ELON N.C. – In the second midweek matchup against UNCG this season, the Elon University baseball team was victorious 4-0, led by senior left fielder
Charlie Granatell and seven pitchers who combined for the shutout.
Single runs in the second, third, fifth and seventh innings allowed the Phoenix to inch its way to victory.
Granatell excelled in his appearances inside the batter's box, getting on base in two of his three at-bats. Granatell hit a triple in the bottom of the third, and a single in the bottom of the seventh inning. He also scored half of the team's runs on the evening, stealing home on two separate wild pitches.
Granatell was the only Elon player with multiple hits.. When it came down to how he did it, it was fairly simple.
"Just seeing the ball well, and trying to help the team win," Granatell said.
As the game progressed there was an interesting development occurring in the stands. A few individuals were showing their support toward the Phoenix, but more specifically with Granatell. In the bottom of the seventh inning, with Granatell in a 1-2 count, one fan shouted out, "Chuck likes two strikes," right before he saw his fourth pitch in the at-bat. This must have been a lucky shout of some sort, as seconds later, Granatell singled up the middle putting himself on base once again.
As a player, you'd think shouts such as that might be distracting, and throw someone off of their game. In contrast for Granatell and the Phoenix, it just adds a little spice to that entree.
"Maybe not on the at-bat, but definitely with the game as a whole," Granatell said. "We've seen it here before through my four years that sometimes the fans can be an x-factor here. We saw it at Wake [Forest], we saw it today with a lot of people here so it pumps up the team and gets us going a little bit."
The Phoenix was led offensively by the senior, but the team excelled most on the mound. Freshman right-hander Hank Krift got the start and pitched three innings, allowing just two hits on 11 batters faced.
Krift set the tone for the game in the top of the first inning. With two outs and a man on third base, Krift clutched up and delivered a strikeout to retire the inning.
Pitchers Owen Winebarger, Hudson Narke, Mike Staiano, Nic Harris, Sam Nomura and even third baseman Ryan Sprock all took turns on the mound, all posting scoreless innings. Granatell was highly appreciative of their work on the night.
"Pitchers were unbelievable," Granatell said. "Everyone looked like they were commanding all of the pitches, along with getting the outs that we needed. It was big for us."
Next on the docket for the Phoenix is another conference foe. Elon will travel up to West Long Branch, New Jersey, to face the Monmouth Hawks in a three-game weekend series.
For Granatell, he'll be heading up to his home state for the weekend, and said he is focused on the task at hand.
"We're ready," Granatell said. "It's a big weekend for us. We just need to go out, play some good ball and stay true to ourselves."
'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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