ATLANTA, Ga. -- Alex Swim hit his first career grand slam and drove in a career-best six runs, but it was not enough as the Elon Phoenix saw its season come to an end with a 13-7 loss to the Mercer Bears in the Atlanta Regional of the 2010 NCAA Baseball Championships.  The Phoenix finished the season with a 38-24 record and advanced to NCAA play for the third consecutive year.  Mercer is now 38-23.

 

After Elon went 1-2-3 in the top of the first, Billy Burns led off the Mercer half of the inning with a ground ball to second that went for a single when Seth Canipe slipped on the outfield grass.  With one down, Burns swiped second and moved to third on a ground out.  The Bears took a 1-0 lead when Thomas Carroll floated a single over the head of Ben Scott at third that plated Burns.  Michael Langley followed with a single to center that was misplayed, allowing both runners to take an extra base.  Joe Winker's single to right-center then brought home both Carroll and Langley to make it a 3-0 game after one inning.

 

The Phoenix quickly got one run back when Neal Pritchard started the second by drilling an 0-1 pitch over the left field wall for his 12th round-tripper of the year.

 

Harry Austin began the Elon third with a walk and went to second on a Mike Melillo single.  Austin was able to tag and head to third on Ryan Adams' deep fly out to left.  The Phoenix was unable to take advantage of its scoring opportunity, however, as Pritchard grounded into a double play to end the threat.

 

Mercer quickly loaded the bases in the bottom of the third with singles from Tyler McCarty and Jacob Tanis ahead of a walk to Carroll.  Langley recorded the third hit of the inning, a single to right, to score McCarty to make it a 4-1 Bear advantage.  Winker picked up two more RBI with a double over the first base bag that drove home both Tanis and Carroll.

 

The Bears added another when Burns, who had led off the fourth with a triple into the right field corner, scored on McCarty's single through the drawn in infield.  An error allowed Tanis to reach and moved McCarty to second before a wild pitch moved the runners up another 90 feet.  Carroll made it a 10-1 contest when he belted his ninth homer of the year over the wall in right-center.

 

Elon's fifth started with a walk to Matt Kirchner and Austin being hit by a pitch before Adams drew a one-out walk to load the bases.  After a pop out, Swim drilled a 3-1 pitch over the wall in right for his second homer of the year and first career grand slam as the Phoenix closed its deficit to 10-5.

 

Mercer came right back as Evan Boyd singled to start the at bat, went to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on McCarty's double to left-center.  McCarty then came in on a Tanis grounder up the middle.

 

With Boyd on first, in the seventh McCarty singled to right, but the ball was misplayed for the third Elon error of the game, allowing Boyd to score and McCarty to go to third.

 

Elon loaded the bases with a walk to Chris Bresnahan, a one-out single from Melillo and a two-out walk to Pritchard in the ninth before Swim singled up the middle to plate both Bresnahan and Melillo with runs six and seven for the Phoenix.

 

Ken Ferrer (9-6) took the loss for Elon.  Ferrer was charged with seven runs (six earned) on nine hits in just three innings.  He walked one and struck out five.

 

David Teasley (6-1) was the winner after he gave up just one run on a hit in 1.2 innings of relief work.  Mercer starter Matt McCall allowed four runs on three hits and five walks in 4.1 frames.

 

Melillo and Swim each recorded two-hit outings for the Phoenix, which mustered just six hits in the contest.

 

McCarty finished 4-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBI.  Carroll and Langley both had three-hit games for the Bears.