Elon Baseball Secures Series Win With 7-5 Victory Over #30 Charleston

ELON, N.C. – With as tight as a conference race can be, every game is important and the Elon University baseball team earned its fourth straight Colonial Athletic Association victory by defeating No. 30 College of Charleston by a 7-5 margin at Latham Park on Saturday, March 31. The win secured the series victory for the Phoenix and sent the Cougars to their first losing weekend of the year.

Box Score | Play-by-Play

At the plate, Elon (16-11, 4-1 CAA) saw Liam O’Regan go 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a double, while Garrett Stonehouse drove in a pair of runs in the win.

George Kirby (5-1) picked up the win after allowing four runs on five hits in 5.2 innings. Robbie Welhaf closed things out, going the final 3.1 innings and giving up one unearned run on three hits, while striking out four to earn his third save.

Charleston (20-8, 3-2 CAA) got a two-run homer from Danny Wondrack and saw Luke Manzo go 2-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and one RBI.

The loss went to starter Griffin McLarty who was charged with six runs (five earned) on six hits in 3.2 innings. The six runs allowed by McLarty equaled the number of runs he had allowed all season.

How It Happened: Elon jumped on top in the bottom of the first as Zach Evers led off with a single to extend his hitting streak to 12 games and advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches before scoring on a Stonehouse ground out. Ryne Ogren followed with a single and scored from second on a two-out single from Joe Satterfield.

After the Phoenix had made it a 3-0 game on a Stonehouse sacrifice fly in the second, Charleston put up two in the top of the fourth to pull within a run. Following a two-out walk, Wondrack connected on for his 10th home run of the season to make it a 3-2 contest.

Elon immediately responded, scoring three times in the last of the fourth. The rally began after the first two hitters were retired as O’Regan singled up the middle. The Phoenix then loaded the bases on a walk and hit batter before Ogren’s infield single accounted for the first run. On that play, the throw to first was off the mark, allowing a second run to score and left two runners in scoring position. The third Cougar wild pitch of the day let the third run of the inning cross the plate as Stonehouse raced in to make it 6-2.

The Cougars got two more in the fifth thanks to an RBI single from Manzo and an RBI double from Ari Sechopoulos before an Evers sac fly in the last of the sixth gave the maroon and gold a 7-4 advantage.

The final run of the game came in the top of the seventh. Manzo led off with a double and advanced on a sacrifice bunt. The next hitter hit one back to the mound and Manzo got caught between third and home, but the throw to try and catch him was low and he scored on the error. Charleston would continue to threaten as Luke Morgan followed with a single to put runners at first and second before Welhaf got a strike out and a pop up to second to end the inning.

Notes: Devanney and Satterfield have both reached safely in 17 straight contests… Kirby retired the first 11 hitters of the game… Elon earned the series win over the Cougars for the first time since 2012… Head coach Mike Kennedy earned the 694th victory of his career.

On Deck: The final game of the series is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 1. The Latham Park gates open at 12:30 p.m.