Elon Baseball Cruises Past North Carolina A&T

ELON, N.C. — Big offensive outburst in the third and fourth innings, along with a solid start from freshman Dimitri Lettas led the Elon Phoenix baseball squad to a 10-2 victory over visiting North Carolina A&T on Tuesday night at Latham Park. It was the fourth consecutive win for the Phoenix.

Said Elon head coach Mike Kennedy, “They struggled to throw strikes and, any time they do that, you want to make guys pay for that. You want to make sure you can take advantage of those types of situations. We finally put some things together and were able to pull away.”

The Phoenix (18-10) jumped on Aggie starter DarAmani Swift in the third. Quinn Bower got things started by ripping a double to right-center. A hit batter and walk loaded the bases. A line out to third nearly turned in to a double play, but the throw to second caromed off the helmet of an Elon runner and into right field to allow Bower to score the game’s first run. With the bags full after another walk, Tyler McVicar picked up an RBI on a ground out before Nick Zammarelli doubled home two with a shot to left-center to make it 4-0. Zammarelli then scored when Blaine Bower singled down the right field line.

Elon extended its edge to 9-0 with a four-run fourth. With men on first and second, Casey Jones singled home a run. With two outs, A&T’s catcher tried to pick a Phoenix runner off of third, but threw the ball down the line to let in the seventh Elon run of the night. McVicar then doubled home two to cap the scoring.

A Jones sacrifice fly in the fifth finished the scoring for Elon.

North Carolina A&T (11-17) finally got on the board in the seventh when two Elon errors led to two unearned runs.

Making the first start of his career, Lettas (1-0) gave up no runs on just two hits and struck out three in six innings to earn his first career victory. Mike Krill threw the final three innings to claim his second save of the year. The duo combined to allow just three hits and none between the third and ninth frames.

Swift (1-4) was tagged with the defeat as he was charged with four runs on four hits in 2.1 innings. He issued five walks and hit one batter.

Offensively for Elon, Jones (2-for-2, one run, two RBI) pushed his career-best hitting streak to 14 games. Quinn Bower went 3-for-3 and scored twice while Zammarelli was 2-for-3 with one run and three RBI. McVicar drove in two.

Elon will be right back at Latham Park on Wednesday evening to host the Campbell Fighting Camels at 6:30 p.m. It will be Take a Kid to the Game night and one child will be admitted free with each paying adult. Gates open at 5:30 p.m.

                       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
   North Carolina A&T  0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0  2  3 3
   Elon                0 0 5 4 1 0 0 0 X 10 11 2

Win – Lettas (1-0).
Loss – SWIFT,D. (1-4).
Save – Krill (2).

Umpires – HP: Roger Kinley 1B: Don Hebert 3B: David Pritchett
Start: 6:30 pm Time: 2:46 Attendance: 233
Weather: Sunny, 72 deg., Winds: SSW 7