ELON – The Elon baseball team (13-20, 5-11 CAA) lost a late Friday night lead to William & Mary (13-19, 5-8 CAA) Friday night. The Phoenix dropped game one of the series, 9-6.

Brian DuRoff and Gar Hindle stood out at the plate. DuRoff and Hindle both snagged two doubles with DuRoff bringing in an Elon high two runs. Nate Sterling added a team high three hits in the nine hole.

Brian Strange fired another quality start on the mound. Strange went six innings and allowed three earned runs on 85 pitches. Kehler Hamilton struck out a pair of hitters in two innings of scoreless relief.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After two quick scoreless frames, William & Mary got on the board first with a solo home run in the third inning.
• The Phoenix countered in the fourth with three runs of their own. An RBI groundout from Jake Hajdu got the Phoenix on the board. A double down the right field line from Hindle brought home another. With two outs, an RBI single from Nate Sterling handed Elon a 3-1 lead.
• The Tribe answered in the fifth with a three-spot of their own.
• Elon evened the score in the bottom of the frame when Jared Hall scored on a wild pitch.
• Two more Elon runs in the sixth gave the lead back to the Phoenix. A two-RBI double from DuRoff scored Sterling and Jackson Alford to give Elon a 6-4 lead.
• Elon carried that lead into the ninth when William & Mary flipped the result with a five-run inning to take game one, 9-6.

 
QUICK HITS

• Brian Strange tossed his fifth quality start of the season and third straight on Friday. Strange limited the Tribe offense to three earned runs over six innings.
• Kehler Hamilton was a bright spot out of the bullpen again. Hamilton continues to show his improvement and lowered his season ERA to 1.80 after two scoreless innings.
• Brian DuRoff continues to lead the charge for the Phoenix during CAA play. DuRoff added two more extra base hits to his tally of seven in conference games. DuRoff is batting .412 in CAA play.
• Gar Hindle continues to shine in CAA play as well. Hindle doubled twice and drove in a run in the loss. Hindle has reached base safely in eight straight conference games.
• Nate Sterling registered his first three-hit game as a Phoenix Friday night. Sterling also drove in a run and scored a run in the loss.
• Kevin Denty added a double and a run scored in the loss.

UP NEXT
Elon returns to the diamond tomorrow for game two of the series. First pitch between the Phoenix and Tribe will be at 2 p.m.