Elon Men’s Baseball Phoenix Drops One in 12 Innings

ELON, N.C. — After tying the game with a dramatic ninth-inning home run, the Elon baseball team was unable to pull out a win as the Phoenix dropped a 3-2 contest in 12 innings to the visiting Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Latham Park on Wednesday night.

“Opportunities have been going by the wayside for us,” said Elon head coach Mike Kennedy. “It’s a place we’re at right now offensively and, defensively, we’re making too many mistakes as well.”

Trailing 2-0 entering the bottom of the ninth, Elon (14-10) mounted a comeback. Casey Jones led the frame off with a single up the middle before Chris Hall tied the game at two by belting the first pitch he saw from Wake’s Aaron Fossas deep to left-center for his first career home run. The Phoenix threatened to win the game in the ninth as well. The inning continued with a Demon Deacon error that allowed Nick Zammarelli to reach. Pinch-runner David Lowrey then stole second and headed to third on a wild pitch. With only one out, Fossas struck out the next hitter before issuing a walk and then fanned the next batter in the Elon lineup to snuff out the Phoenix’s rally.

The game remained even at two into the top of the 12th inning when Jimmy Redovian was hit by a one-out pitch. A sac bunt advanced the runner to second for Grant Shambley. Shambley hit a grounder to short and was ruled to beat the throw at first on a bang-bang play for an infield single. Redovian never slowed down and scored what proved to be the winning run from second on the play.

Wake Forest (16-10) scored one run in each of the first two innings. In the first, the Deacons took advantage of an Elon miscue to extend the inning before a bases-loaded walk plated the game’s first run. The next inning began with a Jack Carey homer to left.

Jones kept his career-long hitting streak alive by going 2-for-4 on the night. It is now at 10 games.

The loss went to Grant Fisher (1-1) who went three innings and was charged with one run while striking out two. After coming in in the second inning, Dimitri Lettas kept the Phoenix in the game with 6.1 scoreless frames. The freshman allowed just three hits, did not walk a batter and struck out six hitters.

Matt Pirro (1-1) picked up the win with two scoreless innings in which he gave up one hit and walked two. John McCarren walked one in the 12th, but retired the other three hitters he faced to garner his first save of the season.

Elon will be back at home this weekend as the maroon and gold plays host to The Citadel for a three-game Southern Conference series. The 2013 SoCon Tournament championship rematch begins at 6 p.m. on Friday evening from Latham Park.

                 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R H E
   Wake Forest   1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0  0  1 3 6 2
   Elon          0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2  0  0  0 2 8 4

Win – Pirro, M. (1-1)
Loss – Fisher (1-1)
Save – McCarren, J. (1).

Umpires – HP: Tom Baldinelli 1B: Jamie Roebuck 3B: Junior Creech
Start: 6:00 pm Time: 3:47 Attendance: 101
Weather: 43 deg., Sunny, Winds: NW 10