Elon Baseball Drops James Madison to Take CAA Series

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Zach Evers had his second straight three-hit game and Cam Devanney drove in three runs to lead the Elon University baseball team to a 6-4 victory over the James Madison Dukes on Sunday afternoon. The win secured the series for the Phoenix.

Box Score | Play-by-Play

Devanney finished the afternoon 2-for-3 with three RBI, while Joe Satterfield drove in two. Evers went 3-for-6 with two runs scored, one RBI and a stolen base for Elon (13-11, 2-1 Colonial Athletic Association).

Ryan Conroy (1-2) earned his first win of the season after allowing two runs on eight hits over 6.0 innings. He struck out seven hitters. Brandon Justice tossed the final 1.1 frames and struck out four to pick up his second save.

For JMU (13-10, 1-2 CAA), Harry Brown led the offense with a 2-for-5, two-RBI day.

Starter Nick Stewart (2-1) gave up two runs on three hits in just 3.0 innings of work.

How It Happened: As it did in each of the first two games of the series, Elon was the first to strike. Evers started things off with a single up the middle and, with one out, stole second. The throw on the steal went into center field and Evers raced to third. Following back-to-back walks, Devanney lined a single to center to drive home a pair of runs as the Phoenix built a 2-0 lead after its first at bat.

The Dukes got one back in the bottom half as three consecutive two-out singles, the last from Conor Hartigan, scored a run.

Elon tacked on single runs in both the fourth and fifth innings on RBI singles from Evers and Satterfield. JMU cut it to a 4-2 game in the bottom of the fifth on Brown’s second RBI single of the contest.

In the sixth, Evers sent a one-out single up the middle and moved to second on a ground out. After Ryne Ogren walked and James Venuto was hit by a pitch to load the bases, JMU pitchers issued back-to-back walks to Devanney and Satterfield as the maroon and gold’s lead increased to 6-2.

JMU looked to rally in the last of the eighth as Zach Tondi was hit by a one-out pitch. A single and two-out walk loaded the bases before a wild pitch on strike three let two runners score and left runners on the corners. A walk would reload the bases before Justice recorded a strikeout to end the threat and keep the Phoenix in front by two runs.

Notes: Devanney and Satterfield have both reached safely in 14 straight contests… Matt Oldham saw his 12-game hitting streak come to a close… Conroy’s seven strikeouts matched a season high.

On Deck: Elon will close out a four-game road swing with a 6 p.m. game at Wake Forest on Tuesday, March 27.