Elon, Maryland to Meet on the Baseball Diamond

ELON, N.C. – In it’s final contest before league play begins, the Elon University baseball team will play host to the Maryland Terrapins in a 4 p.m. contest on Wednesday, March 21.

GAME NOTES

The game will be broadcast live on WSJS 104.5 FM and 1200 AM with the pregame show beginning at 3:45 p.m. The radio broadcast can also be heard through elonphoenix.com and on the TuneIn app.

PITCHING MATCHUP
Wednesday
Elon: Jr. RH Ryan Conroy (0-1, 2.42)
Maryland: TBD

THE SERIES
Elon and Maryland will be meeting for the 15th time when the programs square off on Wednesday at Latham Park. The Terps hold a slim 8-6 edge in the series after winning a pair of midweek tilts in 2015. All 14 previous meetings have been played at Elon.

ABOUT MARYLAND
Maryland, which is playing a Tuesday contest at North Carolina, currently sits a 9-10 after being swept at East Carolina over the weekend. The Terps have scored 97 runs (5.1 per game) over their first 19 contests and sport a team batting average of .241. The squad has 35 doubles, six triples and 14 homers. Nick Dunn is the top offensive threat for Maryland. Dunn leads the team in average (.357), runs scored (16), doubles (6), home runs (5) and RBI (18).

The Maryland pitching staff enters the week with a 5.01 team ERA and has surrendered 104 runs (5.5 per game). In 165.1 innings, the staff has walked 82 and struck out 134 hitters. Opponents are hitting .272 off of Terp pitching.

HEAD COACH MIKE KENNEDY
Now in his 22nd season as the head coach at his alma mater, Mike Kennedy (’91) is the winningest coach in program history. He has compiled a career record of 686-533-3 and has led his program to five regular season titles, three conference tournament championships and seven NCAA postseason appearances.

RACKING UP THE K’S
Through the first 20 games of the season, the Elon pitching staff has put up some impressive strikeout totals. Three pitchers have eclipsed the 10-K mark in individual outings as sophomore George Kirby (11 Ks on opening day,11 at Georgia Southern and 10 vs. Appalachian State), Robbie Welhaf (12 in a relief outing against Radford) and Kyle Brnovich (11 vs. Marshall, 12 vs. Appalachian State and 13 vs. Rider) have all accomplished the feat.

As a staff on the year, the Phoenix has recorded 221 strikeouts on the year, an average of 11.1 per game.

ELON’S IRONMAN
Elon junior shortstop Ryne Ogren has been a mainstay in the Phoenix lineup since his arrival on campus. The Devon, Pa., native has now started 109 consecutive games dating back to his freshman campaign. Ogren has started all 20 games this year, started all 56 games a year ago and started the final 33 contests in 2016. The last time Ogren did not appear in Elon’s starting lineup was March 22, 2016 against High Point.

STONEHOUSE HONORED BY LEAGUE OFFICE
Sophomore Garrett Stonehouse picked up the first CAA Player of the Week honor of his career on March 19 after hitting .583 (7-for-12) with three doubles, a homer, six runs scored and nine RBI in Elon’s sweep of Rider. He went a career-best 5-for-6 with two doubles, a homer (the first of his career), five RBI and four runs scored in Saturday’s victory and followed by going 2-for-4 and driving in three on Sunday.

TWO OR LESS
Elon had a recent stretch in which the pitching staff allowed two or fewer runs in six consecutive games. That was the longest such stretch for the program since 1974 when the maroon and gold also went six straight games holding opponents to two runs or less. This streak is tied for the second-longest in program history.

1955 – 11 games
1954 – 6 games
1964 – 6 games
1974 – 6 games
2018 – 6 games

ON DECK
Elon will begin Colonial Athletic Association play with a three-game series at James Madison this weekend. The Phoenix and Dukes are scheduled to open the series at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, March 23 in Harrisonburg, Va.