ELON, N.C. – After scoring in seven of its eight at bats, the Elon University baseball team completed a three-game sweep of the visiting Rider Broncs with a 13-4 victory on Sunday at Latham Park.
The win, Elon’s sixth consecutive on its home field, improved the Phoenix to 11-9 overall, while Rider dropped to 5-14.
The Phoenix offense pounded out 19 hits on the day and saw seven players post multi-hit days at the plate. A trio of players drove in three runs – Ryne Ogren (2-for-4, two runs, home run), Garrett Stonehouse (2-for-4, one run, one double) and Joe Satterfield (2-for-5, one run, home run).
Starter Owen Lorenz (2-2) earned the victory after surrendering four runs (two earned) on two hits in 5.0 innings. He struck out four.
Rider mustered just four hits on the day, including a two-RBI single from Kyle Johnson.
The loss went to Zach Gakeler (0-2) who was charged with five runs (four earned) on eight hits in 4.1 innings.
How It Happened: Elon opened the scoring in the bottom of the first. Zach Evers reached on an error to start the inning and stole second before moving to third on a fly ball to center. Ogren’s fly to center allowed Evers to score to take the lead.
Rider evened things up in the second when Johnson drew a one-out walk and was able to score from first on an errant pick off throw.
The Phoenix would score the game’s next three runs, the first on a Hayden Platt single to center in the second. The next two came the following inning as Ogren and Cam Devanney hit back-to-back homers to open the inning.
Down 4-1, Rider plated another unearned run in the fourth when Riley Mihalik doubled home Joe Simone who had reached on an error.
After the maroon and gold went up 5-1 in the fifth, Rider cut its deficit to just a single run. Jake Bender led off the sixth with a single and advanced on a walk. The next two hitters struck out, but following a double steal, Johnson singled to center to score both runners. The inning came to a close when Johnson was caught trying to swipe second base.
From that point, it was all Elon. The Phoenix scored one in the both the sixth and seventh innings before exploding for six in the eighth. The final outburst began with back-to-back doubles from Josh Broughton and Evers. Matt Oldham and Ogren followed with singles to produce a second run before Stonehouse delivered a two-out double to right-center to make it an 11-4 contest. Satterfield then lined the first pitch he saw to right. The right fielder tried to make a sliding grab, but missed the ball. As the ball rolled to the wall, Satterfield raced around the bases and wound up with a two-run, inside-the-park homer that capped the scoring.
Notes: Satterfield’s inside-the-park home run was the first for Elon since Nick Zammarelli hit one in a win over Campbell in 2016… All nine Phoenix starters had at least one hit… Over the three-game series, Elon scored 47 runs on 55 hits, while allowing just seven runs on 19 hits… Elon saw its streak of allowing two or fewer runs snapped at six, tied for the second-longest streak in program history and the longest since six straight in 1974.
On Deck: Elon is scheduled to host the Maryland Terrapins at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, March 21.