Elon Baseball Holds Off Appalachian State for Sunday Victory

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University baseball team jumped out to a 4-0 lead and then held off a late push by Appalachian State to defeat the Mountaineers 4-3 in non-league baseball action on Sunday afternoon at Latham Park.

Danny Lynch recorded two of Elon’s (5-7) six hits on the day and drove in a pair of runs for the Phoenix.

Caleb McCann notched two of App State’s five hits to lead the Mountaineer offense.

Mason Daniels (2-1) won for the second straight outing. The reining CAA Rookie of the Week allowed two runs on three hits in 5.1 innings. Daniels fanned six. Phoenix closer Chris Hall gave up one hit in 1.2 innings, striking out three, to record his third save of the season.

The loss went to Colin Schmid (0-3) who was tagged for four runs on five hits in 3.2 innings of work.

How It Happened: The Phoenix scored all four of its runs in the bottom of the third inning. CJ Young walked and then scored on Nick Zammarelli’s double to left-center. Zammarelli then came home on Kyle Jackson’s single. After a walk and sacrifice bunt, Lynch singled up the middle to plate a pair to give Elon the 4-0 advantage.

Appalachian State chipped away in the sixth. With two outs and runners on second and third, a wild pitch allowed the Mountaineers to get on the board. A second run came in on Grayson Atwood’s single up the middle.

The Mountaineers edged closer in the eighth. A one-out walk was followed by a McCann double down the right field line that put runners on second and third. A ground out plated App State’s third run before Hall struck out Atwood to end the threat.

Notes: Elon improved to 65-16 all-time against Appalachian State… Daniels has posted 15 strikeouts in his last 10.1 innings of work… Appalachian State was just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

On Deck: Elon will continue its seven-game homestand on Tuesday, March 8, with a 4 p.m., contest against Liberty.