ELON, N.C. – The first-ever meeting on the baseball diamond between Elon and UMass was a thrilling one as the Phoenix picked up a 4-3 victory on Kory Shumate’s walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning at Latham Park.
Shumate finished the game 1-for-4 with a run scored and one RBI. James Venuto added two hits and drove in pair for Elon (4-6).
UMass (1-0) saw Cooper Mrowka go 2-for-4 with two doubles and one RBI. Brett Evangelista finished 2-for-5 and scored once.
Picking up the win in relief was Elon’s Danny Crowe (1-0). Crowe struck out four hitters in 2.1 shutout innings. He did not allow a hit. Phoenix starter Ryan Conroy went 6.2 innings and surrendered three runs on six hits while striking out seven Minutemen.
Christian Rosati (0-1) took the loss as he gave up one run on two hits and a walk in 0.2 innings. UMass starter Justin Lasko went 7.0 innings and allowed one run on five hits.
How It Happened: Trailing 3-1 entering the bottom of the eighth, Elon began its rally. After the first two hitters were retired, Shumate walked and went to second when pinch-hitter Will Nance was hit by a pitch. Garrett Stonehouse followed with a walk before Venuto grounded a 2-2 pitch up the middle to even the score at three.
In the ninth, Joe Satterfield led off with a single through the left side of the UMass infield and took second on a sacrifice bunt. The Minutemen intentionally walked Kyle Jackson before a foul out brought Shumate to the plate. The senior promptly lined the first pitch he saw over the head of the rightfielder, allowing Satterfield to score the winning run.
UMass took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Mrowka doubled home Evangelista. The lead was shortlived, however, as Elon’s Zach Evers drove the first pitch of the bottom of the frame off the scoreboard in center for his second home run of the season.
The game remained 1-1 until the top of the sixth when UMass pushed across two runs. With a runner on first with one out, Dylan Robinson singled through the right side. Elon threw to third to try to gun down the lead runner, but the throw was off the mark and allowed the go-ahead run to score and Robinson to wind up on third base. He then scored on a Nolan Kessinger double to left-center.
Notes: The win improved Crowe to 5-0 in his career… Evers has reached base safely in all 10 games this year… Elon’s win ended a five-game losing streak.
On Deck: The Phoenix and Minutemen will play game two of the three-game set on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Elon was extremely lucky scoring those runs in the 8th. There was HBP/2 BB’s and chopper up the middle to score 2 runs.UMASS is not very talented and will struggle again in that weak A10.