Elon Baseball Closes Out Regular Season Against Richmond

ELON, N.C. – Having secured the third seed for the upcoming Colonial Athletic Association tournament, the Elon University baseball team will wrap up its regular season with a three-game series against the Richmond Spiders. The series begins at Elon’s Latham Park on Thursday, May 19 with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch and will continue at 6:30 p.m. on Friday before concluding with a 6 p.m. start on Saturday.

Live Coverage
Fans can follow the Phoenix via live stats by going to the Elon baseball schedule page at elonphoenix.com. Twitter updates will be posted on the @ElonScores account during the game. All three games can be watched for free on Phoenix All-Access or heard on the radio on WSML 104.5 FM or 1200 AM.

Vs. Cancer
For the fifth straight year, the Elon University baseball team will join forces with much of the collegiate baseball family to help raise money to fight childhood cancer. This season, the Phoenix will partner with the Vs. Cancer Foundation to hold a head-shaving event following Thursday’s game.

An event that has been an important cause for the Phoenix team has taken on a greater significance this year. For this season’s event, the baseball team will be partnering with members of the Elon women’s soccer team to raise money that will go directly to Massachusetts General Hospital and the clinical trial that women’s soccer player Nicole Dennion is a part of. Dennion is battling Ewing’s sarcoma.

To make a donation, visit www.elonphoenix.com/vscancer.

Senior Celebration
This weekend, the Phoenix baseball program will recognize nine seniors for their contributions to the team. Being honored are Michael Elefante, Brett Guba, Chris Hall, Brandon Kacer, Austin Leeney, Danny Lynch, Tyler Manez, Joe McGillicuddy and Tyler McVicar.

The Series
It has been nearly 30 years since Elon and Richmond last met on the baseball diamond and the two have split the six meetings all-time. The most recent meeting between the two programs came in 1987 with Richmond claiming an 11-6 victory. Elon picked up a 6-2 win in the first game in 1910.

About Richmond
The Spiders visit Latham Park sporting a 26-24 overall record along with an Atlantic-10 mark of 11-13. Offensively, Richmond is hittig .307 with 323 runs scored in 50 games. They rank fourth nationally with 123 doubles and have added 13 triples and 34 home runs. On the mound, Richmond has a 4.55 ERA and the staff has struck out 286 hitters in 437.0 innings. Opponents are hitting .276 off of Spider pitching.

Home Streak
Elon is in the midst of a 10-game winning streak at Latham Park, a streak that currently rates as the fourth-longest active home streak in the country (Louisville 19, Binghamton 12, Oral Roberts 12). It is the longest home winning streak for Elon since an 11-game streak in 2009.

Picked Off
Through 50 games, Elon has picked off 17 base runners, surpassing last year’s total of seven, which included two by a catcher. Lefty Jordan Barrett leads the way with six, while Derek Pikehas three and Nick Beaulac, Ryan Conroy, Mason Daniels, Matt Harris, Dimitri Lettas and Robbie Welhaf each have one. Catcher Austin Leeney has two.

Turning Two
Defensively, Elon has turned 57 double plays this season. That marks the most turned by the maroon and gold since turning 57 in 2012. The Phoenix’s 57 double plays ranks sixth nationally. The last time an Elon team turned more double plays was 2010 when the Phoenix turned 66.

Inside-the-Park Homer
In Elon’s 14-2 victory at Campbell, junior Nick Zammarelli hit his eighth home run of the year. This one was special though, as it was an inside-the-park homer to right. It marked the fourth inside-the-park round-tripper for Elon at the Division I level and the first since Cory Harrilchak accomplished the feat against Georgia Southern on April 4, 2008.

On Deck
Elon will head to the CAA Tournament to open play on Wednesday, May 25. The Phoenix is scheduled to play in the 3:30 p.m. game against a yet to be determined opponent.