Brnovich Tosses Complete Game Gem as Elon Baseball Defeats Hartford

ELON, N.C. – For the second time this season, Kyle Brnovich struck out 14 hitters. On Friday night at Latham Park, he did so to lead the Elon University baseball team to a 7-1 victory over the Hartford Hawks in game one of a three-game, non-conference series.
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Brnovich (5-1) allowed one unearned run on three hits in a complete game. His 14 strikeouts propelled him further up the Elon record book as the sophomore now sits second on the program’s single-season list with 111 K’s on the year, two shy of the record 113 set by Ronnie Johnson in 1977. His 214 career strikeouts rate 10th in program history and are one shy of Kyle Webb’s (2010-13) 215 for ninth.

At the plate, Elon (23-16) saw Hayden Platt go 2-for-3 with three RBI, while Zach Evers went 2-for-4 and scored twice as he recorded his fifth straight multi-hit effort.

Hartford (14-21) managed just three hits on the night.

The loss went to Billy DeVito (0-4) who allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits in 5.2 innings of work.

How It Happened: The Phoenix jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Elon had the bases loaded with two outs when Platt grounded one up the middle to drive home the first two runs. Josh Broughton followed with an RBI single of his own to make it 3-0.

Elon added single runs in the third and fourth on a Platt single and a Hawk throwing error to extend the lead to 5-0. The advantage stretched to 7-0 in the last of the seventh. Elon again loaded the bases with two outs. This time, James Venuto picked up an RBI on a walk before Tyler Stanley was hit by a pitch to force home the second run of the frame.

After the first out of the Hartford fifth was recorded on a caught stealing, Brnovich struck out eight consecutive hitters before a ground out to short opened the eighth. He retired 11 straight hitters until the ninth inning when Hartford erased the shutout, scoring one unearned run. Nick Campana led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a passed ball before scoring on an Ashton Bardzell ground out.

Notes: Elon has won six straight games, its longest winning streak of the season… All seven of Elon’s runs came with two outs… Brnovich leads NCAA Division I baseball in strikeouts and has fanned 10 or more in seven of his 10 starts this year… Evers’ five straight multi-hit games are the most by an Elon player since Tyler McVicar had seven consecutive such games in 2016.

On Deck: Elon and Hartford will continue the series on Saturday, April 21. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. at Latham Park.