Elon Baseball Opens Homestand With No. 7 East Carolina

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University baseball team will open up a 10-game homestand on Wednesday night by hosting the seventh-ranked East Carolina Pirates at Latham Park. Game time is set for 6 p.m.

GAME NOTES

Fans can keep up with all of the action from Wednesday’s bout as Phoenix All-Access will provide a free video stream. The game will also be available over the radio airwaves with the pregame show on WSJS 104.5 FM and 1200 AM beginning at 5:45 p.m. The radio feed is also available at elonphoenix.com and through the TuneIn app.

ALUMNI WEEKEND
The Elon University baseball team will welcome back former players for an Alumni Weekend when the Phoenix takes on Hartford in a three-game series April 20-22, at Latham Park. Over the course of the weekend, the teams from 2006, 2008 and 2009 teams will be recognized, however, Alumni Weekend is open to all former Elon players from any era. For more information, or to register for the weekend, click HERE.

PITCHING MATCHUP
Elon – So. RH Mason Daniels (0-0, 12.15)
ECU – TBD

THE SERIES
Elon will be facing East Carolina for the 81st time on Wednesday. The Pirates hold a 48-31-1 advantage in the series after a one-run win in Greenville, N.C., earlier this season. The two programs first met in 1940 with the maroon and gold picking up a 7-1 victory. Elon is 3-16 in 19 known games at ECU.

ABOUT EAST CAROLINA
The Pirates enter this week’s meeting with a ranking as high as seventh in the nation with a 24-7 overall record.

As a team, ECU is hitting .287 and has scored 199 runs (6.4 per games). The Pirates have 41 doubles, four triples and 28 homers and have been successful on 33 of their 45 stolen base attempts this season. Leading the offense is Brady Lloyd who enters Wednesday’s game hitting .408 with 26 runs, five doubles, one homer and 14 RBI. He also leads the team with nine stolen bases.

The Pirates are holding opponents to a .253 batting average and have struck out 244 hitters in 277.0 innings. ECU has allowed 115 runs (3.7 per game) on the year.

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 695-539-3 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 32 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, 13 vs. Rider, 14 vs. Charleston and 10 at Northeastern) have all accomplished the feat.

As a staff on the year, the Phoenix has recorded 333 strikeouts on the year, an average of 10.4 per game. Last year, Elon set a new program record with 491. The maroon and gold is on pace to notch at least 583 strikeouts this season.

PHOENIX AMONG BEST IN BALANCING POWER
This season, Elon has hit 22 home runs. A total of 13 different players have gone deep for the Phoenix. Below is a list of team’s with the most players who have homered this year.

15 – Tennessee Tech
13 – Elon
12 – Arkansas, FAU, Mercer, South Carolina
11 – Davidson, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Wichita State
10 – Clemson, Florida, Lipscomb, NC State, Ohio, Western Kentucky

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 121 consecutive games dating back to his freshman campaign. Ogren has started all 32 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.

THAT’S TIGHT
Elon’s first seven games of the season were decided by a combined eight runs. The Phoenix played four one-run games in its first five outings. The last time that Elon had four one-run decisions in its first five games of the season was 1934. That year, the team opened with four consecutive one-run contests.

On the year, Elon has played in 12 one-run games, going 5-7, and an additional seven two-run contests.

ON DECK
The long homestand will continue this weekend for the Phoenix as Hofstra visits Latham Park. The three-game league series is slated to open on Friday, April 13, at 6 p.m.