Nine-Run Fourth Rolls Elon Men’s Baseball Past Wagner

ELON, N.C. — On a day when eight of nine Elon starters recorded at least one hit, the Phoenix offense erupted as the maroon and gold claimed a 14-2 victory over visiting Wagner in the first game of a three-game series from Latham Park on Friday afternoon.

“We had some pretty good at bats early in the game,” said Elon head coach Mike Kennedy. “We got guys on base and came up with some big hits. I think we’re going to be pretty good offensively. We were really focused early.”

Elon (3-1) built a 3-0 lead after three innings before the offense sent 15 men to the plate and scored nine runs on nine hits in the fourth inning. It all got started with back-to-back singles from Sebastian Gomez andChris King before a Nick Zammarelli double drove home one. D.J. Paone picked up a RBI on a grounder up the middle. With four runs already in in the at bat and runners on first and second with two outs, Danny Lynch drove home a run with a single up the middle. After a walk to Gomez loaded the bases, King unloaded them by sending an 0-1 pitch deep over the wall in right field for his first career grand slam.

Wagner (0-1) pushed across single markers in both the fifth and seventh before Elon scored twice on bases-loaded walks in the last of the eighth.

King ended the day with a career-best five RBI as he went 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Zammarelli also drove in two and scored once during his 2-for-4 performance. Gomez, Paone and Quinn Bower all had two-hit games for the Phoenix.

Making the first start of his career, Michael Elefante (2-0) tossed six four-hit innings and allowed just one run to pick up the victory. He struck out four. Mike Krill hurled the final three innings to earn the first save of his career.

The loss went to Ryan Casey (0-1) who was charged with 10 runs (four earned) on nine hits in 3.2 innings of work.

The two teams will be back in action at Latham Park on Saturday at 2 p.m.

           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
   Wagner  0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0  2  7 5
   Elon    0 2 1 9 0 0 0 2 X 14 14 1

Win – Elefante (2-0)
Loss – CASEY, Ryan (0-1)
Save – Krill (1)
Umpires – HP: Jeff Francis 1B: Glenn Barham 3B: Alan McGee
Start: 2:13 pm Time: 2:39 Attendance: 243
Weather: 60 deg., Cloudy, Winds: W17