Walks Stop Elon Baseball in CAA Tournament Defeat

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – Ryan Brown’s two-run single in the top of the eighth allowed the sixth-seeded College of Charleston to rally for a 9-8 victory over the third-seeded Elon University baseball team in game two of the 2016 CAA Tournament at Patriots Point on Wednesday afternoon.

Danny Lynch had a career-high four hits, going 4-for-4 with one RBI for Elon (25-28). Three other Phoenix players – Nick Zammarelli, Kyle Jackson and Brett Guba – all had three-hit games. Both Zammarelli and Jackson homered for the maroon and gold.

Charleston (30-24-1) saw Luke Manzo go 3-for-3 with a run scored and one RBI, while both Brown and Alex Pastorius drove home three.

Ryan Conroy (4-3) was charged with the loss after allowing four runs on five hits in 3.0 innings.

Justin Baker (3-3) earned the win in relief as he went 1.2 scoreless frames for the Cougars. Carter Love tossed 2.0 innings and did not allow a run to earn his 10th save of the year.

How It Happened: Elon led 8-7 after seven innings before the Cougars began the comeback. After the first two hitters were retired, Morgan Phillips singled up the middle and went to third on a Manzo single. After Manzo stole second, Brown singled home both runners with a ball to right.

After falling behind 2-0 in the second, Elon came back to tie it in the bottom half thanks to Jackson’s 12th homer of the year and a Guba RBI single.

The Cougars went back up 4-2 in the third before the Phoenix offense put a five-spot on the board in the fourth. The inning began with back-to-back singles from Jackson and Liam O’Regan ahead of a sacrifice bunt. Austin Leeney followed with an RBI single to left before Ryne Ogren tied it with a single to center. Zammarelli would give the Phoenix its first lead with a three-run shot over the wall in right.

Charleston would get one in the fifth and two in the sixth before Elon pushed across its final run in the last of the sixth on a Lynch infield single.

Notes: McVicar, Zammarelli and Ogren all extended their streaks of reaching base safely to 25, 23 and 22 games, respectively… Zammarelli had one double, his 23rd of the year, to move within one of matching the school record for doubles in a season… Elon matched a season-high with 17 hits… The Phoenix walked 12 hitters, tying a CAA Tournament record… Elon lost for just the second time this year (17-2) when leading after seven innings.