Beaulac, Moore Play Heroes in Elon’s CAA Baseball Opening Win Over James Madison

ELON, N.C. – Andy Moore delivered a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning and Nick Beaulac tossed 3.2 scoreless innings to lead the Elon Phoenix to a 5-4 victory over the James Madison Dukes in the Colonial Athletic Association baseball opener for both squads on Friday night at Latham Park.

With the game tied since the fourth inning, Elon (9-11, 1-0 CAA) saw Nick Zammarelli lace a single to center to start the last of the 10th. The ball was misplayed by the Dukes allowing Zammarelli to head to second. After a balk moved the potential winning run to third base, JMU (9-9, 0-1) hurler Michael Evans struck out the next two hitters to set the stage for Moore. Moore, who had been 0-for-3 with a walk prior to his plate appearance in the 10th, drilled the first pitch he saw into the gap in right-center to drive home the fifth Phoenix run of the night.

Beaulac (2-0) struck out a career-high six hitters and niftily worked out of a few pressure situations. He came on in the seventh with a runner on second and one out and sandwiched two outs around a walk to keep the Dukes off the board. In the eighth, JMU had two runners on with one out before Beaulac punched out the next hitter. JMU would later load the bases, but the righty got a ground ball to end that threat. In the 10th, the Dukes would again load the bases, this time with one out. Beaulac then fanned Kyle McPherson and got Kyle Weston to fly out to end the inning.

Elon, which has now won 13 of its 16 conference openers since moving to NCAA Division I play, took a 1-0 lead in the first when Ryan Cooper lifted a sacrifice fly to center that plated Quinn Bower.

JMU came back with two in the second, the first on a Brett Johnson homer and the second on a wild pitch, only to see the Phoenix go back in front with a three-run third. All three Elon runs in the third came with two outs. The rally got going with a Bower single to right-center. The speedster promptly swiped second, a steal that moved him in to a tie for seventh in program history with 60, before racing home on a Joey Tomko single to center. Casey Jones then delivered Tomko with one of his two doubles on the night and later came in on a Cooper double.

The Dukes evened it up at four in the fourth, scoring once on a wild pitch and again on a sac fly.

Elon starter Matt Harris took a no-decision, but pitched well. Harris scattered eight hits in 6.1 innings and allowed four runs (three earned). He struck out three.

JMU starter Aaron Hoover lasted six innings and was charged with four runs on eight hits. Evans (2-2) took the loss and allowed one run on three hits while striking out five.

The top four in Elon’s lineup combined to go 9-for-18 with four runs scored and four RBI.

The two will play game two of the three-game series at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Latham Park.