Elon, N.C.- The Elon Phoenix (11-21) and North Carolina Tar Heels (25-8) played one of the highest scoring games and one of the most entertaining games in the history of their rivalry. The Phoenix was defeated 12-10 by the #16 Tar Heels at Latham Park Tuesday night in a back-and-forth battle between the two.
 
Ryan Sprock and Alex Duffey both contributed heavily to the middle of the Phoenix order Tuesday night. Both finished with three hits on the night while Sprock threw 1.1 innings on the mound and Duffey threw out two runners behind the plate.
 
Phoenix freshman pitchers: Hank Krift, Owen Winebarger and Nic Harris combined to throw three innings on the night and allowed no runs. Krift made his first midweek start of the season and went two innings while striking out three Tar Heel batters.
 
How It Happened

• Hank Krift got the Phoenix going in the first two frames with his best outing since the Brown start with two innings of clean work. Krift struck out three batters in a row to retire the Tar Heels at the end of the first and to end the second.
• In the bottom of the second, the Phoenix found run support. Alex Duffey led off the inning with a double and after a Vince Fattore single, Elon had runners on the corners with no outs. A Will Vergantino sacrifice fly brought in Duffey and with two outs Jutin Szestowicki delivered an RBI double into the left center field gap against his former team.
• Carolina responded with five straight runs to take a lead going into the bottom of the sixth inning.
• In the bottom half of the sixth, the Phoenix offense reignited. Kenny Mallory Jr. found his swing in the inning with a double down the left field line to score Ryan Sprock and get the Phoenix back within a pair of runs. Following an RBI, bases loaded walk from Szestowicki, Jackson Alford stepped to the plate with two outs. Alford chopped a ball up the middle and with his speed forced a throwing error that plated two more runs. Elon continued to put up numbers with two outs in the inning. Charlie Granatell delivered the 50^th double of his Elon career down the right field line to score another run. Alex Duffey drove in a pair of runs on an RBI single, still with two outs, to extend the Elon lead to four.
• Not to be outdone, UNC put up six runs just a half inning later to retake the lead, 11-9.
• Sprock helped his own cause after firing a scoreless eighth inning. Sprock hit his fifth home run of the season to dead center field to halve the deficit and make it an 11-10 ballgame.
• The Tar Heels added another run in the top of the ninth for insurance and Elon could not find two runs to tie and UNC took the lone meeting of the season with Elon 12-10.

 
Notes and Stats

• The Phoenix falls to 11-21 following the loss to North Carolina. Elon has now lost 17 straight games to the Tar Heels dating back to the last Elon win in 2010.
• Ryan Sprock homered and allowed one run in 1.1 innings on the mound. Sprock hit his team leading fifth home run in the loss and finished the night 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI at the plate. For the fourth time in his Elon career, Ryan Sprock homered and pitched in the same game. He did it once his freshman year against Delaware and twice last season, once against UNCW and once against North Carolina A&T.
• Alex Duffey also delivered a 3-for-4 day at the plate against the Tar Heels. Duffey doubled and singled twice in the loss. Duffey drove in his 32^nd run of the season which ties a career high for RBI in a season and he did it with 20 games left in the season.
• Charlie Granatell doubled, drove in and scored a run. The double was the 50^th of Granatell's career which makes him just the third player in Elon history with 50 career doubles.
• Justin Szestowicki had another solid outing against his former team. The former Tar Heel doubled home a run and scored a run in the loss.
• Kenny Mallory Jr. doubled in a run and reached base three times in the loss.
• Hank Krift made his sixth start of the season, and first midweek start on Tuesday. Krift went two innings, allowed two hits and no runs, and struck out three batters in his outing.
• Sam Nomura also tossed two innings in the loss to North Carolina Tuesday. Nomura held the Phoenix lead in his two innings while also allowing just two hits.
• Ryan Sprock struck out a pair of batters while allowing just a solo home run in his 1.1 innings of relief.

 
Up Next
The Phoenix returns to Latham Park for games 2-4 of the five-game homestand against the Towson Tigers. First pitch with Towson on Friday will be at 6 PM.