Lynch¹s Walk-off Single Caps Elon Rally in CAA Baseball Tournament Win Over Delaware

ELON, N.C. – A four-run deficit and a rain delay of over five and a half hours. Both of those are things overcome by the Elon baseball team as the fourth-seeded Phoenix rallied for a 7-6 victory over fifth-seeded Delaware in the first game of the 2015 Colonial Athletic Association Tournament at Patriots Point on Wednesday.

With the victory, Elon improved to 25-27 overall. The Blue Hens dropped to 23-23.

For the Phoenix, Ryan Cooper went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a homer and two RBI. Chris King added two hits and two RBI, while Danny Lynch drove in two with a 1-for-2 day.

Sean Byrnes (2-1) came on after the delay and tossed 6.2 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits. He struck out four.

The loss went to Luke Alicknavitch (1-2) who was charged with one run on no hits in two-thirds of an inning.

Up next: The Phoenix will take on top-seeded College of Charleston at 5 p.m. on Thursday.

How it happened: Down 6-2 entering the last of the ninth, Elon got four straight singles to start the inning, the last from King that made it a 6-4 contest. With one away and runners on second and third, the Delaware pitcher uncorked a wild pitch letting the Phoenix’s fifth run of the game to score. After the second out was recorded, Austin Leeney drew a walk and stole second before Lynch drove a 2-1 pitch into the gap in left-center to send the Phoenix home with a walk-off victory.

Inside the box score: Two of Elon’s three hits with runners in scoring position came in the ninth inning … Four Elon players had two-hit games … Cooper’s homer in the first was his seventh of the year and extended his hitting streak to a career-best 10 games.

Notes: The win was the second for Elon when trailing after eight innings this year … Byrnes’ 6.2-inning outing equaled the innings the freshman had thrown in his previous two outings combined.