Pitching Dominates in Elon Baseball’s Doubleheader Sweep of Appalachian State

ELON, N.C. – Six Elon University pitchers combined to allow just two runs and seven hits over 18 innings as the Phoenix swept a Saturday doubleheader from the visiting Appalachian State Mountaineers by scores of 5-0 and 5-2 at Latham Park. The two wins gave Elon the three-game sweep of the series between the two former conference mates.

Game 1 Box | Game 1 Play-by-Play
Game 2 Box | Game 2 Play-by-Play

The sweep moved Elon to 8-8 on the year, while App State dropped to 4-9.

In game one, Kyle Brnovich (2-0) threw 7.0 scoreless innings, giving up just two hits and striking out 12 Mountaineer hitters to earn the win. Robbie Welhaf struck out three in the final 2.0 innings to garner his second save of the year. Coupled with Elon’s 10-0 win on Friday, this victory gave the maroon and gold back-to-back shutouts for the first time since late April of 2011 (5-0 at Wake Forest and 10-0 vs. Davidson).

Owen Lorenz (1-2) earned the first win of his career in the nightcap, scattering four hits and striking out five while being charged with two runs in a career-long 6.1 innings. The trio of Sean Byrnes, Brandon Justice and Jared Wetherbee combined to give up one hit and strike out three to preserve the win. Wetherbee picked up his second save of the 2018 campaign.

Offensively, Elon saw Cam Devanney go a combined 4-for-6 with one run and one RBI, while both Liam O’Regan and Zach Evers homered on the day.

For Appalachian State in game one, starter Colin Schmid (1-1) took the loss after giving up two runs on five hits in 7.0 innings. He struck out eight. Travis Holden (2-1) allowed four runs on eight hits in 5.2 innings and was charged with the loss in game two.

Calev Grubbs was the lone Mountaineer to have a multi-hit day as he was 2-for-5 with two RBI in game two.

How It Happened (Game 1): With the game scoreless entering the last of the fourth, Matt Oldham was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a wild pitch before Ryne Ogren doubled him home. Ogren, on third after a walk and sacrifice bunt, then scored on a Hayden Platt sacrifice fly to give the Phoenix a 2-0 lead.

It remained a 2-0 game until the last of the eighth when Oldham again got things going by being hit by a pitch. An Ogren walk and Devanney bunt single loaded the bases before Joe Satterfield was hit by a pitch and Platt walked to make it a 4-0 game. A wild pitch then allowed Devanney to score the fifth Elon run of the game.

How It Happened (Game 2): Elon was again the first to strike in game two of the doubleheader, scoring a pair of runs on RBI singles from Devanney and Josh Broughton. The lead stretched to 3-0 in the third when three consecutive two-out singles, the final one from Platt, led to a run.

The Phoenix added two more in the sixth. With two outs, O’Regan turned on a 2-2 pitch and sent it over the high wall down the left field line for his second homer of the year. After a pitching change, Zach Eversconnected on the first pitch for his first homer of the year, this one to left-center.

Appalachian State finally snapped its scoreless streak with two down in the seventh. The inning began with a walk and single before a one-out walk loaded the bases. Byrnes came in from the bullpen and got an infield fly on the first pitch he threw before Grubbs lined a 3-2 pitch to right-center to score both Mountaineer runs of the game.

Notes: After extending both his hitting streak (12 games) and reached base safely streak (15 games) in game one, Ogren saw both come to an end in game two… Brnovich has now fanned 10 or more in four of his 18 career starts and nine or more in seven… Elon last posted back-to-back shutouts of the same opponent on a weekend in April of 2006 (Wofford by scores of 8-0 and 10-0)… Elon went 5-1 against Sun Belt Conference opponents this season (2-1 at Georgia Southern and 3-0 vs. Appalachian State).

On Deck: Elon will hit the road for a pair of midweek contests. The Phoenix will wrap up its home-and-home series with UNCG at 4 p.m. on Tuesday in Greensboro, N.C., before heading to Greenville, N.C., for a 6:30 p.m. bout with East Carolina on Wednesday.