NEWARK, Del. – The Elon University baseball team claimed its 13th conference victory of the season as the maroon and gold split a doubleheader against the Delaware Blue Hens on Saturday afternoon. The Phoenix took the opener by a 7-6 score before dropping a 9-3 contest in game two.
Over the two games, Elon (24-24, 13-9 Colonial Athletic Association) saw CJ Young 4-for-7 with two doubles, two runs scored and two RBI. Austin Leeney also drove in a combined three runs.
Leading the Delaware (28-19, 6-11 CAA) offense was Nick Patten who was 3-for-8 with two home runs, three runs scored and nine RBI.
Ryan Conroy (4-2) earned the win in relief in game one. He went 2.1 innings and allowed one run on three hits while striking out three. Chris Hall struck out one in the ninth to garner his 10th save of the campaign.
Burk FitzPatrick (0-4) was saddled with the loss in the first game after giving up one run on three hits in 1.1 inning of work.
The loss in game two went to Jordan Barrett (3-4) who tossed 6.1 innings and was charged with eight runs (seven earned) on nine hits.
Delaware starter Brandon Walter (5-3) held the Phoenix to three runs (two earned) on five hits in 7.0 innings.
How It Happened (Game 1): Trailing 2-1 entering the sixth inning, the Phoenix offense erupted for five runs. Nick Zammarelli got it started with an infield single ahead of a Tyler McVicar walk. Young’s one-out double down the left field line tied the game at two. With two down and the bases loaded, a passed ball scored McVicar with the go-ahead run. An intentional walk filled the bags again for Leeney who doubled to right to plate two more as Elon built a 5-2 lead. Ryne Ogren drove home the final run of the frame with an infield single.
Elon’s momentum was wiped away in the bottom of the sixth as Delaware rallied for four runs to tie it up, including the final three on a home run from Nick Patten.
With one away in the seventh, Danny Lynch drove the first pitch he saw over the wall in right-center for his fifth homer of the year. The shot would prove to be the deciding run.
Delaware threatened in the last of the ninth when, after a two-out walk, Jordan Glover drove a pitch to the deepest part of the park where Kyle Jackson tracked it down just shy of the wall to end the game.
How It Happened (Game 2): Delaware jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first after three straight two-out singles, the last from Diaz Nardo to score a run. Elon would tie it up in the second, scoring an unearned run on a Leeney sacrifice fly.
The Blue Hens then struck for four in the last of the second to take a 5-1 lead. The inning began with a Phoenix error ahead of two singles to load the bases. Kevin Mohollen then tripled home three and scored on a Kyle Baker single.
It remained a 5-1 game until the last of the seventh when Patten hit a grand slam. Elon would get RBI singles from Young and Lynch in the eighth to trim the deficit to 9-3, but would get no closer.
Notes: Hall’s 10 saves this year are tied for the fifth-most in program history in a season, while his 12 career saves are tied for sixth… McVicar has now reached base safely in 20 consecutive contests… Ogren and Zammarelli ran their streaks of reaching safely to 17 and 18 games, respectively.
On Deck: Elon and Delaware will wrap up the series with a 1 p.m. game on Sunday, May 8.