-2 fastball over the high, left field wall to give the Phoenix a trio of runs and extend the lead to 13-6.
• Charleston roared back and clawed to within a pair of runs in the eighth inning before they tied the score with a sacrifice fly. Ryan Sprock made two big outs including a comebacker where he gunned down a runner at the plate trying to score from third.
• In the ninth inning, Jackson Alford delivered another double to give the Phoenix a runner on second with no one out. Lawson Wheeler pinch hit and laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Alford to third. After an intentional walk to Sprock, Alex Duffey provided the play of the game with a base knock to right field which scored Alford and gave the Phoenix a one-run lead.
• In the bottom of the ninth, Sprock shut the Cougars down, 1-2-3 and slammed the door with a strike out looking of the final batter to deliver the 14-13 win.

 
Notes and Stats

• The Phoenix improves to 9-13 on the season and collects their first CAA win of the season with the victory over Charleston.
• With the win, Elon has now bested the Cougars in four of the last six games against Charleston in Patriots Point. Three of the last four wins saw the Phoenix score the game-winning run or runs in the top of the ninth inning to take each game.
• The 14 runs were the most scored by the Phoenix at Charleston since Elon's 14-3 win over the Cougars in 2010.
• Troy McGirt had a career day at the plate with a pair of hits and a career high four runs driven in. McGirt hit his first career home run in the win over Charleston.
• Ryan Sprock got it done today on both the mound and in the batter's box. Sprock finished 2-for-5 at the plate with a three-run home run in the first inning which got the Phoenix on the board. On the mound, he pitched a reliver high two innings and struck out a batter in a hitless outing.
• Alex Duffey hit his first home run of the season in the win. Duffey finished with another multi-hit, multi-walk day as he reached four times and drove in three runs in the win.
• Jackson Alford and Charlie Granatell both put together solid afternoons at the top of the lineup. Both had a pair of hits, and scored a pair of runs in the victory.
• Kenny Mallory Jr. and Will Vergantino also were a pair that delivered a pair of hits. The senior and the graduate both made plays in the field and made their presence known at the dish with Mallory driving in a pair of runs.
• Nathan Wingenroth had the best day of his young career at the plate. Wingenroth collected a pair of singles and drove in two runs on one of those singles which gave Elon more cushion in the middle innings.
• Nolan Straniero struck out six batters in five innings of work. With his six strikeouts, he and Justin Mitrovich are tied for the team lead in punchouts.

 
Up Next
The Phoenix returns to the field tomorrow for the rubber match of the weekend series. First pitch with the Cougars will be at 1 PM.