GREENVILLE, S.C. — Elon scored six runs over its final three at bats, but it was not enough to overcome an early hole as Furman defeated the Phoenix 9-7 in game two of a Southern Conference baseball series on Saturday afternoon.
Elon (26-24, 12-14 SoCon) trailed 5-0 after four innings before Chris King hit a one-out homer to left in the fifth. The blast was his team-leading seventh of the season.
The Phoenix scored twice in the seventh when Tucker Norton sent a 2-2 pitch through the left side of the infield to score both Andy Moore and Danny Lynch. Elon then made it a 5-4 contest when Lynch singled home Nick Zammarelli in the eighth.
Furman (21-28, 9-13) immediately responded to the Phoenix’s push by scoring four runs in the last of the eighth, all after the first two hitters of the inning were retired.
Not going quietly, the maroon and gold mounted one final charge in the ninth. The frame began with back-to-back walks to Wil Leathers and Ryan Cooper before Blaine Bower drilled a 2-2 pitch over the fence in left to make it a 9-7 game. Quinn Bower and Casey Jones followed with singles before a foul out, strike out and fly out ended the threat.
Matt Harris allowed five runs on nine hits in seven innings to fall to 3-2 on the year. He struck out five hitters.
After tossing 6.2 innings and giving up three runs on three hits, Jacques de Gruy (3-3) picked up the victory for Furman.
Elon will look to close the series with a victory on Sunday as the two meet in the series finale at 1 p.m.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Elon 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 1 3 7 11 1
Furman 2 0 1 2 0 0 0 4 X 9 13 1
Win – de Gruy (3-3). Loss – Harris (3-2). Save – None.
Umpires – HP: Craig Barron 1B: Mac Stokes 3B: Randy Dulin
Start: 12:30 Time: 3:14 Attendance: 321
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 71 Degrees