ELON – Behind a quality
Cole Hansen performance and 14 free bases, the Elon baseball team (20-31) finished off a season series sweep over Queens (15-36) Tuesday night. Elon led wire-to-wire and pulled out a 10-3 victory over the Royals in Charlotte.
Cole Hansen was handed the ball for a midweek start and did not disappoint. The graduate carried a no-hitter in the fifth inning and earned his fourth win of the season. The bullpen trio of
Cade Mustard,
Sam Nomura and
RJ Latkowski held down the Royals over the final 3.2 innings.
Kevin Denty and
Gar Hindle both put together multi-hit, multi-RBI performances. Hindle drove in a game high three runs while Denty's two-RBI double proved to be the game-winner in the fifth inning.
Jared Hall finished with a season-high three stolen bases and
Vince Fattore hit his team leading 7
th home run.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Elon struck first in the top of the second with a pair of runs.
- Kevin Denty provided Elon's next three runs in the fifth. A two-RBI double from Denty doubled Elon's lead before he came around to score on a wild pitch to put Elon in front 5-0.
- Queens began to put pressure on the Phoenix with a run in the fifth and two runs in the sixth.
- The Phoenix got two runs back in the seventh when an infield fly was lost in the sky and allowed two runs to score.
- Elon padded their lead with a two-run home run in the eighth from Vince Fattore. The Phoenix added one more run in the ninth to finish the ballgame 10-3 winners.
QUICK HITS
- Cole Hansen put together his top strikeout performance of the season on Tuesday. Hansen struck out six batters in 5.1 innings of work and carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning.
- RJ Latkowski struck out the side in the ninth inning to bump his season total to 23.
- Sam Nomura made his 74th career appearance on the mound. Nomura is one appearance away from making it into Elon's career appearances top-10 list.
- Vince Fattore hit his seventh home run of the season. Fattore leads the club in home runs and moves his career total to 15.
- Gar Hindle drove in three runs and finished with a multi-hit game.
- Jared Hall stole a career high three bases on Tuesday night. Hall is 17-for-18 on stolen base attempts this season.
- Kevin Denty put together his second multi-hit game in his last three on Tuesday. Denty drove in both runs on a fifth inning double.
- Elon reached base on a free pass (walk or hit by pitch) 14 times on Tuesday. Elon was hit by a pitch, eight times on Tuesday which is a Queens single game record.
- With a win over Queens, Elon sweeps a home and home non-conference series over an in-state opponent for the second straight season. Elon won both games against UNCG in 2025.
UP NEXT
Elon closes out the regular season this Thursday with a doubleheader in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Elon will play Northern Kentucky at 1 p.m. followed by a game with USC Upstate at 5 p.m.
