Elon Baseball Comes Up Short in Another One-Run Game

ELON, N.C. – Now five games into its 2018 season, the Elon University baseball team has played four one-run games after falling by an 8-7 margin to the visiting Kansas State Wildcats on Wednesday, Feb. 21.

Box Score | Play-by-Play

It marks just the second time in over 100 years of Elon baseball that the program has played four one-run games in its first five outings of the season. The other was in 1934 when the maroon and gold opened the year with four consecutive one-run contests.

Making the first start of his career, Elon sophomore Dean McCarthy (0-1) took the loss after allowing five runs on five hits in 1.2 innings.

Ryne Ogren paced the Phoenix (1-4) at the plate, going 3-for-4 with four RBI, while Joe Satterfield drove in two runs and Zach Evers and Liam O’Regan each scored twice.

K-State (2-3) saw starter Caleb Littlejim surrender three runs (two earned) on three hits in 5.1 innings of work. Jared Marolf worked a perfect ninth for his first save.

The Wildcats’ offense was led by Will Brennan who went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and a pair of RBI. Drew Mount drove in a trio of runs.

How It Happened: Kansas State built a 5-0 lead through two innings. The Wildcats got one in the first on a Mount ground out before pushing across four in the second. After a RBI fielder’s choice from Brett Owen and RBI single from Brennan, both would score on a Mount single to right field.

Elon got on the board in the last of the fourth when Satterfield ended up at third thanks to a throwing error to begin the inning. Ogren then drove him in with a single to center.

After the Wildcats pushed the lead to 7-1 with single runs in the fifth and sixth frames, Elon tried to rally. In the bottom of the sixth, the Phoenix scored twice to cut it to 7-3. With runners on second and third with no outs, Satterfield made it 7-2 with a ground out before Ogren drove in his second run with a single to right.

K-State got one back in the seventh on a Rainer Ausmus homer before the Phoenix cut it to a one-run game in its half of the inning. After the first hitter of the inning was retired, four straight Elon hitters drew walks, the last to Evers to force home a run. Satterfield drove in one more with a single to center before Ogren’s single to right plated a pair to make it an 8-7 contest. From there, the Wildcats escaped further damage with an infield fly and a strikeout.

Over the final two innings, Elon would go in order as the Phoenix suffered its third one-run defeat of the year.

Notes: Elon’s first five games have been decided by a combined six runs… Freshman catcher Matt Oldham recorded the first hit of his career, a third-inning single… Ryan Conroy struck out three hitters in 2.0 innings to eclipse the 100 K mark for his career.

On Deck: The Phoenix will continue its nine-game homestand by welcoming in the Marshall Thundering Herd for a three-game series this weekend. The set begins with a 4 p.m. first pitch on Friday, Feb. 23.